Electronics-frying "e-bombs" have been discussed for decades — but rarely, if ever, deployed. Knocking out computers and communications gear with electromagnetic radiation is nice, but commanders prefer the proven method: blowing stuff up.

Now the U.S. Army is developing technology to do both  at the same time. Hybrid munitions would give warheads the added punch of an e-bomb that can "destroy and disable electronic systems and their operators" all in one blast. The key is a magnet that blows up and spontaneously demagnetizes, releasing energy as a pulse of power. Oh, and antennas made of fire. My story in the current Defense Technology International explains.

Previous e-bomb designs were based on explosively driven magnetic flux compression generators. They used a series of tightly wound, current-carrying metal coils that are rapidly compressed by an explosion. The new technology is much more compact. It's based on research showing that some magnets will spontaneously demagnetize when hit by a powerful enough shock wave, releasing a pulse of energy, in the process. The technical term is "pressure-induced magnetic phase transition."

Having proved the principle by blowing up neodymium magnets (like the ones in your headphones) the Army's Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (Amrdec) have moved on to lead zirconate titanate magnets. The current state of the art is described as a completely explosive ultracompact high-voltage nanosecond pulse-generating system, occupying about one-fifth of a cubic inch.

There are engineering challenges at the other end. For this new weapon to work, you need an antenna that can fit inside a warhead, but is big enough to do the job. The problem is, the size is dictated by the properties of the electromagnetic pulse to be generated. You could used some sort of folding antenna, perhaps. The Army is going one step further and using an antenna made out of fire. To be more exact, Allen Stults of Amrdec is using the jet of ionized plasma produced by the explosion as an antenna.

Continue reading "New Army Weapon Aims to Fry Gadgets, People " »

Most discussion of the Human Terrain System, Army's social science program, usually focuses on the "sharp end," pictured here: the social scientists and anthropologists embedded within combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they rarely examine another key function: the HTS Research Reachback Center back in the United States.

These research cells, staffed by military and civilian analysts at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and Oyster Point, Va., are tasked with producing customized, open-source research on key issues of concern to commanders and forward-deployed social science teams in both Iraq and Afghanistan. DANGER ROOM has obtained a number of these unclassified reports, which give some unique insights into how the program works -- and what kind of cultural knowledge the military wants to master.

The reports vary widely in content and sourcing: some cite academic studies, others rely heavily on newspaper articles and information culled from the Web. But the most current reports on Afghanistan reflect a recent push into Wardak and Logar, provinces in Regional Command-East that have in the past seen a limited coalition presence. These studies give a general sense of the kind of general information commanders are looking for: "Historical Averages for School Attendance, Logar and National"; "Strategic Marriage"; "Wardak Soil and Crops"; "Grafitti [in] Logar Province"; "Logar-Wardak Governors' Bios."

Continue reading "Inside the Brain of 'Human Terrain'" »

A recent "cultural knowledge report" prepared by an Army human terrain "reachback" cell provides a rare opportunity to look at an actual product of the Pentagon's controversial effort to employ social science. The report, a copy of which was obtained by DANGER ROOM, looks at bribery and corruption in Iraq; its statement of purpose says that "knowledge of ‘acceptable’ thresholds will enable the C2 CACE [Coalition Analysis and Control Element] to focus on bribery/corruption that is of significance."

Discussions of the Army's social science program, the Human Terrain System, usually focus on the social scientists and anthropologists embedded within combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they often overlook the HTS Research Reachback Center back in the United States. This cell, staffed by military and civilian analysts, provides more in-depth research products culled from open-source materials.

The report, in part, focuses on an explanation of wasta, defined here by researchers as "the use of connections to provide services for family and friends." And it strives to make a distinction between wasta and straight-up bribery.

Continue reading "'Human Terrain' Explains Corruption to the Army " »

Executives at defense behemoth Northrop Grumman are worried about climate change. The solution? Build a "global change monitoring system" -- and buy more Global Hawk surveillance drones.

In a speech yesterday at an aerospace symposium in Maryland, Robert Burke, vice president of Civil Systems for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector, noted that the younger generation, with their "blogs" and their "twitters," are already aware of melting polar ice caps and the latest in solar technology. Now it's time for the grownups to get on board.

