PopSci Investigation: What Kind Of Top-Secret Assassination Tech Does $58 Billion Buy?

We need safeguards against this drone being used against citizens and allies who are inconvenient to whatever party line the country is following at any given time.

I just realized that ONCE the U.S. Military brings these weapons out publicly in the future--targeted individuals of directed energy, like me, will be able to SUE AND GARNER credibility to our plight. We are tortured by microwaves & non-lethal weapons. WHY? Here's an example why: I have suffered fr. having these weapons beamed directly in my eyes for a year & more---it was excruciatingly painful. Many times, I wish I would die. My husband insisted that I see a neurologist for record keeping. I saw the neurologist. I also described the pain to 2 doctors who wrote it down. THAT WAS BEFORE THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN, thus I am not making it up. I CAN EXPLAIN CLEARLY AND DESCRIBE UNDER OATH, IN A COURT OF LAW, HOW IT FELT TO BE TORTURED WITH THESE WEAPONS. And I am 100% sure that THAT'S exactly the same torture that their "target terrorists" in Pakistan and Afganistan will describe. When these weapons are out, they will finally acknowledge to the whole world what they are denying to targeted individuals--that these weapons exist, and they used American civillians as their target practice to create them. The world will demand declassification. The crimes of the terrorists will pale in comparison to what the US Military did and is still doing to us. The terrorists will not be as hated as the militants bec. it will come out that the U.S even beamed these weapons on children--it will be in the press. I WILL REMIND PEOPLE THAT we can defend ourselves from the Muslim insurgents by staying home or keeping them away from our country---BUT WE CAN NEVER DEFEND OURSELVES FROM THE USE OF SATELLITES & MICROWAVE WEAPONS. CIVILLIANS ARE HUMAN BEINGS--COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS BEFORE THE US MILITARY'S USE OF THESE WEAPONS. I am tortured everyday with "everything". My doctor now believes me. (Yes, that is my real name. Please do not call me a believer of the conspiracy theory in order to belittle what I write. I am tortured with these weapons everyday--I have no choice but to believe. Please google: JOHN B. ALEXANDER, HAARP, DARPA, MICHAEL AQUINO--NSA, DR. JOHN NORSEEN, ETC.)

Hot

Why are you tortured by these weapons every day?

Wait. Let me get this right, Aileen......
Are you saying that you are regularly targeted by the US military as a test subject and target practice for non-lethal military weapons? I just want to make sure I understood your claims properly.

Sounds to me that "Eileen" is sympathetic to terrorists.

@Setarip
Maybe that's why he's targeted.

TALKING IN CAPS MAKES US SOUND SANE AND CREDIBLE. REALLY.

Lighten up on Aileen. You have no idea how hard it is to get volunteers to test these systems on. You can't just put an ad in CL under GIGS, 'Top secret project needs Guinea pigs to test weapons on.'

People like Ms. Aranzame are selected following a thorough investigation and carefully observed during and after each test to evaluate the effectiveness of the system.

Of course, none of her sworn depositions will get her anywhere. After the LSD experiments that went wrong in the 60s, subjects were only recorded as code numbers, not names. Those who become an embarrassment are disposed of when the testing is concluded.

We can honor their contribution to America and remember that they gave their all for their country.

haha i luled a bit at Aileen.

I'M BEING TARGETED AND CAN DESCRIBE IT IN DETAIL
but i dont.
I WILL SWEAR UNDER OATH IM NOT A NUTJOB
but no one believes me anyway
HERE IS MY EVIDENCE!!
google: darpa

Oh my! I'd kill quite a lot of people for that much even though it's not my line or work. The money is right.

I'd love to be able to get the reward for Bin Laden.

Pretty sure I'd like to get a tinfoil hat for you know who.

On the off chance that Aileen isn't just a troll...

There are many ways to stop microwave, ultraviolet, or any number of "energy" waves from hitting your eyes. I suggest you research it if you're in that much pain. Although if it really is happening to you, there would be a source it comes from. You could buy any number of radiation detectors or go to a lab to determine where it's coming from and what type of "energy" it is. Or you could take a tour of a deep underground cold war bunker where nothing could penetrate deep enough to get to you.

