Keith Thomson's Blog, page 5

True Story: CIA Officer with Alzheimer's

I was once going out with a young woman we'll call Jane, and I was intimidated by her prior boyfriends, who included an All-Big-Ten quarterback, one of the youngest-ever Fortune 500 CEOs, and a comparably successful financier who was fluent in several languages.

The financier and I happened to have gone to the same college and graduated the same year, but we never met, probably because I only hung out with mortals.

I suffered from the comparisons to this pantheon of great boyfriends until Jane told me about the time the financier took her home to Virginia for Thanksgiving.

Tragically, Alzheimer's had forced the financier's father into retirement in his early sixties -- he'd been a big American company's factory manager in several foreign countries. While the family lived abroad and the son soaked up cultures and languages, becoming a worldly sophisticate, the father was a xenophobe of the Archie Bunker school, going out of his way to procure Budweiser and adamantly sticking to speaking English. Accordingly, everyone around the table that Thanksgiving day in Virginia was surprised when he began speaking French.

Fluently.

Taking in the looks of mystification, he switched to German.

Evidently, xenophobic factory manager and Bud man had been cover.

I wondered: What do intelligence agencies do when operatives lose their ability to retain important secrets?

According to Fred Rustmann, who was a CIA operations officer for twenty-five years, "Whenever anyone is going to be under anesthesia or in any situation where he may babble, there's an agency minder to make sure he doesn't divulge classified information."

It turns out that there are so few long-term cases of potential babbling, however, that no official policy exists.

"Usually with older operatives, keeping secrets is practically ingrained," says Peter Earnest, the executive director of the International Spy Museum whose thirty-six year CIA career included over twenty years in the Clandestine Service. "You also have to take into account the relative sensitivity of their secrets: Generally, when these men and women leave the field, they spend years consulting for us or for outside firms. During that time, the sources and methods that they are obliged to keep forever secret change at an incredibly fast rate."

So once the former spies' minds begin to fail, decades have passed, at which point they could sit down and dictate their memoirs to a North Korean agent and cause little damage, if any.

Still, it's not unprecedented for an older or retired spy to have a head chock-full of valuable intel. What if such a person did fall into enemy hands?

Take the case of William Colby, who served as director of the CIA from 1973 until 1976, then founded a law firm and remained actively involved in intelligence matters. On April 27, 1996, Colby went canoeing by himself near his home in Rock Point, Maryland. Later, the canoe was found, but he wasn't.

A week passed without any sign of him. Had enemy operatives spirited him to a secret interrogation facility? Were they extracting vital national security secrets from the seventy-six year-old?

His body turned up in the water two days later. Although suspicion of foul play ran rampant, an inquest established that he had suffered a heart attack or stroke, fallen out of the canoe, then died from drowning or hypothermia.

But what if there was merit to the suspicions?

Similarly, what if someone like the financier's father went for a stroll in the park one day and didn't return? Alzheimer's sufferers often depart for the corner store and are found halfway across the country. The financier's dad was still young enough, still close enough to his clandestine service days, that he might have rattled off the names of numerous American operatives abroad, compromising their operations and costing them their lives.

The hypothetical intrigued me enough that I wrote an entire novel, "Once a Spy" (Doubleday), which I hope contains a sufficient portion of reality -- the research brought me into contact with an array of other intelligence community personnel ranging from a National Security Agency temp to a director of the CIA, plus several spies so bright and dashing and heroic that I would guess at least one of them dated Jane.

The Best Ads in the Seven Seas

Below are three print ads that speak for themselves.

This campaign for the Royal Australian Navy, featuring a frigate, a transport and a sub, shot on location at HMAS Albatross using hundreds of the men and women who crew the same. Sailors' caps off to them.

Related Links:

Personal Submarine Buying Guide

Once a Spy

TOKTAPMAC (The Official Keith Thomson Author Page Military Acronym Contest)

A DARPA UCAV

As everyone knows the military loves acronyms. Too much in some cases, like Direct Input Limited Duty Officer, a college graduate commissioned by the Navy as Reserve Officer for the specific duty of teaching. The acronym: DILDO.

