Five months after the Chinese proved they could destroy a satellite in orbit, U.S. lawmakers are responding with a surge in spending on Pentagon space programs aimed at protecting U.S. satellites. The boost in spending benefits the Operationally Responsive Space program and efforts to modernize the U.S. space surveillance network.
The U.S. military might have spared hundreds or even thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan if they had nonlethal directed-energy weapons to use against attacking crowds, in house-to-house searches and other urban warfare operations, said a U.S. government expert active in developing the weapons.
Weak Internet security has already made portions of critical U.S. infrastructure vulnerable to attack, but over the next three years, a flood of new Internet-capable devices — from cell phones to laptop computers to a plethora of wired and wireless products — threatens to overwhelm current Internet defenses, a former Pentagon technology chief warns.
Biometric identification technology seemed like a sure and swift solution to homeland security problems in the aftermath of last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but today it seems less sure and a lot less immediate.
Congressional analysts warn that there is a 50 percent chance that the next time al Qaeda terrorists strike the United States, their attack will include a cyberattack.