If you still feel pain then, you most likely have a tumor pressing on your optical nerve or something equally more mundane.

Plus, to sue someone you need ACTUAL evidence that it happened to you. Not just a claim that you had some pain before you heard about something that could cause it. If you think a doctor writing down something you said qualifies as substantial evidence your case wouldn't even make it to court.

When did it become acceptable to commit murder?

@hollycow - Did you not see the close up of that terrorist's eyeball. He was planning something evil! Isn't that probable cause enough? We just had to do something, we did it for our children! We owe it to them.

The missing money is spent on the Stargate program. Duh.

Ryan M Cornelius - you can look into someones eyes and tell what they are planing. No that is not enough, our society is build on due process of law not someones imagination. Murder is murder, especially when due process is not followed.

I'm sorry, but killing known terrorists is not murder. Lets also remember in a world of animals, there really is no morals except for the ones we make up.

1) It is murder for the US military to kill an American citizen without the benefits of due process (a trial) or expedient need (he is shooting up a school).

2) It is not murder for the US military to kill enemy combatants in a war.

3) It is not murder to accidently kill others in the attempt to kill enemy combatants in a war - though it is frowned upon and reducing "collarteral damage" is always a goal.

4) While assassination has traditionally not been the prefered means of politcal dispute for the US, discreation (avoiding collateral damage) has reached the point where, once again we choose exactly who we kill.

The arguement then turns to the age old military question of "can you shoot the generals and the officers rather than the soldiers." Tradition (written by officers) says no. Conventional wisdom is moving towards yes.

@ Aileen Aranzame...
May I remind you, Ms. Large, that you are under contract, and now that you've talked, you contract is now at an end, an end in which the US government cannot allow you to continue your daily life with your husband.

WOW, that right there is proof anyone can make themselves look like someone else entirely fiction, BTW Ms. Large, or Aileen if you like to be called that, if you really want to prove a point, don't just type it up on a magazine's website, go to a major news company, like CNN, or BBC (these two, without a doubt, have the best credibility) and maybe the whole world might know whats going on with you, or even possibly believe you.

Aileen... shut up

Anyone that supports this should really understand that you are creating a security grid that will be used against all citizens of any freedom loving nation. If all you do is eat, sleep, work, repeat then your exposure to this crap will be minimal. But if you actually have a life then get ready for all your rights to freedom, liberty, and privacy to be revoked.

the money could have been going into other things :c

1) Yes it is murder, only reasonable force may be used otherwise it is murder. Soldiers in every war and many police have been punished for using unreasonable force.
2) I'll give you this one
3) Killing innocent bystanders is murder
4) Assassination is murder there is no getting around it.

I suppose those people in the towers were not murdered, there just casualties of war. Due process of law is one of the fundamental principles our country is based on, we can not and should not deny it to anyone.

"Why would the Air Force need a stealth aircraft in Afghanistan, a country with no radar defense system?"
Cuz some types of SAMs use a radar lock, like, duh Eh?
These new drones & micro drones are for use on the american people, there are already drones in use in some american cities.

Do a bit of late 18th century-modern day role reversal here.
"Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other." (Patrick Henry: Give me Liberty or Death speech)
Much as I hate it, the USSR was a valid excuse for expansion of military. Terrorists are not. I'm sorry, but we don't need large scale military invasions and occupations, we don't need new aircraft, we barley need anything described here to deal with the middle eastern terrorist threat, infiltration and espionage are much cheaper and more effective. We need to trim out at least 70-80% of the military's budget. I think the new military technologies are destined for a much different purpose.....

Jeez Aileen just turn off the TV.

Yep, I used to be gung ho for weapons systems like this. Now I am not so sure. This current administration will find it expedient to hang on to political power in any way it can. Because I am not an ethnic minority, or homosexual and I am a Christian and vote conservatively this administation ,I am sure, considers me a threat to their power and we all know how progressives and liberals treat people that are a threat to their power.