So here's the contest: Use as many military acronyms as you can in a sentence, and submit the sentence using the form below. Whoever uses the most acronyms wins a signed copy of ONCE A SPY—but the sentence needs to be creative, i.e. not just an acronym dump, like "Some of my favorite military acronyms are MAC, MACA. MACCOM, MACCS, MACDIS, MACLO, MCRB and MCRC."

For reference, below the form is a compilation of military acronyms. Just for the letter M.

Name *
Name



First Name



Last Name


























Email Address *











































Your TOKTAPMAC sentence *

Thank you!

M  (1) Meter; (2) Mach; (3) Mega (Million)
M1A1  M1A1 ABRAMS Tank
MA  Mission Assessment
MAA  Mission Area Analysis
MAAG  Military Assistance Advisory Group
MAAP  Master Air Attack Plan
MAB  Marine Amphibious Brigade
MAC  (1) Military Airlift Command (now AMC); (2) Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Attack Craft; (3) Multi-Array Correlator; (4) Missile Analysis Center; (5) Mandatory Access Control; (6) Message Authentication Code; (7) Military Areas of Coordination
MAC-IN  Military Airlift Command-Director of Intelligence
MACA  Military Assistance to Civil Authorities
MACCOM  MAC Communications (Network)
MACCS  Marine Aviation Command and Control System
MACDIS  Military Assistance to Civil Disturbances
MACLO  MAC Liaison Officer
MACOM  (1) Major Army Command; (2) Major Command
MACSAT  Multiple Access Communications Satellite
MAD  (1) Magnetic Anomaly Detector; (2) Mutual Assured Destruction
MADP  Military Attache for Defense Programs
MAE  (1) Mean Area of Effectiveness; (2) Medium Altitude Endurance UAV (formerly Tier II)
MAEO  Medium-Altitude Electro-Optical
MAE-UAV  Medium-Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
MAF  Marine Amphibious Force
MAFC  MAGTF All-Source Fusion Center
MAG  (1) Marine Aircraft Group; (2) Military Assistance Group; (3) Military Advisory Group; (4) Magnetic
MAGIC  Maritime Air-Ground Intelligence Cell
MAGIIC  Mobile Army Ground Imagery Interpretation Center
MAGIS  Marine Air-Ground Intelligence System
MAGR  Miniature Airborne GPS Receiver
MAG  Tape Magnetic Tape
MAGTF  (1) Marine Air-Ground Task Force; (2) Marine Amphibious Ground Task Force
MAINT  Maintenance
MAIS  Military Airlift Intelligence System
MAISRC  Major Automated Information System Review Council
MAJCOM  (1) Major Air Force Command; (2) Major Command
MAMS  MASINT Automated Management System
MAN  (1) Mandatory Modification; (2) Metropolitan Area Network
MANPADS  Manportable Air Defense System
MANPRINT  Manpower and Personnel Integration
MAO  Major Attack Option
MAOC  Modular Air Operations Center
MAP  (1) Military Assistance Program; (2) Ministry of Aviation Industry (USSR); (3) Multiple Aim Point; (4) Master Attack Plan; (5) Materiel Acquisition Process
MAPREQ  Map Requisition System
MARAD  Maritime Administration
MARC  MAC ALCE Reaction Communications System
MARCENT  Marine Forces Central Command
MARCORSYSCOM  Marine Corps Systems Command
MARE  Mission Analysis Report-Electrical
MARECS  Maritime European Communications Satellite
MARDEZ  Maritime Defense Zone
MARDEZLANT  Maritime Defense Zone, Altantic
MARDIV  Marine Division
MARFOR  Marine Forces
MARFOREUR  Marine Forces Europe
MARFOR-K  Marine Forces Korea
MARFORCENT  Marine Forces, Central Command
MARFORLANT  Marine Forces Atlantic
MARFORPAC  Marine Forces Pacific
MARFORSOUTH  Marine Forces, Southern Command
MARG  (1) Marine Amphibious Readiness Group; (2) Marginal
