Our Future is not MIL SPEC

At least this British guitar amp is MIL SPEC.

You really have to wonder about the military of today - not the heroism or valor parts - the intellectual parts.  The parts that are busy making up me-to technology moves like jumping on the "cloud computing" bandwagon.

But first a little background.  Long ago I worked in the defense industry and before that, at the dawn of time, in the electronics industry that make parts for the defense industry.

In those days militarized equipment was much different than it is now - particularly on the computer and integrated circuit front.  There was something called "MIL SPEC".  This meant a number of things.  First off the circuitry required to make something "MIL SPEC" (and hence acceptable to the military purchasing department) had to be rated for MIL SPEC - that meant operational between about -50 degrees centigrade to about 100 degrees centigrade.

Each IC (integrated circuit) did not just get soldered to the circuit board - the leads were also bent in a way as to ensure physical contact.  So lots of little old ladies sat around making sure things were properly attached to the circuit boards.

Software had to meet various rigorous testing requirements and not be "industrial".  This meant that the military spent a lot of money making something up new so that it would not be susceptible to various forms of hackery and failure.  Software was designed and built from the ground up to be reliable.  After all, you can't have your computerized gun sight crap-out just as you are taking aim at a nasty enemy combatant...

But like everything else all of this costs too much today...

No one wants to spend $100 million USD building what amounts to a MIL SPEC PC or laptop if I can go down the street and buy one for $100 USD.

So as the defense budget gets cut further and further our troops end up with run-of-the-mill technology.

And, for that $100 you, as they say, get what you pay for.

So now we see the Pentagon jumping on the "Cloud Computing" bandwagon.  Secure, safe world-wide computing and storage capacity - just like Google...

Oh wait, Google, aren't they the folks busy tinkering with the search engines to help turn over dictators?

I bet the Pentagon doesn't have it own cloud services - I bet it ends up buying them because, well, its not given the money to do the job right in the first place.

Only problem is that those same flip-flop wearing, red bull drinking hackers busy with STUXNET know all about these platforms, this software, how it works, and what its flaws are.

And that's what the real issue is.

The US Military is busy focusing on a foe, particularly in the middle east, that's technologically ignorant.  Sure they have cellphones, satellite TV, and so forth... but they just buy them already made.  They are not developing the technology on their own: no satellite launches, nothing.

So we develop advanced model airplanes to fly around with cameras and spy on them - like watching puppies play from the balcony. 

But what about a real foe?  Someone who can actual think up technological weapons on their own?

Aren't we more focused on the technologically ignorant than we should be?

Someone with a brain might figure out that drone communication and information gathering can be interfered with remotely.  Someone who doesn't life in mud hut...

So what does this mean?  It means that we, as a country, are downgrading our defenses to match our enemies.  Meanwhile China, for example, is busy launching satellites, building stealth fighters, buying up our debt, and so forth.  Leaving us, as they say, holding the "bag".

Our technology companies, like Google, are no longer our friends - just look at the involvement of Google execs in the unrest in Egypt.  Is this technology the US Military should be depending on?

No, our future safety and our technological military leadership has been forfeited promised health care and pensions, owned by the Chinese, that we can never afford to pay...