Maybe Aileen isn't so far off base afterall. However, I do agree that she should start by turning off the TV, Computer, and not watch the microwave oven quite so closely.;-)

The article states, "In 1998, U.S. Navy ships in the Arabian Sea fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at a number of training camps in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding."

I thought we started chasing bin Laden after 9/11/2001...

On another point, while I am generally in favor of a strong military, what are the opportunity costs of spending so much?

Instead of spending $58 billion, what if we allocated $18 billion to beefing up measures to detect and prevent potential terrorists from coming into the US, and maybe $20 billion to provide jobs or economic stimulus for the unemployed, then we could reduce our budget by $20 billion with the unused amount. (I'm using this as an example to make a broader point about how we spend taxpayer money and money borrowed money from China to fund our federal budget.)

I was told by a US govenment official that if you shoot at, or kill a police officer, you are dead, The police will kill you.
Due process?
What about all this "In God we trust"?
Of all the supposed Christian countries of the world, the USA is without doubt the most Godless: See The Westboro Baptist Church and The Peoples Temple etc.
Also the angriest and the most unpleasant if you criticize them, a bit like Iran etc.
As for global threats, the USA is the only country to have used an atomic(2) weapon, no wonder the USSR was frightened of them.

Sigh. And in the end it just won't make a whole lot of difference. Some US general was spot on when he said "We can't kill our way to victory." For every wing-nut Taliban leader you toast there will be another ten waiting to take his place.

Take a tiny portion of those billions of dollars and blanket the whole country with schools. Make sure every child, girls and boys, has the opportunity to receive a non-madrassa education. Support micro-loans for entrepreneurs and community run co-ops, thereby giving young men some hope for a livelihood that does not involve receiving a stipend from Al Quaeda. Those are the expenditures that are far more likely to produce peace over time.

ATTENTION ALL PEOPLE WHO KNOW NOTHING!

@Aileen Aranzame if you were tested on w/ microwave weapons, you were paid... You agreed to this.

@Hobittual Total BS. If you kill a cop, you'll rot in prison, shooting you is pointless, and cops realize this. No US official told you otherwise. Additionally, if you knew anything, you would know that the abomb saved both Japanese and American lives. (1.5-3 Million on both sides) An invasion of Japan would have been much worse.

@dontbother The US Military is not allowed to operate on US citizens or cities. Plus, the military uses stealth for enemy radar, not friendly radar. (like on Iran)

@Oakspar77777 if Bin Ladon was spotted, he would be taken dead or alive. Alive is preferred, so the american people can watch him die after his trial.

@Dustin2127 the most rich country is always hates, and requires the largest armies. Although the budget is still insatiably high.

@Aileen Aranzame...

Anyone ever told you that you're crazy?

@mrclean816

She... not he...

@hollycow

Your logic is flawed and therefore your observation and opinion is invalid.

Thank you for playing.

@linus809

Bin Ladin has always been a target, he's been a target since the first attack on the WTC. Bin Ladin has been know as a terrorist and fundamentally anti-American since I was a child. I remember reading an arcticle around 1995 in Reader's Digest about Bin Ladin. It was titled "Why this Man Wants You Dead".

hollycow
"1) Yes it is murder, only reasonable force may be used otherwise it is murder. Soldiers in every war and many police have been punished for using unreasonable force."

WRONG. Maybe you should learn to read first. First the subject was the American military which is not remotely the same thing as police. Secondly there is something every Marine learns called deadly force. If a Marine sees some douche-bag shooting up a school he can legally apply deadly force and kill the bastard. If I was on duty and I saw to scum bags raping a woman I can invoke deadly force and put a .45 round in each of there skulls. Legally.
You have no clue what you're talking about here.

@Hobittual

Correction, the United States is the only country that has used an Atomic weapon as an instrument of war. The Soviet Union tested atomic weapons numerous times, North Korea and India all have tested atomic weapons. Nazi Germany is even believed to have tested an early stage atomic weapon. Although belief is that the weapon the Nazis used were the equivelint of a "Dirty Bomb". Not to mention, when the Germans tested their weapon, they killed their own civilians with the subsequent radiation fallout from their testing.

