In the Army's vision, the war of the future is increasingly combat by mouse clicks. It's as networked as the Internet, as mobile as a cellphone, as intuitive as a video game. The Army has a name for this vision: Future Combat Systems, or FCS. The project involves creating a family of 14 weapons, drones, robots, sensors and hybrid-electric combat vehicles connected by a wireless network. It has turned into the most ambitious modernization of the Army since World War II and the most expensive Army weapons program ever, military officials say.

It's also one of the most controversial. Even as some early versions of these weapons make their way onto the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, members of Congress, government investigators and military observers question whether the Defense Department has set the stage for one of its biggest and costliest failures. At risk, they say, are billions of taxpayer dollars spent on exotic technology that may never come to fruition, leaving the Army little time and few resources to prepare for new threats.

See also DoD Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities, a recent presentation by the Comptroller General. Several other recent presentations are also available, including:

"U.S. Financial Condition and Fiscal Future Briefing," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Center for Governmental Accounting Education and Research's Annual Conference, at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. GAO-08-340CG, November 30.

"Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, on the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. GAO-08-337CG, December 3.

"America's Fiscal Future," by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Greater Washington Society of CPAs' Annual Not For Profit Organization Symposium, in Washington, D.C. GAO-08-339CG, December 5.

The Army's $200 Billion Makeover

This hearing was previewed recently. Here is the transcript.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LAKHDAR BOUMEDIENE, ET AL.
Petitioners
v.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL.;

and

KHALED A. F. AL ODAH, NEXT FRIEND OF FAWZI KHALID ABDULLAH FAHAD AL ODAH, ET AL.,
Petitioners
v.
UNITED STATES, ET AL.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The above-entitled matter came on for oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States at 10:01 a.m.

Boumediene v. Bush, U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument

Finding something cool to do in Moscow at no cost is a near impossible feat. But on the fourth floor of a dingy house, one of the several buildings that make up the Moscow State Conservatory, something awe-inspiring and magical happens every Friday: theremin-playing lessons are given for free, and last up to three hours at a time.

Magical Mystery Instrument | Moscow News

The Google Chart API lets you dynamically generate charts.

Google Chart API

Flot is a pure Javascript plotting library for jQuery. It produces graphical plots of arbitrary datasets on-the-fly client-side.

The focus is on simple usage (all settings are optional), attractive looks and interactive features like zooming.

Although Flot is easy to use, it is also advanced enough to be suitable for Web 2.0 data mining/business intelligence purposes which is its original application.

flot - Google Code

This essay appears in Foreign Policy.

Offering a very different look at the unpopular Iraq War, Roberts, professor of public administration at Syracuse University, points out the hypocrisies surrounding some of the "myths" about the war on terror. Even if it was devised by neoconservatives, the war also fell under the "desires and preferences of the American people," he contends. Taxes are down, the draft was avoided and "regulatory burdens" minimized, leading Roberts to suggest that this war has been easier on us than wars past. "Americans might try to pin their problems on a few powerful neocons," Roberts writes. "In truth, though, they must shoulder some of the blame."

In the recent presentation by the Comptroller General, there is a plot of annual defense spending over the last century, with the figures adjusted for inflation. This plot shows that expenditures in 2006 have climbed to 67% of the peak of World War II (in 1944-1945).

The War We Deserve

George Packer:

The other night, I had a drink with two of the soldiers who collectively wrote a New York Times Op-Ed piece, published in August.

What struck me in our conversation was that these two soldiers were not completely disillusioned with the Army or with the difficult type of warfare that Iraq forced on them. One of them had recently been promoted and plans to stay in the Army; the other admitted that he wanted to go back to Iraq. They hope to write, with other soldiers, a book about counterinsurgency that would examine the Army’s new field manual against their experience fighting the complex array of warring factions in Iraq -- not to refute it but to improve it. In short, they’re exactly the sort of soldiers the Army needs to keep.

I wonder how long their precious knowledge will be valued by a military and a country that already show signs of wanting to consign Iraq to the memory hole where, three decades ago, Vietnam disappeared.

Also, from last month:

If innovative officers see that their innovations are not valued, they'll either conform or leave.

From a year ago:

... emergency measures have taken a heavy toll on ... the career decisions of some of the Army’s most promising young officers.

And from even farther back:

Bearing "true faith" to the Constitution requires military personnel to speak out, regardless of the cost, when they think our civilian leaders have gone beyond the pale. Both our democracy and the lives of the soldiers who fight in our name depend on it. If officers remain silent when our military policies go terribly wrong, there's little the rest of us can do to set things right again.

Dulce et Decorum

This paper studies an active underground economy which specializes in the commoditization of activities such as credit card fraud, identity theft, spamming, phishing, online credential theft, and the sale of compromised hosts. Using a seven month trace of logs collected from an active underground market operating on public Internet chat networks, we measure how the shift from “hacking for fun” to “hacking for profit” has given birth to a societal substrate mature enough to steal wealth into the millions of dollars in less than one year.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Internet Miscreants

Oh, how I love this skit. It's like a scene from a Michael Haneke film, only funny instead of frightening. Also, it seems newsworthy.

Dad: [ craving attention ] I had a.. funny thing happen today at work. When I left the office, I had trouble unlocking my car. Then I realized I had the wrong set of keys.

Mom: Did somebody take your keys?

Dad: [ annoyed ] Can I finish the story? [ pauses in stern silence ] It turns out that I had accidentally taken Jeff Peabody's keys, and.. he had taken mine. We.. really had a long laugh.

Mom: Mmm, I thought that's who took them.

...

Dad: I am a Division Manager!! That is very important!! That is very important!! You don't talk to me like that!! People are scared of me!!

Daughter: Why would anybody be scared of you! I hate you, you big fat terd!

[ stunned, they continue to eat in awkward, confined silence ]

...

Dad: Did you pick up my dry cleaning?

Mom: Hmm, it's not ready until Thursday.

Dad: I thought you said it'd be ready today?

Mom: No, it's going to be ready Thursday.

Dad: You know, I have that big meeting tomorrow.

Mom: Well, I'm sorry.

Dad: I wish you weren't a liar!

Mom: I didn't lie, Ted.

Dad: I wish you weren't a liar!

Mom: I wish you wouldn't call me a liar!

Dad: Don't raise your voice at me!

Mom: I am not raising my voice!

Dad: You do not talk to me like that!! I work too hard to deal with this stuff!! I work too hard!! I'm a Division Manager in charge of 49 people!! I drive a Dodge Stratus!!

[ their screaming comes to an end, as the agonizing silence returns ]

Family Dinner Argument

“We’re all flabbergasted,” one European diplomat said of the report generally.

Bush Insists Iran Remains a Threat Despite Arms Data