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Defense Department Drafts RFID Policy

Posted by simoniker on from the rtfm-on-rfid dept.

Bob Wehadababyitsaboy writes "According to CNET News, the Department of Defense has announced its new policy of requiring all suppliers to use RFID chips in all goods supplied to the military by 2005, except on bulk commodities such as sand, grit or liquids. It claims that this move will help them streamline inventory and delivery of vital supplies around the world."

9 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Prediction... by ivi · · Score: 3, Insightful


    High-Powered Aircraft-Based RFID Transmitters
    with Super-Sensitive Receivers...

    The Easiest Way to Count Your Enemy's Resources

    (Or are all these RFID's only in the packaging,
    or only with the items they label until
    they have been checked-in the first time?

    1. Re:Prediction... by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Instead of snipers up in the hills, you'll be looking for camoflaged RFID reception parabolic mirrors.

      Sir! Signals intelligence indicates that the enemy has just dispatched 1 bradley fighting vehicles and 4 APCs with 34 marines -- probably from the 3rd batallion -- which indicates that they've recieved reinforcements.

      Thank you corporal. Anything else to report?

      A four day supply of food and 50,000 rounds of ammunition.

      That definitely indicates reinforcements.. Yesterday's patrol had a 1 day supply and only 8000 rounds of ammunition

      This, of course, would open up entierely new avenues of misinformation:
      Sir: I've got bad news and more bad news. The first bad news is that Division headquarters has said that they can't get rienforcements to us for another 4 days and they can only do one -- very small -- supply drop. The other bad news is that I think we've found an enemy RFID reciever pointed at our east gate.

      Thank you Seargent. Tell your men that they are NOT to destroy the RFID reciever, then tell signals to request that the supplies shipment include 35 sets of uniforms that have been used by members of another batallion as well as the RFID tags from their weapons and the RFID tags from 200 boxes of ammunition. and 500 MREs.

      Sir?

      That's all Seargent. I'll explain the rest to you later.

      Where there's a war, there's a wound.
      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  2. Face it by NaCh0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These high-tech barcodes are becoming commonplace if you like it or not.

  3. Re:And DoS attacks too by DoraLives · · Score: 2, Insightful
    cheap and simple way of reducing your costs, which eliminates hardening entirely.

    When the DoD is done with this, it will no longer be cheap or simple, but it WILL be hard.

    --
    Is it fascism yet?
  4. Good technology, but intelligent use is needed. by Morgaine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just because products can be inventoried rapidly with RFID or barcodes doesn't necessarily mean that inventory control improves. There needs to be someone with a brain cell in the loop somewhere too.

    As a mildly funny example, I'm pretty tired of the wholemeal pitta bread running out every day several hours before the white variety in our local supermarket. It's been happening for years, despite the perpetual roving hoards of clerks running up and down the isles with their little scanning machines. You'd think that better stock control would be used to help increase sales by ordering optimal amounts.

    I bet you've all seen your own versions of this lack of a guiding intelligence in places, despite deployment of the latest technologies.

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
  5. But to see RFID, the mine must emit a signal... by MyNameIsFred · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The mine or boobytrap would have to emit RF energy to see the RFID. It would be easy to detect that signal, giving away the fact that the mine or boobytrap was in the area.

    It's simple physics. RFID signal must go both ways - from the mine to the RFID tag and back. The emissions from the boobytrap to a boobytrap detector are one way. You can detect the boobytrap before it can detect you. This is a well-known fact for counterdetection. E.g., you can detect a radar signal well-before the radar can see you.

  6. Re:WARNING! US Gov already mandates RFIDs in CARS by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But worse RFIDs are in cars and readable from over twenty feet away

    So is your license plate! OH NO!

  7. 'Breaking' this technology isn't exactly hard by Persol · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So you go to Canada, buy new tires, and are no longer seen as the same car.

    It's not much of a secret government plot if
    1) Everyone knows that it's possible
    2) It can be foiled by changing your tires

  8. It's a real solution for a real problem by Animats · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The US military has been using a barcode inventory system for years. This is just an upgrade.

    It helps solve a real problem. It's not at all uncommon for deployed units to have to unpack shipping containers just to find out what's inside. Huge hassle for everybody.

    There's a constant struggle between the shipping people, who want to fill up every container, and the field logistics people, who want containers to be "single-consignee", so they go opened to the receiving unit. In the civilian world, containers are delivered to warehouses where "bulk-break" and sorting take place. (Visit any major UPS or FedEx location to see such a place.) The military has to do that under field conditions.