Space Wars
Back by popular demand is the lovely Ama Wertz. Enough of you wanted to hear more from her, or maybe just see if we could match her face to a book cover again, that she has been asked back. She has just moved to a new apartment, just gotten over a crazy flu bug, and just broken out her summer shoe collection. Even with all that on her plate, AND her radio program AND her work at Courthouse, she made time for this.
Thanks to Ama in advance and here she is...
Your Blackberry. Your PC. Your Cell phone, home security system, wireless network, ATM. GPS. All potential targets for disaster. These days, you'd have to work hard to get off the "grid" -- we're all so hopelessly connected and interdependent. When something goes wrong -- bad weather, faulty equipment, etc -- we tear our hair out and rave about the Stone Age, while mere seconds tick by. This is the hot new weakness of the new millennium (among significant others; global warming, anyone?). Apparently authors Michael Coumatos, William Scott, and William Birnes agree; they propose an attack on this weakness in their realistic fictional novel, Space Wars: the First Six Hours of World War III. When communications, reconnaissance, and weather satellites are jammed, the words "nuclear war" are passed around in whispers in all the right circles.
Enter wargames. No, not the early 80s hit film starring a young Matthew Broderick (although that movie was pretty rad when I first saw it as a kid, when computers were still so high-tech, only super geeks used them, when Hackers was considered cutting-edge), but the same premise nonetheless -- using simulated war scenarios to predict real ones. And who better to mastermind those games than former aviators and strategic military commanders? Coumatos has counter terrorism experience under his belt; Scott's a former flight and nuclear-test engineer. Space Wars reads like a high-action, military-science mystery novel, complete with jargon and all the usual meathead characters and the lone level-headed commander destined to save the world. The Pentagon is on high alert when radical Islamic terrorists attack communications and reconnaissance satellites, literally blinding the West. So the top brass start a game: military and intelligence experts are brought in to "play" a DEADSATS II wargame without knowing the information and results are to be used in a war that's already begun in space. What's most alarming is this isn't science-fiction; the technologies and vulnerabilities are real. And it takes place in 2010.
But let's not gloss over the real debate here -- is what they're proposing that likely? Admittedly, I'm not so convinced. See, until recently I lived perfectly fine without a computer or cell phone. I pay with cash. So let's just say I don't feel that threatened by the idea of communication chaos and lack of data, malfunctioning or dead satellites. But then again, I still toy with the idea of moving to an isolated cabin in the woods and growing my own food (I actually debated whether I could either a) learn to grow and mill my own grains, raise my own cows for milk and cheese or b) learn to live without them). So now that you've got a good idea of my personal crazy-factor, I regress: what's the real probability of this happening? Do such space weapons designed to knock out commercial satellites actually exist? Who would be capable of building and using them? And what can we do about it? Join me at 7 p.m. for a talk and book signing with co-author William Scott on Friday, May 18 at our Arlington Courthouse store and find out. I'll obviously be the one in the back asking lots of questions.
Thanks to Ama in advance and here she is...
Your Blackberry. Your PC. Your Cell phone, home security system, wireless network, ATM. GPS. All potential targets for disaster. These days, you'd have to work hard to get off the "grid" -- we're all so hopelessly connected and interdependent. When something goes wrong -- bad weather, faulty equipment, etc -- we tear our hair out and rave about the Stone Age, while mere seconds tick by. This is the hot new weakness of the new millennium (among significant others; global warming, anyone?). Apparently authors Michael Coumatos, William Scott, and William Birnes agree; they propose an attack on this weakness in their realistic fictional novel, Space Wars: the First Six Hours of World War III. When communications, reconnaissance, and weather satellites are jammed, the words "nuclear war" are passed around in whispers in all the right circles. Enter wargames. No, not the early 80s hit film starring a young Matthew Broderick (although that movie was pretty rad when I first saw it as a kid, when computers were still so high-tech, only super geeks used them, when Hackers was considered cutting-edge), but the same premise nonetheless -- using simulated war scenarios to predict real ones. And who better to mastermind those games than former aviators and strategic military commanders? Coumatos has counter terrorism experience under his belt; Scott's a former flight and nuclear-test engineer. Space Wars reads like a high-action, military-science mystery novel, complete with jargon and all the usual meathead characters and the lone level-headed commander destined to save the world. The Pentagon is on high alert when radical Islamic terrorists attack communications and reconnaissance satellites, literally blinding the West. So the top brass start a game: military and intelligence experts are brought in to "play" a DEADSATS II wargame without knowing the information and results are to be used in a war that's already begun in space. What's most alarming is this isn't science-fiction; the technologies and vulnerabilities are real. And it takes place in 2010.
But let's not gloss over the real debate here -- is what they're proposing that likely? Admittedly, I'm not so convinced. See, until recently I lived perfectly fine without a computer or cell phone. I pay with cash. So let's just say I don't feel that threatened by the idea of communication chaos and lack of data, malfunctioning or dead satellites. But then again, I still toy with the idea of moving to an isolated cabin in the woods and growing my own food (I actually debated whether I could either a) learn to grow and mill my own grains, raise my own cows for milk and cheese or b) learn to live without them). So now that you've got a good idea of my personal crazy-factor, I regress: what's the real probability of this happening? Do such space weapons designed to knock out commercial satellites actually exist? Who would be capable of building and using them? And what can we do about it? Join me at 7 p.m. for a talk and book signing with co-author William Scott on Friday, May 18 at our Arlington Courthouse store and find out. I'll obviously be the one in the back asking lots of questions.
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