Here’s a follow-up post to what I wrote earlier about corruption. I had a series of meetings when I was back in Washington DC a few days ago with a top-level DoD (Department of Defense) executive. She told the group of which I was a part some spine-chilling tales, for example:
- The US Air Force fought for years against the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles); they want human pilots. If they don’t have live pilots, they have fewer people overall, less appeal in recruiting, and ultimately fewer resources. Of course, they wouldn’t have pilot casualties, but that seems to be an unimportant ingredient in the overall equation.
- Many years ago, the DoD said it wanted no more C-17s. But they continued to get them anyway — year after year, rammed through by Congress and the powerful Boeing lobbyists.
The Air Force wants human pilots, so they can put them in harm’s way? Congress spends billions of dollars on items that are specifically not needed or wanted?
The relevance of this is not simply to rant; it’s to point out that dirty politics will be very, very likely to play an ongoing role in the adoption of new forms of energy. After all, if our leaders will do patently dishonest things for billions of dollars, what do you think they’ll do for trillions?
Recent Comments