More Writing: What I Would Do If I Were the Secretary of Defense

 

So, it occurred to me, since I'm not actually going to be the Secretary of Defense, I can easily publish what I would do if I were the Secretary of Defense as a cool essay.  I can satisfy my desire to produce more writing as an activity by writing an essay about this.


I think, to save time, I'm just going to write it as a bulleted list:


 - Focus heavily on robotics

 - Direct very careful, serious research into "the physics of secure communications between a 'land controller base' and 'deployed robotic machinery/crafts'"; in particular, I want to be able to have flying airplanes that can launch missiles from wherever they are, and, I want the airplanes to be totally and 100%, provably securely--including against quantum computers--controllable from the ground; I should feel no compulsion, as "Secretary of Defense," to have to put a human being in an aircraft

 - Direct some "chemistry of resilience" and "economics of chemistry" research--try to develop materials, e.g., metals, that can withstand massive blasts, high temperatures, high-speed collisions with large objects, and other destructive activities.  Also, try to develop cost-effective versions of these materials that are *very expensive* for enemies to destroy.  E.g., have an airplane that, whether or not it's stealthy, would cost the US, say, $5 million to build, but would cost Iranian missile or aircraft developers at least $25 million to shoot down

 - Direct some good flight research, possibly using differential equations and physics ideas.

 - Invest heavily in espionage, because espionage is much better than war.

 - Pursue recruiting sources--moles--from other countries.

 - Refuse to accept that "exchanges" are normal, and strictly prohibit and warn personnel, civilian, contractor, and military, that unauthorized disclosures are strictly prohibited, and make it clear that people who leak will get arrested and that there are no "trades" and it's not "business as usual" to allow moles.  I would make it clear exactly what would happen in advance, so that some college kid who decided to work for DOD and then got arrested for leaking wouldn't be able to say that he didn't understand the policy and how harsh/serious it is.

 - Cut lots of government contracts that are not good; be careful, scrupulous, and serious about spending taxpayer money on projects.  A website, even one for veterans, should not cost $15 million!

 - Try to put some thought into the organization of the DOD and see what could be optimized to allow for maximum efficiency.

 - Apply Kerckhoff's principle carefully to the DOD; try to keep secrets, but keep "economic security" as #1, in the sense that the superior USA access to financial resources keeps us permanently at #1 in the world, militarily--thus preventing war by deterring it.  (I would also use my "hello dossier" idea to try to bring down foreign autocratic regimes.)



That's basically what I've thought of so far.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Update: My P != NP Proof Might Be Correct!!!!! -- (update, no it's not, see the note at the beginning and the updates near the bottom)

EDIT:  No, this proof is not correct.  See the updates at the bottom for details on why (based on Dr. Zelinsky's comment).  Fortunately, my GLL proof and MSR proofs still appear to be correct. It could be that Joshua Zelinsky's comment actually helps me to complete the proof. The GLL proof appears to be correct, AFAIK. The thing is, the fact that we can prove "PA is consistent --> P != NP" within PA and the fact that we can prove "PA is consistent" as a theorem of ZFC just shows that P != NP is a theorem of PA.  That isn't a contradiction, it's just another step in the proof. I think the striking idea is, P != NP is a theorem of PA, but not of ZFC.  That is what I worked to prove.  AFAIK it is possible for a proposition to be a theorem of PA but not of ZFC.  In particular, PA can be proved consistent from ZFC, so we would think it s possible and even likely that there are some non-theorems of ZFC that are theorems of PA. So this is great!  It l...
Read more

Hello, Texas - A Quick Monopoly Lesson

  So today, I thought I saw some people running around blurting code gestures at me.  One of the codes seemed to say, "Riot for a[buse] v[ictim] time -M".  Oh, M?  M as in Monolith, or M as in Monopoly fan who doesn't get it? Here, Houstonian code-talkers...let me teach you how to play Monopoly, since you are so hungry for free knowledge:  - Make deals with other players that benefit you.  - Offer deals to difficult players that are somewhat beneficial to them, knowing that they might reject.  - Watch which deals other players reject, and identify what *deal types* they are not likely to accept from you or anyone else.  - Be very very careful about your own deals--and behavior--lest you get figured out by your opponents and backed into a corner, with good, beneficial deals being made without you by cunning adversaries who know your every move. There's a poker lesson in there, too, but I don't want to get too educational right now.
Read more

Flash Non-Fiction: James Bond and Masculinity

  This was going to be a longer essay, but I decided to just blurt out my point rather than trying to write well. Basically, I think James Bond movies are good, and the songs are high-quality too, but it sends semi-dangerous messages to men in particular about what it means to be a man.  The Bond character is intransigent, aggressive, violent, and absolutely sure of himself in all cases.  He is portrayed as a big winner--able to date and have sex with beautiful women, almost impossible to kill, and lethal and elite at both armed and unarmed combat. I'm concerned that some men, including my estranged father ASW, have had their sense of morality warped by Bond movies.  They think that this dramatically presented way to be masculine is the only way.  I think that's unhealthy, and when people get the not-so-original idea to "try to be more Bond-like" in their personal lives, that leads to catastrophic conflicts with and major potential for deep pain for people that ...
Read more