NEW TOYS FOR ROBOCOP SOLDIERS

...An engineer in the Advanced Weapons Technology Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Moore has proposed PITMAN, a 200-pound "exo-skeleton"" for low intensity warriors...

...The Iran-contra hearings revealed that Colonel Oliver North had supplied this surrogate army with approximately a dozen of the National Security Council's highly sophisticated—and secret—KL-43 encryption machines...

...The Maxwell conference participants pointed to one such capability that the U.S...

...Moore's proposal concludes, "The survivability of PITMAN will give the Department of Defense an enhanced special forces capability for...

...For resupplying troops in distant locations, CLIC cites "a need for low cost STOL [short take-off and landing] aircraft to operate out of the many short, unprepared airstrips throughout the globe...

...As Goose makes clear, a number of specialized toys are in the special-forces arsenal, and more are coming...

...Leading the charge might be the Army's new light-infantry divisions (LIDs...

...Rosalie Bertell, an authority on the biological effects of non-ionizing radiation, measured EMR levels at various points along the base's perimeter fence...

...embassy official commented, "Why can't it be both...

...And ESP: The Council described "an initiative within the Army to consider techniques based on paranormal phenomena, for example, extrasensory perception to view remote sites and psychokinesis to influence the operation of distant machines...

...Jerome Klingaman, an aerospace consultant at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, shares CLIC's preference for the basics...

...The idea of EMP weaponry dates back at least to 1972, when the Army tested an electronic flame-thrower based on microwaves...

...They have proposed that SAR might be made even better-suited for low-intensity conflict with improvements such as foliage penetration...

...arsenal...

...In promoting a commitment to low-intensity conflict, the United States is enhancing its ability to intervene where it is not wanted...

...The Navy's SEALS already play with bubble-free scuba gear and "swimmer-delivery vehicles" that carry "a range of ordnance...

...troops as far from action as possible, in many cases U.S...

...One method is new terminology...

...British publications have proposed two plausibje explanations, both reminiscent of CSIS's notion of electronic fences...

...On a different note, the Navy's Captain Tyler also envisioned a creative application, suggesting that exposure of U.S...

...The Los Angeles Times recently counted forty-three such wars, claiming more than five million lives so far, that are being fought worldwide by the United States and other nations...

...This hybrid, says Goose, "can take off and land vertically like a helicopter but flies like a plane," making it useful for jungle or desert warfare where no airfields exist...

...To discover the source of the illnesses...

...forces are being equipped for low-intensity assignments in line with CLIC's counsel...

...The participants also advised that "longer-term capabilities could include remote sensing to distinguish terrorists from victims...

...In his later research, Manzione uncovered hundreds of experiments various Defense Department agencies had conducted since 1954 on ways to enable troops to endure extremely taxing conditions...

...In the words of "Discriminate Deterrence," a top-level Defense Department study of long-term strategy, the Pentagon is looking at the "armaments that will be in service well into the next century...

...They don't use complicated weapons...

...Again/according to Regna, '"Both systems employ microwaves to detect anything that gets in their path...

...We live today with conflict of a Marc S. Miller is a senior editor of Technology Review...

...The technology may be complicated, but it can still be user-friendly.' For a basic intelligence technology—that is, a device to reveal who is hiding in the jungle—CLIC recommends "unattended ground sensors (UGS) and sensor-equipped remotely piloted vehicles (RPV...

...Looking to the Middle East for inspiration, CMC admires "Israeli use of RPVs in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon...

...Writing in Science for the People magazine, physician Joseph Regna observes that the symptoms began soon after the base installed new antennae...

...It is tempting to dismiss much of the weaponry for low-intensity conflict as silly, far-fetched, or remote, but low-intensity conflict is war and its casualties are severe—whatever the public-relations implications of its terminology...

...The most dangerous low-intensity conflict instruments are those already on line...

...We can take a lesson from the terrorists here...

...In designing such a tool for our surrogates, CLIC advises, "even though the technology inside the 'black box' may be extremely complicated, it can still be user-friendly...

...dollars to fight internal rebels...

...Obviously, the word "low" describes nothing but the U.S...

...Congressional enthusiasm for the concept rivals that of the Administration...

...the Nicaraguan contras, rechristened "freedom fighters," are a primary current example of a pro-insurgent force...

...Consider the Nicaraguan contras, transformed by the United States into Latin America's best-equipped guerrillas...

...According to Regna, "When a woman would say\ 'It's strong here,' that's what the meter would show...

...Encompassing both covert and overt operations, low-intensity conflict ranges as far and as wide as the nations to which it is applied...

...Similarly, the Army's para-plane—a parachute with an engine and a propellor— should be operational this year...

...Army will be involved in for the remainder of this century," according to the Army's 1985 manual on the subject...

...The Maxwell conference yielded more ominous ideas for low-intensity technologies, revealing the fantasies of weapons designers when they talk among themselves...