@Dustin2127

I'll take your comments as unqualified opinions. As you obviously lack any and all knowledge with regards to the subject matter.

If you think that countries like China and North Korea are largely benevolant, then you've got another thing coming. Just because the United States discontinues weapon research and development does not mean that they wont.

Some research on China's military capabilites might be in order for you. Their military development is not for defense, its for Asian-Pacific domination.

@Dustin2127

Additionally, the ONLY reason why China has not expanded any further is because the United States Navy keeps them in check.

@Skeptikor,

Blanketing the country with schools is a nice sentiment but you still need to provide security and kill wing-nut Taliban d-bags. Building schools and co-ops means nothing if the people you claim to want to help prefer flying planes into buildings and blowing up nightclubs.

@jaydub

People seem to forget that our military budget is what it is because we subsidize the security of our allies.

@jdkchem

Amen Brother.

Well, that dissolving fleschette shooting umbrella that George H.W. Bush used to kill JFK and the will-weakening, amnesia inducing (vaporous, clear liquid with consistency similar to ethanol) drug the CIA developed to automate assassinations probably cost a lot less than 58 billion dollars, little good it did us in the hands of the republican party of the United States. They merely murdered JFK, MLK, RFK, LBJ, George Wallace, Vince Foster, framed two other Kennedy family members (killed a girl), broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate, shot at Ford twice, wounded Ronald Reagan, embarrassed Wilber Mills, murdered White House Counsel Vince Foster, maybe JFK, jr., too. Republicans have poisoned whole ballrooms full of Democratic Party members.
The only way our republican party has stayed competitive is with murder dirty tricks, and burglary tools. Running for office as a Democrat, even at the lowest level, can cost one one's job, one's wife, even one's own life. Where is our FBI? Maybe we should be spending all those big bucks trying to stop criminal behavior instead of promoting it? Just a thought.

A lot of that "Black Budget" spending should be called fraud, waste and abuse. There are a lot of people who would like to believe that the military is using that money to develop a bunch of Buck Rodgers technology. But, little advanced technology ever reaches the field.

Much of that money is funneled to Defense Contractors through projects that are way over priced and that often reach a dead end like much of the "Star Wars" project. Some of the projects require technology that doesn't even exist. Some money goes to researching technologies that don't even make sense. For instance, the technology to launch hyper-speed weapons into orbit on command to hit anywhere in the world in thirty minutes may sound doable the way Pop Sci describes it. But, even if we have the technology, the cost of maintaining such a system in constant readiness would be outrageous. Even then, there is no guarantee that it will work dependably. The more complicated the system, the more it is down and the harder it is to repair.

Our Defense Department is more likely to build a factory to make obsolete vacuum tubes for much of it's obsolete technology than actually replace it with more efficient technology. They still have problems keeping their systems in the field up and running. They take forever just to get parts because of their outdated procurement system.

People have always been disposable. The thing that DOD hates is witnesses with cameras and proof. A lot of people die every year because their weapons systems failed in time of need or never worked right to begin with. Soldiers are often the guinea pigs. Nano-machines and sensors are little more than simplistic devices that do little more than demonstrate a principle. They just aren't practical for mass production. The DOD funds a lot of projects that are absolutely worthless and politicians receive some of their biggest contributions from defense companies. What a coincidence!

I worked for the DOD for many years and have witness some really stupid and wasteful spending of your tax money. Your Congressional representatives know a lot more than they let on about where it is going.

Come on Aileen....

jdkchem - I guarantee if you blow someone away as you suggest you'll be before a review board explaining/justifying you actions.

@jdkchem hollycow is suggesting that you should wait until the rapists are finished doing their unspeakable deeds and then aprehend them.

Apparently the life of an innocent means nothing compared to the life of a rapist or a murderer.

