Short Takes – 4-11-23

Murphy's Law: When Better Is Not Worth It. StrategyPage.com article. Interesting look at recruiting problems. Pull quote: “The problem is that Americans have, since the 1990s, become fat and physically unfit. A decade ago, there were 32 million male Americans of prime military age (17-24), but because of bad lifestyle choices only 13 percent of them (4.2 million) were physically eligible for service. At the time, the armed forces needed to recruit 150,000 new troops each year. The military was allowed to waive some physical or mental standards, and this meant that only about 20 percent of those 32 million potential recruits qualified. Each year recruiters have to convince about two percent of those eligible that they should join up. It's a tough job, made worse by a generation that eats too much, exercises too little, and doesn't pay enough attention in school. You not only have to be physically fit enough to join, you also have to be smart enough and have no criminal record.”

Freedom Caucus and progressives lock arms — and that could be bad news for McCarthy. Politico.com article. Pull quote: ““It’s a question of institutional power,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the House Rules Committee chair whom Lee cited as one of her top Republican allies on repealing war authorizations. “And I think there’s a sense around here, on both the left and the right, that we’ve abdicated too much of that — and not just in recent Congresses, but honestly probably going back decades.””

GOP bind gets deeper on abortion. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““Ironically they are getting exactly what they wanted from the courts, but it turns out that it is not very popular with a lot of the electorate,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.”

Leaker of damaging U.S. intelligence files was reportedly administrator of a Discord chat room. TheWeek.com article. Pull quote: “"A surprisingly large number of people potentially had access to the Pentagon intelligence documents," The New York Times reports, "but clues left online may help investigators narrow down the pool of possible suspects relatively quickly." Notably, the Times says, "the intelligence materials appear to have been first photographed and then uploaded online, a kind of sloppy procedure" that could yield promising digital fingerprints.”

Pro-Russia Hackers Say They Breached Canadian Pipeline, but Experts Are Skeptical. WSJ.com article. No confirmations, vague information, no actionable intelligence. Pull quote: “The hackers claimed the access they gained could allow them to increase valve pressure, disable alarms, and force the shutdown of a gas-distribution center. Zarya is a relatively new hacking group, according to cyber researchers. It was spun out of Killnet, a collective that has claimed responsibility for cyberattacks in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

'We don’t seem to learn': 10 years after tragic Texas chemical explosion, risk remains high. USAToday.com article. A look back at the West Fertilizer Explosion. Pull quote: ““The [U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board] is concerned that a terrible tragedy like West could happen again,” board chairman Steve Owens said.” Needs more discussion.

Lockheed Martin makes a big bet on commercial space and the Moon. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “For the sake of the commercial space industry, it is helpful to see large aerospace contractors buy into the commercial services model, which requires private companies to have some skin in the game—i.e., to invest in product development knowing that it must not just sell services to NASA, but to other customers. Really, the key differentiator of commercial space companies is a willingness to invest in a product or service before having a contract in hand, which Lockheed is doing here.”

DHS S&T Seeks to Test Innovative Technologies to Counter “Dark” Small, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Swarms. DHS.gov press release. Request for information for live demonstration. Pull quote: ““S&T is interested in learning about the availability of C-UAS systems with a technical readiness level of five or greater that can detect, track, identify, and possibly mitigate drones that fly without emitting radio frequency communications,” said Shawn McDonald, S&T C-UAS Program Manager. “We’re also very interested in finding technologies that can surgically mitigate a single nefarious drone while in presence of other drones being flown by law enforcement, recreational users or the media.””

DHS S&T Seeks to Assess Kinetic Mitigation Capabilities for Countering Small Unmanned Aerial Systems. DHS.gov press release. Pull quote: ““This effort is designed to expand our knowledge of kinetic sUAS mitigation technologies and how they apply to the multiple DHS mission sets,” said Shawn McDonald, S&T Counter-UAS Program Manager. “Information and data collected during this event will assist S&T in understanding, measuring and minimizing collateral effects.””