...His thinking armor, powered to move with its wearer, would resist bullets, shrapnel, radiation, chemicals, and the weather...

...However, the concern is insufficient to restrain the military imag'A simple, basic airframe and power plant can be maintained in the field under austere conditions by largely illiterate, indigenous personnel' ination...

...Using this doctrine to overcome the so-called post-Vietnam syndrome, its advocates are quietly but consistently arming the United States with the tools to engage in new, dangerous, and questionable ventures...

...Air Force first employed in Southeast Asia...

...said in 1968, "In limited-warfare situations, man—more than ever—is the weapons system...

...From Nicaragua to Angola to Afghanistan, the United States is fighting such wars, with modern tech-nology playing a key role...

...and we had better get on with the ball game...

...The Army asked the National Research Council to look at techniques that might help troops handle stress, work cohesively, learn skills faster, and fight more effectively...

...Goose counts 260 such mini-nukes in the U.S...

...Low-intensity conflict is the "most likely form of warfare the U.S...

...Routanen proposed "very powerful microwave devices to confuse, disable, or even kill the enemy...

...Underlying this compassion for illiterate allies is a theme common to writings on the subject: appropriate technology...

...Air Force base at Greenham Common, England, began experiencing medical problems such as vertigo, headache, earache, retinal bleeding, and vomiting, among others...

...While recommending further research into many approaches to creating stronger, smarter, and happier soldiers, however, the It is tempting to dismiss much of the weaponry as silly, far-fetched, or remote, but low-intensity conflict is war and its casualties are severe...

...Regna quotes Navy researcher El-don Byrd, who asserts that he was commissioned in the early 1980s to investigate the potential of electromagnetic devices for riot control, hostage removal, embassy security, and clandestine operations...

...There is little likelihood of a strategic nuclear confrontation with the Soviets," says Lieutenant General Samuel Wilson, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency...

...The Army-Air Force Center on Low-Intensity Conflict (CLIC) in Langley, Virginia, is devoted to formulating the theoretical base for this doctrine...

...the fashionable phrase for intervention is "low-intensity conflict," or LIC—pronounced "lick" by insiders...

...special-operations forces will take the limelight, and CLIC has devised guidelines for relevant technology...

...The special-operations forces' PSYOPS divisions— that's Army-talk for psychological operations—could take advantage of a transportable 50,000-watt transmitter to set up propaganda radio anywhere in the world...

...might well be overshadowed by indignant outcries against the use of EMR weapons on human beings...

...Weapons to fight a future nuclear war get most of the public's attention, but the United States is now engaged in actual wars throughout the Third World, and Pentagon planners are contemplating an incredible array of high-tech weaponry for fighting these "little wars...

...Stephen Goose, an analyst with the Center for Defehse Information, details how U.S...

...Issued this year, that document reveals that the Pentagon is quietly moving its frontlines of attention to suppression of Third World insurgencies, while also maintaining its financial and public allegiance to anti-Soviet nuclear strategies...

...He remarked that electromagnetic warfare is "quite bloodless and, therefore, quite appealing when international opinion is considered...

...There's also counter-insurgency, practiced in El Salvador, where the military is annually funded by half a billion U.S...

...Even this "super-soldier" idea is neither far-fetched nor novel, claims Elton Manzione, a veteran of the Navy's elite special-forces unit, the SEALS...

...capable of doing extreme damage...

...A prototype was delivered in 1986...

...The wording is designed to differentiate these wars from large-scale nuclear confrontations and even from medium-sized conventional wars, such as the one now being fought by Iran and Iraq...

...troops or their allies to EMR might allow them to fight "with minimal rest and still maintain peak performance...

...What really counts is simplicity and reliability...

...In addition to this communications equipment, the CIA's high-tech intelligence capability provides the contras with lists of targets...

...While the doctrine eschews missiles, bombers, and nuclear firepower, some of its advocates have proposed technoto-gies that resemble a mad scientist's dream...

...troop commitment...

...There's insurgency, newly renamed proinsurgency...

...different sort...

...When a woman would say, 'It's not strong here,' the meter would show that, too...

...The resulting destruction of numerous sites was a spectacular success...

...low-intensity conflicts...

...They don't normally use complicated weapons...

...But computer-aided interpretation may help the analyst to quickly correlate the various ground and airborne sensor inputs...

...EMP weapons may be more than hypothetical...

...As General Frank Besson Jr...

...Of course, not all proposals graduate to projects, antl even in the military-industrial complex common sense can prevail—at"least it will if the Army listens to a blue-ribbon panel that evaluated ideas for "enhancing human performance...

...The Manchester Guardian thinks the base employs BISS—Base Installation Security System—to detect intruders...

...According to CLIC, the weaponry should reflect the doctrine's concern with secrecy, surveillance, and the ability of surrogate Third World warriors to handle U.S.-supplied equipment...