"As the rate of global change accelerates and budgets are squeezed, we in industry and government must change our perspective," he said. "The mind-set that makes us stick with what we know, our comfort zone, cannot last. We must strive to develop innovative concepts for Earth sensing – utilizing new platform opportunities and new instrument architectures and technology."

Specifically, Burke called for using more pilotless aircraft in Earth observation missions. The latest unmanned aerial vehicles, he argued, can offer wider coverage than geosynchronous or polar-orbiting satellites, and they can be customized to carry payloads that monitor climate change, collect atmospheric data or perform disaster assessment after storms:

Continue reading "Defense Firm's Global Warming Solution: More Drones" »

Best-selling author Neil Strauss helped Jenna Jameson show us How to Make Love Like a Porn Star. Then he taught us the finer points of attracting mates in The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. Now, Strauss has new knowledge to drop. In his just-published book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, he schools us on what to do, if everything suddenly goes to hell. Strauss has spent the last several years training to become a full-fledged survivalist -- learning how to live off the land with D.I.Y. weapons, homemade solar stills, debris huts, and hot-wired cars. He talks to Danger Room about how he got his new skills. And in an exclusive video, Strauss shows what to do, if you really need a knife -- and all you have is a cigarette.

DANGER ROOM: When last we met, you were getting hit on by Britney Spears -- and teaching nerds how to become master pick-up artists. Are you still active in that world? And, if so, does that mean you're constantly rocking goggles and boas, like your former mentor, Mystery?

NEIL STRAUSS: My nickname in The Game was Style, which means that I don’t rock goggles and boas. That said, if you’re able to wear these accouterments without letting them wear you, they do, amazingly, work. As for Britney, I actually tell the story in Emergency of what happened after she suggested exchanging numbers because, months later, strangely enough, she called me.

DR: At the top of the new book, you introduce us to Mad Dog, a guy who can "chop wood, make fire, forge weapons, kill his own food, and defend himself with his bare hands. In other words, he could survive on his own, without AT&T, without Exxon, with McDonald's, without Wal-Mart, without two and a half centuries of American civilization and industry." When did you decide that you wanted to be like Mad Dog, instead of like Mystery? And why did you decide that living with the help of modern government and society was such a bad thing?

NS: There’s school and then there’s life. And the former doesn't really prepare you for the latter. So I sought out people like Mystery and Mad Dog – experts in their respective fields  - to teach me the skills and elements of my own life that were lacking.

As for when I decided to learn to be independent of the system, I think it happened over the last eight years, watching helplessly as everything that we thought could never happen in America suddenly started happening. So I decided to take control over my own life, and become as self-sufficient, independent, skilled, and experienced as I could. That journey still continues today.

DR: So what skills did you start getting first? And what's the "philosophy of the sphincter?"   

NS: Originally, I fell in with a group of people known as PTs ["permanent travelers"], who have made themselves citizens of not any particular country but of the world. So I began by getting a second passport and setting up a backup life offshore.

Then I turned to the survivalists, who told me I needed to start with an “urban survival kit,” which they defined as a cell phone, an ATM card, and a pistol.  And since I only had two of those three things, I learned to shoot at a place called Gunsite, which is where I learned the philosophy of the sphincter.

The basic idea is that, in a high-pressure situation, the first thing that happens is people get nervous and uptight. And as soon as your sphincter tightens, as the metaphor goes, it cuts off circulation to your brain. So one of the best survival skills you can have is the ability to quickly and coolly assess a situation rather than panicking and doing something stupid.

Continue reading "How To: Survive the Apocalypse (Think D.I.Y. Knives, and Solar Stills)" »

Rachel Maddow gave Danger Room an extended shout-out  on her MSNBC show tonight -- and our brother bloggers at Epicenter, too. Check it out:

UPDATE: Online, Fox News does a little write-up of the Iran drone story, too.

UPDATE 2: Stars & Stripes can't get a straight answer out of these guys, either.

"We have nothing for you on that," was the response issued by both Multi-National Force–Iraq and the Pentagon...

The refusal to comment is at odds with repeated previous accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraq.

