Out of the Blue:

Space Drones, Black Programs, the Unveiling of U.S. Military Offensives in Weather as a Weapon, and the Coming Permanent State of Emergency.

keith harmon snow

Index (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (afterword) (reference)

14. This Intellect & Influence Business: Democracy to the Highest Bidder.

To better understand the extreme political landscape, consider for a moment the political purchase power of just one major military-industrial influence: The Business Industry Political Action Committee. BIPAC, as their slogan goes, is in the business of Electing Business to Congress:

“BIPAC is an independent, bipartisan organization founded in 1963 as the nation’s first business PAC. It has earned a reputation both in Congress and in the media as the pre-eminent source of political intelligence for business. The Institute for Political Analysis, PAC Council, and Prosperity Project are funded by corporate and association contributions from BIPAC supporters.”

Our respected Institute for Political Analysis is BIPAC’s operational core. Supported by corporate dollars, the Institute’s political analysis, research and communication on campaigns and elections, and its new programs to create and implement business participation in the political process, continue to revolutionize the way business conducts its political affairs.”

“From our famous Washington Political Briefings and off-the-record issue discussions with Members of Congress to customized political analysis and skills building workshops, BIPAC delivers the best political information, tactics and tools to fulfill your mission of effective political involvement at reasonable cost.”

“The Business Institute for Political Analysis is BIPAC’s operational core and political intelligence arm. Penetrating evaluation of issues, elections, candidates, and campaigns has made BIPAC the number one political team for American business.”

BIPAC’s Action Fund continues to lead the way, finding and supporting true pro-business candidates.” [250]

Counted amongst the 70 members of BIPAC’s Board of Directors are:

BIPACs are not the only means whereby the U.S. Congress, U.S. national security and U.S. foreign policy – indeed our very democracy itself -- are expropriated. Think tanks, foundations and “not-for-profit” organizations also play a major role in the manufacture and further institutionalization of our permanent warfare economy. For example, numerous Lockheed Martin officials sit on the boards of the right wing, pro-war think tanks the Heritage Foundation and Center for Policy Studies, both enmeshed in the highest level classification programs. These institutions both serve as intellectual pillars of support for the ongoing Star Wars hoax and the greater panoply of defense and intelligence establishment policy securing the permanent warfare economy of the United States.

Other major institutions also warrant examination, given their influence over national security and international insecurity policy, and especially, for their potential relevance to the secret ENMOD arena. These institutions are generally comprised of the same set of principal architects of the military, intelligence and national security apparatus that have repeatedly surfaced throughout this writing. These include:

The USAF has (at least) five major contract research centers: RAND, MITRE, Lincoln Laboratory, The Aerospace Corporation and The Space Foundation. RAND has already been discussed. Lincoln Laboratory was created by the Air Force as a direct reaction to the first Soviet nuclear explosion. Lincoln Lab warrants special mention for its pivotal role in technology transfer between the U.S. DOD and academic research institutions, especially the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts. Ostensibly independent and civilian in nature, these two “research” institutions serve, as I have already noted, as de facto corporate military subsidiaries involved in the rapid development and transfer of critical military technologies. Lincoln Laboratory’s “fundamental mission,” according to their own literature, “is to apply science and advanced technology to critical problems of national security. The scope of the problems has broadened from the initial emphasis on air defense to include communications, space surveillance, missile defense, tactical surveillance systems, air traffic control as well as air defense.” [254]

M.I.T. has always been a pillar of bias behind the nuclear and aerospace industries. Recall that John Deutch, former CIA director, retains a professorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M.I.T. nuclear engineering professor and former industry executive Norman Rasmussen chaired the infamous Reactor Safety Study (1975), billed as an independent national research study, but a whitewash effectively produced by the industry itself. The so-called Rasmussen Report downplayed reactor safety and radiation health issues; the subsequent meltdown at Three Mile Island (1977) aptly spoke to the study’s biases. Rasmussen was nominated by then AEC Chairman James R. Schelsinger (appointed by Nixon in 1971), future director of the CIA, a past consultant for the RAND Corporation. Rasmussen remains a staunch pro-nuclear proponent in his tenured position at M.I.T., ever a prime mover in whitewashing the very real dangers of nuclear power, in service to industry profits. [255]

