[extropy-chat] TECH: Fuel cells and terrorism

[Samantha Atkins]

It can be especially difficult to say what an institution was aware of
when all evidence as to what was known by military personnel and
others is dismissed as maybe not being known to all in the military. 
We can dither over what the "institution" did or did not know to no
real gain at all.   But it is undeniable that using planes as flying
bombs has been a known possibility at least since the kamikaze attacks
of WWII.   This possibility was  publicly disgusted in the first WTC
bombings in the 90s, memos from foreign intelligence operators warned
us an attack was coming, on what (probability) and from air,  memos
have come out that the possibility was discussed before 911 by the
Bush administration and so on.   So when any official spokesperson for
the US military or for the administration says no one knew such a
thing was a possibility it is inescapable that the person speaking is
a liar or uninformed to the point of incompetence to hold their
position.

Making excuses at this point is a mug's game. 

-s


On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 15:33:45 -0700 (PDT), Adrian Tymes
<wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:
> 
> --- Spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > No.  The military was well aware of the risks of
> > planes
> > being used as bombs before 2001.  I was at an
> > engineering
> > conference in 1995 where it was discussed, along
> > with some
> > other classic soft points in our infrastructure,
> > such as
> > subways.
> 
> It can be difficult to say that a large institution
> like "the military" is or is not definitely aware of
> any given thing.  You were at a conference where some
> people in the military discussed this topic.  Does
> that mean the people who planned the defense of the US
> in 2000 took this factor into account?
> 
> It's likely that Homeland Security is aware of the
> risk of, say, someone sending a shipping container
> with a nuclear bomb inside through the larger ports,
> but does this mean they are aware of every possible
> vector for smuggling nukes?  Someone could cross the
> Atlantic in a powerboat with a suitcase nuke, claim to
> be headed for some small private pier, head up the
> Potomac, and detonate well within range of the White
> House.  (Okay, they're probably on the lookout for
> that in D.C., but what about other major cities?  Or
> minor ones or uninhabited beaches - land, transfer to
> a car or unpack a motorcycle, and drive off?)
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