@jaydub
"... As you obviously lack any and all knowledge with regards to the subject matter..."
that's being quite rude and extremely arrogant, not to mention presumptuous. Because I come to an opinion that's different than yours, I must be an uneducated idiot? Also, I never said that rogue states were benevolent (where the hell did you pull that from?), but I think that the threat of ICBMs and a missile shield are enough to keep NK in check expansion-wise and do not object to their usage (in retaliation of course). As for China, the path ahead is less clear; although I certainly think that we're handling it horribly. For instance, discouraging computer literacy (read:hacking). But I highly doubt we're the only restraining factor in their growth as you so assume.

For the record, I'm a libertarian and I'm an isolationist. Though I do believe the UN needs to be given the power to deal with genocidal maniac dictators in military force.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but not the only thing.
Back in the 1980s or even the late 70s I seem to recall that the technology in our aircraft and air to air missiles permitted us to kill 4 Eastern Block aircraft even before they knew we were there. Unfortunately the USSR had a five to one aircraft superiority at that time.....do the math. See the F-15 and F16 and the Phoenix Missile systems.

Microwave Energy Beam....Hmmm, does anyone remember the MASER? Predated the laser by about a decade, back in the 50s and 60s.

Hypersonic RAM/SCRAM Jets and drones...once again, seems 50s and 60s technology to me....look up the BOMARC systems. Granted they were not hypersonic then, but the materials weren't available to permit it. The BOMARC was supposed to be an unmanned vehicle capable of very high speed medium distance intercept. The Nike-Ajax and Hercules systems were also conceived of in the same frame though they were pure rocket powered. I remember the sites in South Florida from when I was a child/teen.

Satellite imaging technologies....nothing really new here either, the only thing is an ongoing incremental increase in resolution given the gains in digital imaging across the entire spectrum and the computing power and algorithms that can be thrown into the analysis of the images. NASA has been using these technologies for years for both deep space and solar observations.

The uptake of these technologies isn't the thing. Permitting the personnel on the ground to have access to them is relatively new. Better information leads to better decisions. The use of this information in the decisions is controlled by POLICY, not technology. Through technology we are reducing the "fog of war", and bringing more reliable information to those that need it, the question is if there is so much information that it is leading to a lack of decision, and thus the continuation of BAD POLICIES.

Peace.

http://www.sohbet.tl/

Thank you

@Dustin2127

It's not rude or arrogant, it simply is. Also, it's not opinion, it's fact. To believe that you should cut the US Military budget by as much as you say it should IS saying that we should ignore other threats to our national security. If you dont like the facts that have been derrived from your statement, then perhaps you should THINK about what you say before you say it.

No, the way ahead for China is very clear. Do the research. You can find the aggressiveness of China in any news report relating to China and their deplomacy as well as how aggressive they are in international waters to ANY ships out there. RESEARCH. It's your best friend.

BTW, it's not an assumption. It's knowledge, it's fact.

I'll echo my earlier words, it's not arrogance, its not an assumption, it's knowledge of FACTS.

Just so you know, isolationism does not mean that the threats to the country cease to exist. I'll refer you to Germany's telegram to Mexico offering states along the US - Mexico border if they agreed to attack the US during WWI, I'll also refer you to the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7 1941. A strong military is the ONLY deterrant against less than benevolant countries.

@Dustin2127

I suggest you go back and read what you said... It was screaming naivety and ignorance. It's unbecoming.

See the difference here is I know because I keep track of what is going on in the world.

Perhaps serving would change your perspective. I know it has for nearly 100% of the people I served with for 7 years.

eh... Mach 20?... Really?

"Every year, tens of billions of Pentagon dollars go missing. The money vanishes not because of fraud, waste or abuse..."

-Should read : "...The money vanishes not JUST because..."

LOL, just send in those coward Apache or Drone pilots. They kill anything that moves. Women, Children, reporters, entire city blocks, they dont care!

Lou
www.privacy-web.cz.tc

During the unfortunate American civil war it was common for the South to send sabateurs into the North to try and set fire to the many wooden railroad trestles that facilitated the movement and supply of Northern armies.