From the moment the helicopter emerges from the cloud of smoke to the sounds of rattling snare drums and Copland-esque brass, you get the feeling that this clip belongs in the Iron Eagles — our collection of the military-industrial complex's awesomely bad videos. Then come the flick's first words: "Persuasive in peace, invincible in war." Oh, no doubt.

The video is meant to promote "Warfighter Information Network - Tactical," the Army's star-crossed project to build a new, wireless battlefield internet. And it's supposed to double as a celebration of "network-centric warfare," the idea that the army that shares information best becomes all-but-unstoppable. Instead, the clip is more like a collection of military marketing cliches. Stiff re-enactments? Check. Military jargon? In spades. Dime-store CGI? Here's your change. Special bonus: The planet's worst hair helmet, at around two minutes, forty seconds. Talk about invincible.

[Unstoppable: JL]

Continue reading "Iron Eagle: 'Persuasive in Peace, Invincible in War,' Lame in Video" »

The drones have struck again. "Missiles believed to have been fired by U.S. pilotless drone aircraft hit a militant hideout and training camp in Pakistan on Thursday," according to Reuters. As many as 14 people may have been killed in the attack.

This is the fifth reported unmanned strike since President Obama took office. More than 100 people have died, as a result.

Four missiles hit a militant hideout and training camp in the Kurram tribal agency. Previous attacks have been mostly concentrated to the south and north, in the regions of Bajaur and North and South Waziristan.

"The Taliban have used Kurram as a training ground for their forces and have established several bases in the agency, according to the Long War Journal's sources. "The Taliban in Kurram are led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, a rising star in the Pakistani Taliban [who] has been leading operations against NATO's supply lines in Khyber and Peshawar."

After the robotic planes hit, a local villager tells Reuters, "the training camp was completely destroyed."

And now, the most lethal U.S. unmanned aircraft are about to get deadlier still. Until now, Reaper drones were equipped only with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs. But in a series of tests at the China Lake test range in California, a Reaper recently dropped satellite-guided munitions, generally considered to be more accurate. The drone's record in the trials: Nine kills out of nine.

[Photo: USAF; on target: EM]

Continue reading "New Unmanned Attack on Pakistan Kills 14" »

Stationing missile-defense interceptors in Europe has been, to borrow a phrase, a great way to lose friends and alienate people. The Bush administration's push to build a third missile-defense site in Europe infuriated the Kremlin, and caused no end of controversy in Poland and the Czech Republic.

It now looks as if President Barack Obama may be backing away from plans to put ballistic missile interceptors in Eastern Europe, but rogue regimes armed with ballistic missiles aren't exactly going away. So how to counter the threat from countries like Iran and North Korea?

MIT Professor Theodore Postol has proposed what he describes as a more politically palatable way of delivering missile defense: putting the interceptors on long-haul drones instead of parking them in the ground. Postol's idea is to develop a new kind of "boost phase" defense that could target missiles as they slowly lift off from the ground. The missiles, he writes in a New York Times op-ed, could be delivered by long-range, stealthy drones:

Only two of these armed drones, controlled by remote teams of operators, would be needed to patrol within several hundred kilometers of a launching site. At these ranges, it would be possible to shoot down an ICBM, with its nuclear warhead, so that the debris falls on the territory of the country that launched it. Only five drones would be needed to maintain a continuous patrol for extended periods. But the system would have to operate only when satellites and reconnaissance aircraft indicate that an ICBM is being prepared at the launching site.

Continue reading "Scientist's New Missile Defense: Killer Drones" »

Last week, the International Criminal Court announced that it would issue an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan for war crimes in Darfur. Since then, the crisis in Sudan has accelerated: the government in Khartoum expelled more than a dozen major relief organizations working in Darfur; unidentified gunmen shot and wounded four UN/African Union peacekeepers near the town of El-Geneina in West Darfur.

Darfur's downward spiral has spurred new debate about whether the United States should respond militarily. Writing last week in the Washington Post, retired Gen. Merrill McPeak and Kurt Bassuener argued for the enforcement of a no-fly zone to bring pressure to bear on Khartoum.

"By taking away the Sudanese government's freedom to use air power to terrorize its population, the West would finally get enough leverage with Khartoum to negotiate the entry of a stronger U.N. ground force," they wrote. "Effective military action in the form of a no-fly zone would not preclude a political resolution, as some suggest, but in fact would make diplomacy more effective by reducing Bashir's options."

