You Mean That's NOT Classified?
Dateline: 07/07/00
Say you wanted to know:
- How much radiation pilots of the SR-71 spy plane absorbed while flying at high altitude?
- How the U.S. military might employ artificial intelligence technology in potential battle tactics?
- How much radiation was given off by five nuclear powered warships of the United States Navy and Royal Navy during their seven visits to Australian ports in 1997?
- What is the role of the F-117 Stealth Fighter in special military operations?
Classified top-secret stuff, right? Probably the kind of information only found on hard drives laying behind copy machines at Los Alamos National Labs. Certainly NOT the kind of sensitive information you could find online -- publicly available -- and, U.S. Defense Department Web site. Wrong.
Actually, the reports above are just a few of the thousands of unclassified scientific and technical documents available for ordering or downloading from the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).
As another element in the E-government initiative, the DTIC operates under the Department of Defense's Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) providing information to assist the U.S. military, defense-related contractors in conducting defense research, development, and acquisition efforts.
To be sure, much of the information located on DTIC computers is classified and users must qualify for access. However, a significant (and extremely
interesting) portion of DTIC held information is available to the general
public.
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Does the government make too much military/technical information publicly available on the Internet? Does the government withhold military/technical information that should be publicly available? What do you think? Read or Join a Discussion on This Topic. |
While most of the information in the DTIC's public collection covers defense-related topics, you will also find reports and research results covering biology, chemistry, energy, environmental sciences, oceanography, computer sciences, sociology, logistics, and human factors engineering. In addition, DTIC maintains special collections such as captured German and Japanese documents from World War II.
Finding information on DTIC is done through a very fast and flexible Fielded Search for which you really should read the search help information for best results. From the list of found documents, you can read a fairly complete citation (abstract) of each report, and for from $7.00 to $12.00, you can have a report mailed to you. Better yet, reports shown with a "Citations/Documents" button can be downloaded free and viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat .pdf file reader.
Reference Links
The National Security Archive
A fascinating compilation of recently declassified government documents presented by George Washington University. Read lots of documents that not long ago were "Top Secret."
Defense Advocacy and Monitoring Organizations
Internet resources dedicated to monitoring and reporting on policy and operations of the U.S. defense industry. From U.S. Current Events Guide Claire Saliba.
Why don't we know the all the facts about events like Roswell or the Kennedy assassination? Because, back then, the U.S. government did not yet have PCs on which to store secrets for later theft or "misplacement." From your About Guide.
Try out other examples of the online E-government initiative. From your About Guide.
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