The secretive think-tank MITRE corporation is just one of Lincoln Labs’ 80 spin-off companies. MITRE is a private corporation based in Bedford, MA (with both national and international research sites), and it is a major advanced weapons and intelligence think-tank primarily supported by the USAFFrom its inception in 1958, MITRE has been pivotal in the development of advanced tactical satellite systems in the 1960s and 1970s. [256]   

Entrenched in UAV technologies, MITRE today plays a major role in classified R&D programs for C4IST/R, electronic warfare, intelligence, and tactical missiles and ballistic missile defense (Star Wars) technologies. As noted above, MITRE is frequently partnered  -- on major aerospace and intelligence programs -- with some of the most secretive corporations: SAIC, Polexis, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics and Northrup Grumman.

MITRE trustees include Dr. James R. Schelesinger (CIA, etc); Admiral James B. Busey IV, USN (Ret.); General Ronald R. Fogleman, USAF (Ret.); General Paul F. Gorman, USA (Ret.); Dr. John J. Hamre (CSIS, etc.); Admiral David E. Jeremiah, USN (Ret.); Richard J. Kerr (CIA); General Robert T. Marsh, USAF (Ret.); and Dr. Sally K. Ride (former NASA Astronaut). [257]

MITRE’s major clients include: AFRL; ARL; DARPA; DIA; FBI; NSA, NOAA, NASA, ONR; ONI; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; CSIS, National Weather Service; National Security Space Architect; Directorate of Intelligence; the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite Systems; and the Defense Special Weapons Agency (NEED TO DEFINE).

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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has a staff of 190 researchers working all over the world providing policy and research to address the full spectrum of new challenges to national and international security. Second, we maintain resident experts on all of the world's major geographical regions. Third, we are committed to helping to develop new methods of governance for the global age; to this end, CSIS has programs on technology and public policy, international trade and finance, and energy counts as trustees, directors, members -- and former directors, trustees or advisers -- such notable permanent warfare advocates:

Of all the notable CSIS agents, Dr. Harold Brown is of particular note. Brown was a member of the Polaris Steering Committee (1956-1958), a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (1956-1961) and also consultant to and then member of the President’s Science Advisory Committee (1958-1961). The later two posts held by Brown overlap significantly with major ENMOD developments in 1957. Recall from Section Two herein that in 1957 the President’s Science Advisory Committee on Weather Control explicitly recognized the military potential of weather modification, warning in their report that it could become a more important weapon than the atom bomb. [258]

Organized by Frank Gaffney, another Pentagon official under Ronald Reagan, the Center for Security Policy (CSP) is funded by Boeing, TRW, General Dynamics, Rockwell International and Northrup Grumman, with Lockheed Martin at the top of the list, and six Lockheed Martin executives on its board. Gaffney also heads the Coalition to Protect Americans Now, a media advocacy group that organizes TV ads promoting Star Wars and ballistic missile defense. One ad, notes Helen Caldicott, depicts visions of babies in their cradles and children playing baseball, with missiles falling from the sky, and a caption reading, “Where will you be when the missiles are launched?”  [259]

The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is the “nerve center of the Star Wars lobby,” Helen Caldicott writes. Included on the CSP board are Ronald Reagan’s science advisor George Keyworth, and missile defense supporters U.S. Senator John Kyl (AZ) and U.S. Representative Kurt Weldon (PA). The elderly Dr. Teller today sits on the board of the Center for Security Policy (CSP). In 1998 the CSP gave its “Keepers of the Flame” award to Donald Rumsfeld; Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan have also received this award. [260]

In 1988, public relations hacks Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb joined forces with corporations -- including Weyerhauser, McMillan Bloedel and Exxon -- and industry trade groups – including the American Mining Congress, the National Rifle Association and the National Cattlemen’s Association – to counter the rising tide of environmentalism. Thus was born the Wise Use Movement, a nebulous front movement catapulted to center stage in America with complete media support. [261] The roots of the Wise Use Movement are deeply sunk however.