This is not just op-ed strategizing by the "Save Darfur" crowd: McPeak was Air Force chief of staff from 1990 to 1994; he co-chaired Barack Obama's presidential campaign. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof endorsed the idea as well -- and coaxed this quote from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: “I don’t think the international community can stand by and watch as thousands more people starve to death.”

Continue reading "Debating a No-Fly Zone over Darfur" »

For years, the idea of super-sized blimp that could see a whole city at once seemed like something only Darpa, the military's far-out research arm, could love. Now, unexpectedly, the Air Force has signed on to the concept, as well.

Built around a giant, flexible antenna, the all-seeing airship -- dubbed ISIS, short for Integrated Sensor Is Structure -- would provide a God's-eye view of the battlefield in real time. In theory, it could spot a cruise missile hundreds of miles away, or track a group of insurgents on the ground.

Darpa spokeswoman Jan Walker confirmed to Danger Room that the Air Force recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the agency on ISIS. It's a fairly big deal: Most ideas that originate within Darpa do not have a long life unless a service picks up on it.

It's significant for another reason: Tony Tether, who recently stepped down as chief of Darpa after almost eight years on the job, was a big fan of ISIS. This ensures that development of the concept will continue in some form after Tether's departure.

Noah has tracked ISIS since its inception; click here to read his dispatch from the 2004 DarpaTech conference describing the initial feasibility study for the super-blimp.

[IMAGE: Raytheon via MSNBC]

An American fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone as it was flying over Iraq, U.S. military sources in Baghdad tell Danger Room.

Details of the previously-unreported shoot-down, which occurred last month, are still sketchy. But we do know that American commanders have long accused Tehran of supplying weapons and training to all sorts of Iraqi militant groups. Shi'ite militias fired Iranian rockets at U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the American military; Sunni militias allegedly used Iranian armor-piercing bombs to reduce U.S. vehicles to ribbons.

In early 2008, however, the torrent of Iranian weapons into Iraq slowed to a trickle, the U.S. said. And now, the new Obama administration is looking for ways to reach out to the Tehran regime -- dangling invitations to international conferences, and offering promises of renewed relations.

Which means the drone incident comes at a particularly sensitive time.

Iran has built an array of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. The pneumatically launched Ababil ("Swallow") has a wingspan of more than 10 feet, and cruises at 160 knots, according to Globalsecurity.org. The Mohajer or Misrad ("Migrant") drone is a bit smaller, and slower-flying.

Iran has supplied Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group, with both models. Misrad drones flew reconnaissance missions in both November 2004 and April 2005. Then, in 2006, during Hezbollah's war with Israel, the group operated both Misrads and Ababils over Israel's skies. At least one was shot down by Israeli fighter jets.

Since then, Tehran claims to have radically upgraded its unmanned fleet. In 2007, Iran said it built a drone with a range of 420 miles. In February, Iran's deputy defense minister claimed its latest UAV could now fly as far as 600 miles -- a huge improvement over crude drones like the Misrad, if true. Iran often exaggerates what its weapons can do. But, if this drone really can stay in the air for for that long, the Washington Times notes, "it could soar over every U.S. military installation, diplomatic mission or country of interest in the Middle East." Including those in Iraq.

UPDATE: So I finally got a hold of a spokesman for Multi-National Corps - Iraq. His response: "I believe MNF-I [Multi-National Forces - Iraq -- Corps' bosses, basically] is taking the lead on this incident." So then I reached out to MNF-I. A spokesman there wouldn't confirm the shoot-down. Nor would he deny it. "We've got nothing for you, Noah," the spokesman said.

[Photo: Globalsecurity.org]

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Nothing says lethal and overwhelming firepower quite like a shredding speed metal guitarist. At least, that appears to be the assumption behind the soundtracks of most defense industry promotional vids.

But military contracting juggernaut BAE Systems made a different choice for this recruiting film. Instead of Slayer or Pantera's sonic assaults, the company turned to the warbling voice of Freddie Mercury, and Queen's lite, Broadway-inspired camp. The juxtaposition of killing machines with the sunshine-dappled, oh-so-gentle tones of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" is what makes this clip perfect for the Iron Eagles — our celebration of the awesomely bad videos of the military-industrial complex. Next up: the Village People sing "In the Navy," for Northrop Grumman's new destroyers.

