No Porn For Missile Defense Agency Employees

Inside the heart of defence: The revelation constitutes a massive security risk because pornographic sites provide perfect cover for criminals and foreign spies to smuggle spying software past even the most sophisticated of firewalls (stock image)

Pentagon Orders Missile Defense Staff To Stop Watching Porn On Office Computers -- Daily Mail

* Workers at the Missile Defence Agency were caught downloading x-rated material on office computers and sharing them with each other via the internal network
* Fears raised that criminals or spies may have hacked agency's mainframe
* Porn sites provide perfect cover for hackers to smuggle spying software past sophisticated firewalls
* MDA is responsible for developing, fielding and upgrading the nation’s ground-and sea-based missile defense programs

The Pentagon has ordered staff at its top-secret missile defence unit to stop watching porn and concentrate on the job in hand.

Military chiefs are furious that workers at the Missile Defence Agency have been wasting valuable hours surfing the web for smut rather than developing state-of-the-art weaponry.

The violation came to light after fears were raised that viruses may have already been smuggled into the department's mainframe through x-rated sites.

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More News On The Pentagon Warning Missile Defense Employees And Contractors To Stay Away From Porn Sites

Missile Defense Staff Warned to Stop Surfing Porn Sites -- Bloomberg
Pentagon’s War on Porn Spreads to Missile Defense Machines -- Danger Room
Director wants missile defense workers to stop watching porn at work -- FOX News
Missile Defense Agency warns workers to lay off the porn -- New York Daily News
US missile defense staff asked to stop watching porn at work -- Global Post
Missile Defense Workers Aren't Practicing Safe Porn -- Atlantic Wire

Science Group Casts Doubt European Missile Defense

Obama Missile Defense Plan Scrutinized -- Blog Critics

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine.” The Washington based group is expressing concern as to the Obama administration's Europe-based missile defense shield future plans, and has detailed a plan of its own which scraps key parts of the Obama plan.

Read more ....

Update: Science advisory group doubts European missile shield can protect United States from attack -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: The Russians are not going to listen to these scientific concerns, and the White House will not alter their policy in an election year.

Airborne Laser Weapon Fails to Take Down Dummy Nuke In Critical 100-Mile Test Shot

The Airborne Laser Test Bed Missile Defense Agency

From Popular Science:

The Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) – formerly known simply as the Airborne Laser – has endured a back-and-forth existence, at different times the darling of the MDA, at other times on the verge of catching the Pentagon or Congressional axe. But after an all-around success in February, the scales have tipped back the other way for the embattled ICBM-blaster as it failed a critical test on September 1.

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'Star Wars' Is A Mere Phantom Menace To Missiles

From New Scientist:

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has finally shot down a moving missile with an airborne laser – but military experts say the system is not good enough for combat.

A liquid-fuelled rocket – thought to be a Scud-B, similar to those being developed by Iran and North Korea – was fired from a ship off the coast California on 11 February.

Within the next 20 seconds, the "airborne laser testbed" onboard a modified Boeing 747 locked-on to it with two low-powered tracking lasers, then a laser beam of several megawatts, to heat-damage the missile's skin. If such damage is done while booster rockets are still firing, the stresses caused by the acceleration can destroy the missile, as this clip of the test shows.

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Successful Airborne Laser Test Reported. Is This Program Combat Ready?

The Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) takes flight. (Source: U.S. Air Force)

U.S. Successfully Tests Airborne Laser On Missile -- Yahoo News/Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. high-powered airborne laser weapon shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of a futuristic directed energy weapon, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Friday.

The agency said in a statement the test took place at 8:44 p.m. PST (11:44 p.m. EST) on Thursday /0444 GMT on Friday) at Point Mugu's Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off Ventura in central California.

"The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile" the agency said.

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More News On Yesterday's Successful Laser Test

U.S. Airborne Laser Eliminates Target Missile -- Global Security Newswire
U.S. Air Force's Laser Air Armada Nears Combat Readiness -- Daily Tech
Laser Jet Blasts Ballistic Missile in Landmark Test -- Danger Room
Two Northrop Grumman Laser Systems Help Airborne Laser Testbed Turn Science Fiction Into Fact -- CNN
Boeing 747 destroys ballistic missile with laser (update: photos!) -- Engadget
Boeing Airborne Laser Testbed team destroys boosting ballistic missile -- Shephard
Airborne Laser Testbed Successful -- Digital Silence
Boeing Airborne Laser Testbed Team Destroys Boosting Ballistic Missile -- Product Design And Development
US airborne laser destroys test missile -- KRQE.com

Video: Airborne Laser Tracks and Engages A Missile in Flight

From Popular Science:

Remember the Airborne Laser (ABL), the jumbo-jet-mounted chemical laser weapon designed to knock hostile missiles out of the air in mid-flight? The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has released a video of this futuristic system in action, tracking and engaging a test missile fired from San Nicolas Island off the California coast. While the video might come off just a bit anti-climactic, with no dramatic explosion to cap off the laser blast, it does prove one key thing: the system, at least if the video is to be believed, actually works.

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My Comment: I have to assume that the video is accurate (even if it was probably taken under controlled conditions) .... if it was not I am sure that critics of the program would be yelling to anyone who would listen right now.

Having said that, I recall how critics were calling this program "mission impossible" 25 years ago. Hmmmm .... 25 years later and billions spent .... I guess nothing is no longer impossible.

Pentagon Official: U.S. Is Not Developing Space Weapons

The USS Lake Erie launches a Standard Missile-3 at a non-functioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 20, 2008. Credit: Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Navy

From Live Science:

STRASBOURG, France - The United States is not developing space weapons and could not afford to do so even if it wanted to, an official with the Pentagon's National Security Space Office said Thursday.

Pete Hays, a senior policy analyst at the space office who is also associate director of the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies, said U.S. policy on space weaponry has remained pretty much the same over the last 30 years despite the occasionally heated debate on the subject during the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush.

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