...At Maxwell Air Force Base in 1984, speaking to a conference on modernizing technologies for low-intensity conflict, Klingaman declared that the United States needs light-armed surveillance aircraft specifically designed for operation by Third World personnel: "A simple, basic airframe and power plant can be maintained in the field under austere conditions by largely illiterate, indigenous personnel...

...LIDs will use RPVs—in Central America, the R4E-40 Skyeye has already been active for several years—as well as REMBASS, a collection of seismic, acoustic, magnetic, and infrared remote sensors...

...The Air Force, the service that would appear least appropriate for the covert operations of low-intensity conflict, is looking at the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft...

...It decided the military required "low-profile antivehicle perimeters"—or electronic fences that would stall the engines of enemy vehicles crossing the barrier around bases...

...And Captain Paul E. Tyler, a physician with the Naval Medical R&D Command, recalled a 1982 Air Force study that hypothesized exposing enemies to electromagnetic radiation to sensitize them to "biological or chemical agents to which the unirradiated population would be immune...

...military in the absence of declared war and popular support for such a declaration...

...These gadgets, CLIC says, could pick up so much intelligence information that our less technologically sophisticated allies might need help with the "data glut...

...NEW TOYS FOR Robocop Soldiers BY MARC S. MILLER Imagine a Robocop Green Beret marching through Central America, carrying a nuclear weapon in his back-pack, locating the enemy by extra-sensory perception, and detecting mines with toy cars...

...This proposal created little stir, but other applications of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) did rouse attention...

...In the search for simplicity, CLIC proposes a more basic gadget for detecting mines—one that even a child could use: "Inexpensive remote control vehicles such as toy cars equipped with appropriate micro-sensors could be designed, permitting rapid searches ahead of the operators...

...With little fanfare, in 1986, lawmakers created a new job at the Pentagon: Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict...

...He is the author of "Irony of Victory: Lowell, Massachusetts, During World War II, "published this year by University of Illinois Press...

...committee did conclude that despite a 130-year search for proof of ESP, it "could find no persuasive evidence that the phenomena exist...

...In the battlefield of the fature, "PITMAN may have task-specialized robot subordinates and employ remotely piloted vehicles for resupply and/or intelligence...

...As the technologists design the armaments for such Third World engagements, social scientists are devising ways to sanitize their image...

...City Limits speculates that the culprit might be the British military's CLASSIC system—Covert Local Area Sensory System for Intruder Classification...

...In an article for Southern Exposure magazine several years ago, Manzione recalled that SEALS took Dexedrine to stay awake for several-day rftjssions during the Vietnam war...

...Air Force Major Norman Routanen advocated exploitation of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to "disrupt or upset target [enemy] electrical systems...

...When Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega called the contra war an invasion, not a low-intensity conflict, a U.S...

...SADMs, SARs, LIDs, RPVs, and their kin are the weapons of the future, the arms thaf, barring nuclear war, will actually do tie killing...

...Because synthetic aperture radar (SAR) works in the dark, in bad weather, and, most important, from afar, it can "image politically sensitive areas including those where overflight is not authorized or militarily advisable," according to Robert E. Lambert and Charles R. Dotson, then senior program managers at Goodyear Aerospace Corp...

...At the high end of the low-intensity scale, these could de-stroyt bridges and other hard targets...

...The antipersonnel applications of EMR and EMP aroused heated controversy at the Maxwell conference—though, as the editors of the panel report note, objections were practical as well as moral: "There was some feeling that any benefit to be gained from research into EMR effects...

...Special-operations forces even have access to portable nuclear weapons, euphemistically called special atomic demolition munitions (SADMs...

...Writing in Low-Intensity War, edited by Michael Klare and Peter Kornbluh, Goose indicates that "preproduction models [of REMBASS] were used in the Grenada invasion...

...The staff of twenty-seven, representing twenty-two areas of expertise, produces a series of "CLIC Papers," one of which sums up the dominant view on how to use technology against Third World insurrection: "We can take a lesson from the terrorists here...

...Among the methodologies arousing the Army's curiosity were biofeedback, split-brain learning, stress management, and sleep learning...

...In the fall of 1984, women protesters outside the U.S...

...What really counts is simplicity and reliability...

...For intelligence missions in the tropics, "No one sensor will totally open up the jungle...

...While LIC doctrine calls for such surrogate armies as the contras or the Afghani mujahedeen to keep U.S...

...And there are "proactive strikes" (Grenada), drug wars (Colombia), and counter-terrorism (Libya...

...The Research Council found "that human performance can be enhanced through instruction and other techniques," and committee chair John Swets, of the consulting firm Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., commented, "These techniques are not as 'countercultural' as they used to be...

...For desert warfare, CLIC recommends that "multi-spectral analysis using artificial intelligence and other computer-unique capabilities may significantly enhance the ability to spot such targets...

...Jeffrey Moore would take this dictum to an extreme...

...Consider the recommendations of a 1985 CSIS panel on combating terrorism...

...In effect, the low-intensity conflict doctrine mandates a combat role for the U.S...