The dissonance between the Queen audio and the fighter jet visuals may not be the oddest thing about the flick, however. It's the clip's silly, silly habit of pairing Mercury's lyrics to every video frame -- like a grammar school dancer, pointing to her eye, every time her song uses the first person singular.  Jets go "burning through the sky." Laser pointers flash "at the speed of light." An operator picks up the phone when Freddie asks to "give me a call." Alas, no nekkid ladies are presented for Mercury's "Lady Godiva." Maybe in BAE's next promotional clip.

Continue reading "Iron Eagle Nominee: Freddie Mercury, Military-Industrial Pitchman" »

Forget Victor Davis Hanson. Online comic book artist and writer Kate Beaton is the Web's best military historian, hands down. This week's lesson: The death of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar.

Perhaps it has something to do with her stint in a maritime museum, but Beaton has the sensibility that you can only find in someone who has spent too much time reading about pirates or perusing musty regimental museums. She also wears her colonial identity (read: Canadianness) on her sleeve: read this smart, moving Remembrance Day post.

My favorite, however, is her tribute to Sir John Monash, the great Australian military commander of World War I. I'm waiting for her to turn her attention to present-day military fiascos.

[IMAGE: Kate Beaton]

Like the online strikes against Georgia, the origins of the 2007 cyber attacks on Estonia remain hazy. Everybody suspects the Russian government was somehow behind the assaults; no one has been able to prove it. At least so far. A pro-Kremlin youth group has taken responsibility for the network attacks. And that group has a track record of conducting operations on Moscow's behalf.

Nashi ("Ours") is the "largest of a handful of youth movements created by Mr. Putin’s Kremlin to fight for the hearts and minds of Russia’s young people in schools, on the airwaves and, if necessary, on the streets," according to the New York Times.

Yesterday, one of the group's "commissars," Konstantin Goloskokov (pictured), told the Financial Times that he and some associates had launched the strikes. "I wouldn't have called it a cyber attack; it was cyber defense," he said. "We taught the Estonian regime the lesson that if they act illegally, we will respond in an adequate way." He made similar claims, in 2007.

If true, it would be only one in a long string of propaganda drives the group has waged in support of the Kremlin. Not only has Nashi waged intimidation campaigns against the British and Estonian ambassadors to Moscow, and staged big pro-Putin protests. Not only has been it been accused of launching denial-of-service attacks against unfriendly newspapers. Last month, Nashi activist Anna Bukovskaya acknowledged that the group was paid by Moscow to spy on other youth movements. The project, for which she was paid about $1100 per month, included obtaining "videos and photos to compromise the opposition, data from their computers; and, as a separate track, the dispatch of provocateurs," she told a Russian television channel.

Part of the ingenuity of using Nashi as cyberwarfare arm is the group's nominally independent status: while the group does the Kremlin's bidding, its funding comes from pro-business owners looking to ingratiate themselves with the regime.Even if they claim credit for the attacks, they are still one level removed from the Russian government -- however implausible that seems.

[Networker: BW; photo: Posttimes.ee]

Continue reading "Kremlin Kids: We Launched the Estonian Cyber War" »

Israel used a slew of new weapons in new ways, during its assault on Hamas earlier this year: "Diamond" engineering teams used mini-robots to help clear booby-trapped houses; gunboats fired modified anti-tank missiles at coastal targets; jets dropped new bunker-busting bombs on Gaza's tunnels. David Eshel has the scoop in the current issue of Defense Technology International.

Left unanswered, of course, is whether all the new gear -- and, for that matter, the whole "Cast Lead" operation -- really accomplished anything substantial. One of the many stated goals of the attack was to quiet the rocket fire that was terrorizing towns in southern Israel. Yesterday, Hamas shot off four more rockets; over 100 have been fired since the "cease fire" that supposedly ended the Gaza war.

