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Military Leaks in the Modern Times

The shocking, Sunday July 25, WikiLeaks release of 92,000 documents by the New York Times Der Spiegel and The Guardian, was the acid test for Washington’s beltway experts to square themselves with the fatal collapse confronting them and who was to blame for it.

Visit their website at www.invisiblehistory.com

In the age of computers, the Internet, extensive use of mobile phones and other portable advanced communications devices, keeping secrets is an ever-growing challenge. This is the case as well with armed services around the world. Their ability to serve as a potent defense of a state as well as their capacity to wage war heavily depends on information. To be effective they must have more, if not equal, information than the enemy. Moreover, the enemy as much as possible should have the least information about them. This has become perhaps the most urgent issue faced by armed services globally.

Lack of absence of security

The lack of or total absence of security opens the modern state to attack. Attacks do not need to be conventional. It could be indirect through proliferation of information. Imagine terrorists gaining access to the restricted information of the military or the industrial secrets of a state’s economy, which they could use these to directly assault the state or undermine its stability. Due to the growing avenue for distribution of information, restricting its circulation has become difficult, especially information of a classified nature.

Information age warfare

Warfare in the ages of human history has been determined primarily by the technology of the time. In the 21st century, which is known as the information age, information is the foremost weapon. Therefore, the access to information would be the main concern of the military and the prime target of the enemy.

Information is the lifeblood of modern society. It is the main component in socialization, and the institutions that deal with it are the new power structures of the polity. In recent news, the military institutions in the US are preparing to deal with the anticipated release of restricted documents on the war in Iraq by Wikileaks website. The main point of this is that it best manifests the working of the kind of warfare of this age.

Security issues

The structure of society, the culture of openness, and the institutionalization of information dissemination make keeping information difficult. More so if such information is to be kept secret from enemies of the state. The adversaries of a country would try to gain access and possession of this secret information in any way they can. Before, they used to employ spies to gain this knowledge. Now there exists the internet. It can be a means to gain access to these restricted pieces of information.

On the political side, there is a growing movement demanding greater disclosure on the part of the military in terms of its operations and activities. Perhaps the public has the right to know but this right will be catered to at the expense of national security. This is the kind of usual yet undesirable trade-off that would exist. In fact, countries expend much effort and resources dealing with leaks and the consequence they have on a country’s security.

References:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69G19520101017

http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/kaspar.pdf

October 30, 2010 Posted by | News | , , , | Leave a Comment

Iran’s Critical Unveiling of New Type of Missile

Iran unveiled the prototype of a long-range unmanned bomber on Sunday, the latest in a stream of announcements of new Iranian-made military hardware as tension mounts over its nuclear programme.

Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R), Iranian army's joint chief of staff, General Hassan Firoozabadi (2nd R) and Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi (3rd R) attend the unveiling ceremony of a long-range drone, the Karrar, in Tehran August 22, 2010.

Nuclear power is the world’s largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollutants, such as sulfur and particulates, or greenhouse gases. The use of nuclear power in place of other energy sources helps to keep the air clean, preserve the Earth’s climate, avoid ground-level ozone formation and prevent acid rain. Nuclear power has important implications for our national security. Inexpensive nuclear power, in combination with fuel cell technology, could significantly reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Today the rhetoric is more muted, but nuclear power is still touted as a savior of sorts: it will save us from global warming, help us eliminate nuclear weapons and meet the world’s burgeoning energy needs.

Nuclear Power Generation

Nuclear power generation does emit relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). The emissions of green house gases and therefore, the contribution of nuclear power plants to global warming is therefore, relatively little. This technology is readily available, it does not have to be developed first. Lastly, it is possible to generate a high amount of electrical energy in one single plant. On the other hand, the problem of radioactive waste is still an unsolved one. The waste from nuclear energy is extremely dangerous, and it has to be carefully looked after for several thousand years. There are high risks involved. Despite a generally high security standard, accidents can still happen. It is technically impossible to build a plant with 100% security. A small probability of failure will always last. The consequences of an accident would be absolutely devastating both for a human being as for the nature.

The energy source for nuclear energy is Uranium. Uranium is a scarce resource, its supply is estimated to last only for the next 30 to 60 years depending on the actual demand. The time frame needed for formalities, planning and building of a new nuclear power generation plant is in the range of 20 to 30 years in the western democracies. In other words: It is an illusion to build new nuclear power plants in a short time. Lastly, during the operation of nuclear power plants, radioactive waste is produced, which in turn can be used for the production of nuclear weapons. In addition, the same know-how used to design nuclear power plants can, to a certain extent, be used to build nuclear weapons.

Negative Aspect of Nuclear Technology

In the context of Iran the last negative aspect of nuclear technology is most controversial. Given Iran’s policies and stance in the realm of international politics most states are very concerned about Iran developing nuclear technology. This concern is heightened even further as Iran recently unveils and starts to operate its own nuclear power plant. The fear of states around the world of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear technology is made reality. Iran claims it is for energy purposes, but you cannot discount the weapon, military and political value of possessing nuclear technology. All that can be done is to wait and see where Iran’s nuclear capability will lead to.

References:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/22/iran.defense.project/?hpt=T1#fbid=cJynwVbj-CA&wom=false

http://www.ccnr.org/encompass.html

September 10, 2010 Posted by | News | , , , , | Leave a Comment

   

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