Alan Gottlieb founded the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE) in 1976; Ron Arnold at some point became Executive Vice-President. CDFE’s success was guaranteed through frequent and sympathetic “news” articles: more than 600 radio stations support and regularly broadcast programs on free enterprise produced by CDFE; more than 400 newspapers nationwide participate in the CDFE American Press Syndicate by publishing regular CDFE productions. [262]

In the mid 1990’s, the CDFE counted nine U.S. senators and nine U.S. representatives as its Congressional advisers. Also on the board as was the Honorable Dick Cheney, then U.S. Secretary of Defense, now U.S. Vice-President under George W. Bush. [263] Lynn Cheney, the wife of U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, is a former director of Lockheed Martin.

The directors of Weyerhauser Corporation – a major destroyer of forests -- carbon sinks essential to the earth energy and climate balance -- are also directors of major aerospace, petroleum, nuclear, chemical and cattle ranching enterprises. Director George H. Weyerhauser is a director of aerospace and defense giant Boeing Corporation, and of Chevron Oil. Weyerhauser director William D. Ruckelshaus was administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Ronald Reagan administration, when major environmental safeguards were dismantled. He is also a director of defense contractors Cummings Engine and Nordstrom, and of Monsanto, a major purveyor of genetically engineered monoculture plantations displacing carbon sinks.

THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION (INCOMPLETE)

THE SPACE FOUNDATION (INCOMPLETE)

THE FREEDOM FORUM (INCOMPLETE)

The International Climate Change Partnership (ICCP) -- comprised of large multinational corporations -- emerged in the mid-1990’s to position itself to take a leadership role in the climate issues and business opportunities. The ICCP asserts that corporations, not governments, must design and lead the global energy transition. [264] That, by the way, is business as usual, because that is exactly what they have done.

Meanwhile the World Bank and International Monetary Fund continue to underwrite new projects based on devastating fossil fuel (and nuclear) technologies, and their reports describe these plans in bold and euphemistic language that exposes the extent of their mental illness. [265] Ditto for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, both highly subsidized by American taxpayers. Indeed, OPIC “has a comprehensive insurance program to encourage petroleum exploration, development and production in developing countries.” [266] With a multibillion-dollar annual portfolio, the Ex-Im Bank in 1996 was most heavily concentrated in nuclear, mining and fossil fuels, and fossil fuels-based manufacturing and transportation sectors. [267]  

As it is with the U.S. intelligence community, these people are stark raving mad. They have not the slightest intentions of exercising restraint or conservation in the face of mounting evidence of climatic mayhem and social and environmental chaos. When they do address potential chaos, it is always with the assumption – indeed the regretful acknowledgement – that poor and “developing” countries will be first and hardest hit, that it is unavoidable, but regretful, and that the rich and “advanced” societies, most likely, will only be marginally effected, if at all. [268]  

Contrary to the popular notion that petroleum reserves are diminishing, and very limited, is the evidence that major petroleum resources have yet begun to be exploited. Indeed, the CIA intelligence document, Global Trends 2015: A Dialog About the Future With Nongovernment Experts, confirms the double jeopardy intentions of current leadership: not only will devastating fossil fuels use be expanded to new markets in leaps and bounds, with the empty promises of great economic prosperity (supposed for the American people) but there is far more oil and gas available than people think. CIA Assistant Director John Gannon has said: “The latest estimates from outside sources tell us 80 percent of the world's available oil, and 95 percent of its gas, remain underground, so we are not going to run out in the next fifteen years.” [269]

