ACTUAL STATEMENT by Air Force Secretary On Nonlethal Weapons

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: September 14, 2006 2:06:48 PM JST
To: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com>
Cc: froomkin () law tm, dave () farber net
Subject: Re: FWD - ACTUAL STATEMENT by Air Force Secretary On  
Nonlethal Weapons


Seth,

I appreciate your eliding of criticism (though I'm always willing to
accept valid criticism!), but frankly I read the transcript to mean
exactly what the original article (and my commentary about it) said.

You theorized that he was suggesting that unless we were willing to
use these weapons on our own people we shouldn't use them in foreign
battles -- with the key implication that we really wouldn't want to
use these technologies at all for that reason.

But the transcript shows that he's enthusiastically talking about
actually using them (my emphasis in text below):

    Basically my point to them was (that) *we need to start using
    that here in the United States on Americans*.  And if we start
    using that here in the United States on Americans and you start
    getting relief from people, because if the first people you use
    it on are your enemies, then unfortunately the first thing they
    will do is cry out that you have hurt them medically in a way
    that is pejorative.

He then adds:

    So I think we should use it, if we're not willing to use it here,
    against our fellow citizens then we should not be willing to use it
    in a wartime situation...

He's not just theorizing.  He's saying:
    a) We should use it.
    b) We should use it on our own people first before using
       it on the battlefield

That's pretty much exactly what the original article said that he
was suggesting.  He wasn't trapped into anything, and the article
didn't manipulate his meaning.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com

  - - -

> [FYI - I'm sending this around, it's in the queue for IP, didn't want
> to clutter that cc line. I reposted my earlier IP message to my  
> blog too
> (eliding there any implication of criticism of Lauren)]
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com> -----
>
>  Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:37:57 -0400
>  From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com>
>  To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
>  Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
>  Subject: ACTUAL STATEMENT by Air Force Secretary On Nonlethal Weapons
>
> http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/001067.html
>
> I called the Air Force, and asked about the nonlethal weapons story,
> and what was actually said. I received the following transcript
> (which seems to reflect pretty much what I thought had happened) from
>
> AARON D. BURGSTEIN, Maj, USAF
> SECAF Strategic Communications Advisor
> HAF/CX, 4E547
> DSN 224-8065;
> aaron.burgstein[at-sign]pentagon.af.mil
>
> SECAF COMMENTS ON NON-LETHAL WEAPONS
>
> Context:        Defense Writers Group, 12 Sep
>                 Current line of questions concern F-35
>
> 15 minutes, 13 seconds into interview
>
> Q.  Why haven't you sold the capabilities, the non-lethal, the HPM,
> capabilities of this (the F-35) airplane?  I went to talk with the
> Australians and that was one of the big things they wanted out of it,
> was the weapons and jamming capability and the communications
> capability and the radar.  The Italians said the same thing, they said
> 'our parliament hates dropping bombs on people' they want a non-lethal
> weapon, but yet, nothing is said about those capabilities and your
> desire to push them.  Do you want to push them?  Is there resistance
> against it?
>
> A.  Non-lethal weapons are still being reviewed by the medical group.
> It's a kind of an interesting thing about non-lethal weapons.  I will
> tell you that having seen the high-powered microwave that is a crowd
> disperser, the ADS system, used in a system and actually being invited
> to put your finger in the hole and by golly you'll see that your
> resistance is somewhat weakened when the beam hits you.  Basically my
> point to them was (that) we need to start using that here in the
> United States on Americans.  And if we start using that here in the
> United States on Americans and you start getting relief from people,
> because if the first people you use it on are your enemies, then
> unfortunately the first thing they will do is cry out that you have
> hurt them medically in a way that is pejorative.
>
> Q.  You mean like in police work?
>
> A.  Yes.  So I think we should use it, if we're not willing to use it
> here, against our fellow citizens then we should not be willing to use
> it in a wartime situation.  And I say that knowing the way the world
> works right now is that - the Indians as you remember in the early
> 1800s and mid-1800s thought you were stealing their soul when you hit
> them with a flash camera.  You were actually covering them in soot,
> which may have been the same thing.  But nowadays if I hit someone
> with a non-lethal weapon and they claim it injured them in a way that
> was non-intended, I think I'd be vilified in the world press.
>
> Q.  So we're not going to see funding to develop those non-lethal
> capabilities in the F-22 and F-35 then until?.
>
> A.  Until that is resolved.
>
> Q.  Ok, would that then put a horizon on the development of those kind
> of capabilities out 10-15 years?
>
> A.  I'd say that the platform as a platform contains enough power,
> which is derived from the engines.  I think the power is there to
> support a high-powered non-lethal device, but right now the tech lags,
> and it lags primarily in size.  Fighters are only so big.  And the
> scope of usage.  It's right now the stuff of great novels.
>
>
>
> --
> Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com
> Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
> Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php


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