These brave young men wore civilian clothes and tried their best to lose their southern accents. When apprehended many dozens of such fellows were summarily hanged by the orders of U.S. Grant following a hearing on the spot of capture by the ranking officer present. Several times there were mass hangings of six or more men.

The drone program is flawed. What was supposed to give us surveillance capabilities and the ability to eavesdrop and track our enemies has been sidetracked by miniature missiles mounted under the wings of these drones. Sure, it's fun to see a Hellfire missile take out a car load of terrorists, but wouldn't it work better, as a system, to use the drone to track them to a specific location where they can be arrested or detained in order to see if they can give us information about who they're working with and what they're planning?
-------------
www.anamericanlion.com/

Aileen, just get yourself a lead lined burqa and you'll be fine. The missing money thing, who knows! Maybe it's for stealth drones, Hulk suits, AI, the Stargate, no one can really say. Or maybe newer and better RF weapons to test on Aileen. LOL! :)

Hahahah Hey BNicholson that was good tell another one.

Re: NormanRogers

No! Do you arrest a mad dog and ask it where it took its last crap? Who cares, just kill it.

Well Mr. RungHee, I must say you are a moron. What do you know about it. I'll bet you get all your info from the Huffington post. There's a real liberal rag for you. Go back to La La land and take a nap.

You guys make me laugh. All you gutless government sycophants will be crying in a foetal position when the drones are hunting you and militia are beating you up in a cell while you scream "I never blogged against the government! I'm a lawyer, I earn lots of money, I'm one of you!"
You sheeple need to realise that the Global elite led by the international banking cabal and the US Military industrial complex are intenionally collapsing world economies to crush resistance to their Global Government.
911 is scientifically proven to be an inside job (Only a retard with no grasp of physics doesn't realise this) Global Warming is a scam (Duh, obviously!) The credit crisis was engineered. What else are they prepared to do?
Every major terrorist act in modern history was engineered by the CIA/MI6/Mossad, it's the oldest trick in the book, create an enemy, get the public shit scared enough to let you pass any laws you want oppressing the people.

an excellent summary of the psychological disorders that stop people realising obvious truths are at http://www.sott.net/articles/show/208093-Sheeple-Signs-That-You-Might-Be-Part-Of-The-Herd

"No! Do you arrest a mad dog and ask it where it took its last crap? Who cares, just kill it."

You're a piece of work, aren't you?

In the first place, no, I don't go around killing animals. That is best left to psychopaths and serial killers. In the second place, I'll take that mad dog, calm it down, feed it, befriend it, and get it to tell me everywhere it crapped, why it crapped, and who was watching when it crapped. Then I'll build a massive database and methodically track down each and every single instance where that dog's crapping caused you to crap yourself, and then I'll have what I want and I'll do with it what I choose to do with it.

In the third place, try to understand this--killing your sources of information is poor tradecraft. If you want to eliminate a terrorist organization that is made up of cells, I'm afraid you have to unravel it, cell by cell.

Let me know if therapy helps you function properly. I'm really not interested though.

-------------
www.anamericanlion.com/

Dear Doctor and the others who are cowards not to use your real names. How do you know that we're not trying to track you down. Use your commonsense: PEOPLE WHO READ THIS MAGAZINE CAN WRITE WELL. #2. WHAT WAS DONE TO RUTH ANN GOODMAN IS UNDER INVESTIGATION. #3. AND YES, THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS BEEN INFORMED OF YOUR SOURCES.

Your nightmare is just beginning--and you will feel what a targeted individual feels. Welcome to the covert world you operate.

Next time, don't use an alias.

Don't you think we're bugging you too? Pens, bugs, etc. etc. You name it. Yes, we have to find out everything.

@linus809 It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.

Ms. Weinberger,
In November of last year, the Army was successful in the first flight test of their Prompt Global Strike candidate, while DARPA has suffered 2 failures attempting to fly. I have not seen mention of this in PopSci. Could it be because most of the information out there about it is speculation and not correct? I believe it would be worth checking into!!!!