Indeed, the report reads not so much as prediction, but as promise:

Despite a 50% increase in global energy demand, energy resources will be sufficient to meet demand; the latest estimates suggest that 80% of the world’s available oil and 95 % of its gas remain underground. [270]

Sustained economic growth, along with population increases, will drive a nearly 50% increase in the demand for energy over the next 15 years. Total oil demand will increase from roughly 75 million barrels per day in 2000 to more that 100 million barrels per day in 2015, an increase almost as large as OPEC’s current production. [271]

Fossil Fuels will remain the dominant form of energy, despite increasing concerns about global warming… Asia’s energy needs will be met either through coal from the region or from oil and gas supplies from the Persian Gulf. [272]

With increasingly intensive land use, significant degradation of arable land will continue as well as the loss of tropical forests. Given the promising global economic out look, greenhouse gas emissions will increase substantially. The depletion of tropical forests and other species rich habitats, such as wetlands and coral reefs, will exacerbate the historically large losses of biological species now occurring. [273]

Developed countries will continue to manage these local environmental issues, and such issues are unlikely to constitute a major constraint on our economic growth or on improving health standards. [274]

The economy will prosper. There is plenty of oil and gas. We will lose rainforests, cropland, biological diversity, species, wetlands and coral reefs -- but Americans will be healthier and richer than ever before. And so goes the mental illness.

The excerpts above attest to the intentions of the capitalist powers, the multinational corporations and the people they have positioned throughout government and its agencies to insure that the oil, gas, nuclear and military interests are served. The Central Intelligence Agency reports from a perspective of certainty, reflecting their insider knowledge about the thinking and intention of the people in control of the military-industrial / national security complex. Indeed, in many instances, they are the same people.

More insidious however, is the certainly that this classified report – cleared for public release – is specifically intended to proliferate, with media support, and infect the public mind. Reporting on this document by Nightline, BBC and ABC News have further focused public attention on the scenarios predicted by the CIA, by reporting on the release of this report, and creating a public debate about the issues in the report. Why has this unclassified report garnered so much attention?

Global Trends 2015 is yet another propaganda document released to help lay the groundwork for public acquiescence and apathy about major, catastrophic environmental disruption, and huge loss of life, the perfect cover behind which the military and intelligence community can toy around with the weather. Creating apathy and indifference in the rich countries, while meanwhile sewing devastation in the poor countries, is one means of solving the “populations crisis” this and other reports focus on. (The population crisis is in the North: that is where we find the primary drivers for the consumption and devastation of the world’s natural resources.)

This disruption will further debilitate underdeveloped countries first, as predicted in the report. Indeed, the effects are already devastating entire geographical regions and nation-states around the world. Climatic mayhem, overpopulation, disease, refugee flows, war – all can be causally linked to western corporate and institutional pressures (World Bank, IMF, OPIC) and current U.S. government realities in both underdeveloped and overdeveloped nations.

Global Trends 2015 seeks to further secure in the public mind the complacency that will enable policy makers and leaders to step away from these horror zones, even while western multinational corporations continue to pillage their raw materials, drain their institutions, and dump substandard western products and industrial waste and weapons on them.

Behind the shield of public apathy and fear in the rich countries, the western military-industrial complex will continue – as is happening today -- to overtly and covertly destabilize underdeveloped regions around the world. This will occur through economic and military instruments. It will occur behind the rubric of plausible deniability. Destabilization operations will occur with increasing success as the thresholds of violence, disease and environmental disruption provide sufficient “background” cover to shield them.

Next: Our Permanent Warfare Economy

keith harmon snow graduated B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. with a specialty in microwaves and antennas engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in 1986. From 1985 to 1989 he worked for General Electric Aerospace Electronics Laboratory on aerospace and defense technologies for classified communications, RADAR, EW and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) programs. Since 1990 he has worked as a journalist.