exton
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Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Lester wrote: | | What do they do at all those army bases then? |
Beats me. You'd have to ask someone in the army.
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The manhattan project wasn't privatised, do they really trust private companies to make nukes?? |
I'm not sure who made the nukes.
I *can* tell you that they make our bombs, guns, aircraft, communications technology, clothing of every kind, scary new weapons, etc.
The relationship between the government and the companies is...strange. For example, you need very high security clearances to work on many of the things they make. |
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jusdeadphunky
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Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| exton wrote: | | Lester wrote: | | What do they do at all those army bases then? |
Beats me. You'd have to ask someone in the army.
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The manhattan project wasn't privatised, do they really trust private companies to make nukes?? |
I'm not sure who made the nukes.
I *can* tell you that they make our bombs, guns, aircraft, communications technology, clothing of every kind, scary new weapons, etc.
The relationship between the government and the companies is...strange. For example, you need very high security clearances to work on many of the things they make. |
i am pretty sure the nukes are made by private companies. when reading the article about how bush is looking into making a new nuke to replace the old ones i was given that impression. |
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Lester
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Joined: 08 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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Where has 'Patriot' gone? I bet he'd know...
To get those security clearances then do you not need to be part of the military? |
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exton
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Lester wrote: |
To get those security clearances then do you not need to be part of the military? |
No, you don't have to be part of the military, or the government even. |
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Lester
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:05 am Post subject: |
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| exton wrote: | | Lester wrote: |
To get those security clearances then do you not need to be part of the military? |
No, you don't have to be part of the military, or the government even. |
So how do you get them then? |
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exton
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:48 am Post subject: |
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| Lester wrote: |
So how do you get them then? |
The government gives them to you. |
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Lester
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:01 am Post subject: |
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| exton wrote: | | Lester wrote: |
So how do you get them then? |
The government gives them to you. |
Surely there are rules as to who gets them, and if you have the clearance, does that mean you have a government title? |
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exton
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Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| Lester wrote: |
Surely there are rules as to who gets them, |
Oh yes. They do background checks and all that.
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and if you have the clearance, does that mean you have a government title? |
No. It just means that it's okay for you to work on top-secret stuff. |
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Lester
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:06 am Post subject: |
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| Is it just me, or does that system seem flawed in a way that leaves you surprised that there are any secrets left in the government? |
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exton
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Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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On one hand: yes, keeping secrets is an issue. But that's always true, regardless of whether it's private enterprise or government.
Keep in mind that there *are* serious consequences for divulging top secret information, regardless of whether or not you're a government employee. I say "serious consequences" because the specific crime that you're charged with depends on who you give the information to and why.
And, on the other hand, these sorts of secrets aren't the sort you can easily memorize or scribble on a piece of paper. It's specialized technology sort of stuff. |
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Lester
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:41 am Post subject: |
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The very knowledge that your working on a specific weapon may be expensive intelligence.
Imagine for example if a private company was contracted to make a space shuttle with weapons. |
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exton
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:06 am Post subject: |
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Could be. It's not that much of a concern, though; the bigger the project, the harder it will be to keep the secret. By the time it gets serious, everyone will know about it whether you like it or not.
And i think of it this way: if you can think of a scary high tech weapon, the pentagon is probably working on it, or has worked on it, and found that it's actually physically impossible (you'd be surprised how many of those they run into....). |
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Lester
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Thats very defeatist of you, although, have you seen the stuff on the heat ray?? |
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exton
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:30 am Post subject: |
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I'm not joking. A lot of wacky stuff goes on in the pentagon.
Heat ray? I'm pretty sure there's no heat ray.
There's a pain beam, though - makes people feel like they're on fire.
Which, mind you, is physically possible (and completed, too). |
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cornopean
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Joined: 20 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | the u.s. government funds a lot of medical research. if the world as a whole would get together, it could be funded and innovation would continue. the only difference would be that the motive would be to help people not for profit. |
why do libs hate it when people make a profit? isn't there something weird about this? why is profit a dirty word? |
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