[Photo: Defense Update]

Continue reading "Mini-Bots, Missile Boats in Israel's Gaza Attack" »

On Sunday, an unarmed Navy ocean survey vessel was forced to turn on the firehose to fend off Chinese ships shadowing it in the South China Sea. The incident -- which happened in international waters claimed by China as an "exclusive economic zone" -- touched off a full-blown diplomatic spat between China and the United States.

The civilian-manned survey ship, the USNS Impeccable, was described by the Pentagon news service as "mapping the sea bottom" when the incident occurred. Umm, kinda sorta. Associated Press military writer Anne Gearan confirmed with defense officials that the ship was outfitted with sub-hunting equipment and was on a "calculated U.S. surveillance operation"; according to a photo released by the Navy, Chinese crew members were photographed trying to snag the Impeccable's towed sensor array.

Over at Information Dissemination, Galrahn suggests a little bit of honesty is in order here. The Pentagon, he writes, needs to level with the American public about what exactly the mission is here.

"Somebody in the DoD [Department of Defense] apparently believes the American people can't handle the truth regarding what our ships would be doing off the Chinese coast," he writes. "Can someone please explain how collecting intelligence on the least transparent nation in the world while in international waters with an unarmed ship whose primary purpose is to monitor submarine activity is somehow a threatening act towards China if we say it out loud. If we wanted to be threatening to China, we would use one of our heavily armed AEGIS ships or better yet, one of our first in class submarines."

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]

Continue reading "Was the Impeccable on a Sub Hunt? " »

Last summer, three weeks before the shooting war between Georgia and Russia began, online attackers started assaulting Georgia's websites. Since then, researchers have tried to find out who masterminded the network strikes -- military electronic warriors, patriotic hackers, cyber-crooks -- without finding anything definitive.

But Georgian National Security Council chief Eka Tkeshelashvili says she knows exactly who's behind the network assault. "There's plenty of evidence that the attacks were directly organized by the government in Russia," she tells Danger Room. It's perhaps the boldest, most direct accusation of blame to come from a senior government official in the Russia-Georgia cyber war.

But, in conversations with Danger Room,  neither Tkeshelashvili nor her advisers offered any new evidence that conclusively linked Moscow to the attacks on Georgian cyberspace. "I'm not saying it's enough for a criminal court, to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt," Tkeshelashvili conceded.

Nevertheless, Tkeshelashvili is scheduled to tell the GovSec conference in Washington, D.C. later today that "Russia invaded Georgia on four fronts. Three of them were conventional — on the ground, through the air, and by sea. The fourth was new — their attacks via cyberspace... It is, quite simply, implausible that the parallel attacks by land and by cyberspace were a coincidence — official denials by Moscow notwithstanding."

And she may not be wrong. But the maddening thing about network attacks is that it's all too easy to cloak identities, work through third-parties, and route attacks through far-flung servers. Which makes it next-to-impossible to definitively pin blame. Russian hackers have claimed key roles in the cyber war. Ordinary citizens were encouraged to pile on. One member of Russia's parliament recently said the whole thing was started out of his office.

Continue reading "Top Georgian Official: Moscow Cyber Attacked Us – We Just Can't Prove It " »

For thirty-six years, an internal Pentagon think tank has been forecasting the future for military leaders -- and shooing the public away from its seemingly infinite stream of studies. But thanks to TPM Muckracker's Justin Elliott, us outsiders now have a sliver of an idea about what the Office of Net Assessment is up to.

The Office, headed since its inception by legendary military thinker Andrew Marshall (left), commissions dozens and dozens of reports every year. Through the Freedom of Information Act, Elliott managed to obtain a list of those studies, if not their contents.

The breadth is simply stunning. Some of the recent titles: Chinese and Russian Asymmetrical Strategies for Space Dominance (2010 - 2030), Contradictions and Continuities: The Changing Moral Education Landscape, Role Of High Power Microwave Weapons In Future Intercontinental Conventional War, Europe 2025: Mounting Security Challenges Amidst Declining Competitiveness,  Biometaphor For The Body Politic, Minorities in Turkish-Iranian Relations, Preserving American Primacy, Fighting A Nuclear-Armed Regional Opponent: Is Victory Possible?

Most of these studies are unclassified. So hopefully the next step will be seeing exactly which tomorrows the Pentagon's "futurist-in-chief" has been examining.

[Photo: Sandro for WIRED]