Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Domains

Domain: dtic.mil

Stories and comments across the archive that link to dtic.mil.

Stories · 5

  1. How Do Militaries Treat Their Nerds?

    Tech · Military · · posted by kdawson · from the permission-to-sudo-sir dept. · 426 comments
    An anonymous reader writes "Cyber Warfare is a hot topic these days. A major reorganization may be looming, but a critical component is a culture where technologists can thrive. Two recent articles address this subject. Lieutenant Colonel Greg Conti and Colonel Buck Surdu recently published an article in the latest DoD IA Newsletter stating that 'The Army, Navy, and Air Force all maintain cyberwarfare components, but these organizations exist as ill-fitting appendages (PDF, pg. 14) that attempt to operate in inhospitable cultures where technical expertise is not recognized, cultivated, or completely understood.' In his TaoSecurity Blog Richard Bejtlich added 'When I left the Air Force in early 2001, I was the 31st of the last 32 eligible company grade officers in the Air Force Information Warfare Center to separate from the Air Force rather than take a new nontechnical assignment.' So, Slashdot, how has the military treated you and your technical friends? What changes are needed?"

  2. Pentagon Working on "Human Fear" Weapons

    Science · Military · · posted by ScuttleMonkey · from the smells-like-... dept. · 310 comments
    An anonymous reader writes "Animals use pheromones to attract each other for sex, and warn each other of danger. Now, Wired reports, military researchers are working to harness the 'human fear' pheromone to create a scent of terror. The pheromone could lead to smell-based terrorist sensors, and new weapons that rely on 'contagious' stress."

  3. New Laws of Robotics Proposed for US Kill-Bots

    Politics · Scifi · · posted by Zonk · from the maybe-calling-them-kill-bots-is-a-bad-first-step dept. · 373 comments
    jakosc writes "The Register has a short commentary about a proposed new set of laws of robotics for war robots by John S Canning of the Naval Surface Warfare Centre. Unlike Asimov's three laws of robotics Canning proposes (pdf) that we should 'Let machines target other machines and let men target men.' Although this sounds OK in principle, 'a robot could decide under Mr Canning's rules, to target a weapon system such as an AK47 for destruction on its own initiative, requiring no permission from a human. If the person holding it was thereby killed, that would be collateral damage and the killer droid would be in the clear.'"

  4. Slippery Slime Developed to Control Crowds

    Science · Science · · posted by chrisd · from the mud-wrestling-protestors dept. · 563 comments
    powlow writes "Southwest Research Institute (press release )developed a non-hazardous chemical spray system that spreads a highly slippery, viscous gel (which the lab designated a "mobility denial system" and dubbed "banana peel in a can") to inhibit the movement of individuals or vehicles on treated surfaces. Marines Corps believes it can be used for crowd control. (Defense Technical Information Center's PDF Report) In tests, volunteers attempted in vain to walk across a lawn sprayed with the slime, and in fact, had they not been safety-harnessed during the tests, many would have broken bones."

  5. Army Dumps NT as Web Server, Moves to Mac

    News · News · · posted by Roblimo · from the an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-crackers-away dept. · 189 comments
    kootch writes "This sounded too funny to believe, but I think it's true. The US Army, after being the victim of a script baby and having their web pages vandalized, has moved their site from an NT box to a Mac box running WebStar as their server software. Don't believe me? Go here!"