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U.S. Makes Plans for GPS Shutdown
sailforsingapore writes "Apparently, President Bush is drawing up plans to disable sections of the GPS network in the event of a terrorist attack. The rationale seems to be that it would prevent said terrorists from using the GPS system to direct some sort of attack. The plan would shut down access not only to the GPS satellite network, but projects like the EU's Galileo. Ironically, this comes alongside the President's plan to strengthen the GPS network against deliberate jamming."
This seems like a real waste of resources. Attack the GPS system? That would require large resources from the attackers to pull that off. I don't for a minute believe that guys hidden in caves around the world, of living in dingy apartments have that capability. If they did have the technical skill to pull that off, they could be making big money in a western country anf living with blond women. A TERROR attack must be large, violent, and against people, or it has little impact. I waon't state them here, but there are much, MUCH eaiser targets that the GPS system. Rant off.
So I wholeheartedly agree. Everybody who has any desire to question the wisdom of this latest measure should sit down and shut up. You are very smart and very cool in your performance of 'impatient level-headedness' and we should all listen to your thought-provoking arguments about air planes.
-FL
> What about all the other users?
Which is why they are pondering ways to disable PARTS of the GPS/Galileo systems. The idea is to have the capability to blank the signal from selected areas should the need arise; without being forced into shutting the entire system down, which everyone agrees would be highly disruptive.
I know it easier to maintain the belief that Shrubbie is the anti-christ and all who work in the government are evil encarnate and dumber than a box of rocks, but reality is more complex than Moveon.org can imagine. Just remember, most of the career government guys are the same ones you folks automatically trusted to be smarter and more caring than us mere civilians when Clinton had the reins of power just a few years ago.
> Its just asking to get more people pissed off with the US..
Which may or may not bother me a bit. When we do something we think is in OUR national interest I couldn't care less what our enemies in Paris think.
And yes, at this point it is safe to say France is a nominal enemy. Not that they would ever have the balls to oppose us openly, but it is openly acknowledged that it is a goal of French policy to reduce the influence of the US in world affairs. This means they, as a matter of offical policy, oppose any US action which would tend to increase US influence/prestige/national security unless the benefit to France is much greater and they lend aid, comfort and political cover to our enemies.
As for certain others getting 'pissed off' at the US I say GREAT! It means we are being effective. Lets face facts, every government in the Middle East (Iraq, Kuwait and Israel excepted) is currently pissed at us whether they can admit it in public or not because unless they are totally clueless they understand that it is our goal to topple every one of their perverted police states. So the more pissed they get the more threat they perceive us to be. And since they all vote in the UN and most of Europe prefers their misrule to our meddling over there they also vote with the despots and denounce us. Screw em.
Democrat delenda est
> It's one thing to not care about the rest of the world. It's quite
> another to stop caring one drop about your own citizens.
By defination a representive government cares about their own citizens, just not ALL of them. You can't make everyone happy and shouldn't try to make the insane ones happy. Moveon.org, the Deaniacs and a good chunk of the "anti-war" (read as anti-american) left are insane with pronounced suicidal tendencies and should be ignored by all right thinking people.
> Besides, isn't one of the things the "terrorists" are good at is
> long-term observations of their planned targets, and NOT using things
> like GPS, cell phones, etc. to carry out their attacks?
And if they never exploit GPS this was all an exercise in threat assessment, useful if only as practice. On the other hand, if they DO try to use it against us it will be good to have a response at hand, We pay taxes so those people in the spook agencies can sit around and think of potential threats and responses, play wargames, and generally think about the unthinkable. I for one am a lot happier paying them to do things that are actually mandated by the Constituition than, a useless Dept of [Education|HHS|Interior|Agriculture|Energy|etc] that isn't.
Democrat delenda est
I don't think France has a contingency plan for war with the US. They would simply run and hide in their cellars like they did when Hitler rolled in to France in WWII. The last Frenchman with any balls died at the battle of Waterloo. (Ok, maybe he died a number of years later in exile). As for the Germans, the last Kraut with any balls died in 1945 as the Russians were rolling into Berlin, so no, they don't have a contingency plan either.