MARINETERP  Westlant Maritime Intelligence Report
MARINTSUM  Maritime Intelligence Summary
MARISAT  Maritime Satellite (COMSAT)
Mark-Up  Detailed Budget Recommendation from a Congressional Committee
MARPAC  Marine Forces Pacific
MARREP  Maritime Report
MARS  (1) Man-hour Accounting and Reporting System; (2) Military Affiliate Radio System; (3) Monthly Aerial Reconnaissance Summary
MART  Mobile Autodin Record/Remote Terminal
MARV  Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle
MAS  (1) Military Airlift Squadron; (2) Measurement and Signature; (3) Message Analysis Server; (4) Military Agency for Standardization
MASDR  Measurement and Signature Data Requirements
MASH  Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
MASINT  Measurement and Signature Intelligence
MASS  (1) Matrix Analysis Subsystem; (2) Missile and Space Summary
MASST  Major Ship Satellite Terminal
MAST  (1) Mobile Ashore Support Terminal; (2) Manual Acquisition Satellite Track; (4) MILSTAR Advanced Satellite Terminals
MAT  Medium Assault Transport
MATB  Multi-Spectral Analyst Test Bed
MATC  Armored Troop Carrier, Mini
MATDEV  Materiel Developer
MATRIX Multi-source Automatic Target Recognition with Interactive Exploitation
MATS  Mobile Automatic Telephone System
MATSYM  Material Symbol
MATT  Multi-Mission Advanced Tactical Terminal
MATWING  Medium Attack Wing
MAU  Marine Amphibious Unit
MAVUS  Maritime Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System
MAW  (1) Military Airlift Wing; (2) Marine Aircraft Wing
MAWTS  Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron
MAXI  Modular Architecture for the Exchange of Intelligence
MB  (1) Megabit; (2) Meteor Burst; (3) Megabits
Mb  Megabyte
MBA  (1) Main Battle Area; (2) Multiple Beam Antennae
MBB  Modular Building Block (of EIF/ECMC)
MBC  Meteor Burst Communications
MBFR  Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction
MBITR  Multiband Inter Team Radio
MBO  Management by Objective
MBMR  Multiband Multimode Radio
MBPS  Megabytes per Second
MBRADIO  Multiband Radio
MBT  Main Battle Tank
MBYTES/Mbyte  Megabytes
MC  (1) Military Committee; (2) Mobility Corridor; (3) Joint Military Intelligence College; (4) Multi-Channel MC&G Mapping, Charting and Geodesy
MCA  (1) Maritime Collection Assets; (2) Military Capabilities Assessment; (3) Military Civil Action; (4) Mission Concept Approval
MCAR  Multi-Channel Acoustic Relay
MCAS  Marine Corps Air Station
MC ASI  Marine Corps Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence
MCB  (1) Markings Center Brief; (2) Marine Corps Base
MCC  (1) Mobile Command Center; (2) Movement Control Center; (3) Mission Control Complex; (4) Military Coordination Center; (5) Mission Control Cell; (6) Mission Control Center
MCCB  Modification/Configuration Control Board
MCCC  Mobile Consolidated Command Center (USSPACECOM)
MCCP  Marine Corps Campaign Plan
MCCS  Mobile Command and Control System
MCCT  Mobile Command Communications Team
MCDN  Marine Corps Data Network
MCDS  Multilateral Counterterrorism Data System
MCE  (1) Mission Control Element; (2) Modular Control Equipment
MCEB  Military Communications Electronics Board
MCG  (1) Magneto Cumulative Generator; (2) Minimum Character Grid; (3) Monitor Control Group; (3) Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy
MCG&I  Mapping, Charting, Geodesy, and Imagery
MCIA  Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
MCM  (1) Mine Countermeasures; (2) Military Committee Memorandum; (3) Multi-Command Manual; (4) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum (Designator)
MCMIP  Marine Corps Master Intelligence Plan
MCO  MASINT Control Officer
MCOO  Modified Combined Obstacles Overlay
MCP  Mobile Command Post
MCR  Military Command Region
MCRB  Military Costing Review Board
MCRC  Master Control and Reporting Center
MCRD  Marine Corps Recruit Depot
MCRP  Mobilization Command Readiness Program
MCS  (1) Mine Countermeasures Support Ship; (2) Military Capabilities Study; (3) Maneuver Control System; (4) Master Control Station; (5) Mission Control Segment
MCSF  Mobile Cryptologic Support Facility
MCSFBN  Marine Corps Security Force Battalion
MCSP  Mobile Communications Support Package
MCST  Magnetic Card Selectric Typewriter (IBM)
MCT  Mobile Communications Terminal
MCTL  (1) Mediterranean Contingency Target List; (2) Military Critical Technologies List
MCU  Mobile Communications/Command Unit
MCW  Modulated Continuous Wave
MD  (1) Military District; (2) Map Distance; (3) Mission Director
MDA  Missile Defense Act of 1991
MDAP  Major Defense Acquisition Program
MDC  (1) Manipulation Detection Code; (2) Message Distribution Center
M-Day  Day on which mobilization begins
MD  Multidiscipline Interaction
MDCI  Multidisciplinary Counterintelligence
MDCISUM  Multidisciplinary Counterintelligence Summary
MDDS  Modular Digital Dissemination System
MDID  MSE Data Interface Device
M-DITDS  Migration Defense Intel Threat Data System
MDJCS  Memorandum by the Director, Joint Staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff
MDLX  Military Demarcation Line Extended
MDPS  Mission Data Preparation System
MDO JAPAN  Military Defense Office, Japan
MDR  (1) MASINT Data Request; (2) Medium Data Rate
MDS  (1) Mission Dependent Segment; (2) Modular Dissemination System
MDT  Message Distribution Terminal
MDU  (1) Mine Disposal Unit; (2) Mission Data Update
MDW  Military District of Washington
MDZ  Maritime Defense Zone
ME  (1) Middle East; (2) Munitions Effectiveness
MEA  Munitions Effectiveness Assessment
MEAP  Military Economic Advisory Panel
MEB  Marine Expeditionary Brigade
MEBE  Middle East Basic Encyclopedia
MEC  Main Evaluation Center
MECD  Military Equipment Characteristics Document (NATO)
MECH  Mechanized
MECL  Mission Essential Circuits List
MECO  Main Engine Cutoff (Shuttle and Expendable Launch Vehicles)
MECS  Manual ELINT Collection System
Med  Mediterranean
MED  (1) Message Element Dictionary (JINTACCS); (2) Manipulative Electronic Deception; (3) Medical
MED-RES  Medium Resolution
MEDCAP  Medical Civic Action Project
MEDCOM  Medical Command
MEDEVAC  Medical Evacuation
MEDRETE  Medical Readiness Training Exercises
MEDINT  Medical Intelligence
MEECN  Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network
MEF  (1) Marine Expeditionary Force; (2) Maximum Elevation Figure
MEFCG  MEF Command Group
MEFTL  Middle East Force Target List
MEIF  Master ELINT Intercept File
MECL  Mission Essential Circuits List
MELOS  Mediterranean Littoral OPINTEL Summary
MELT  Maximum Efficiency Language Training
MEM  Mission Effectiveness Model
MENA  Middle East (and) North Africa
MENS  Mission Element Needs Statement
MEO  Medium Earth Orbit
MEP  (1) Ministry of Electronics Industry (FSU); (2) Mission Enhancement Program (AWACS); (3) Management Engineering Plan
MER  (1) Maximum Effective Range; (2) Minimum Essential Requirements
MERADCOM  Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command (U.S. Army)
MERCAST  Merchant Ship Broadcast System
MERCO  Merchant Ship Reporting and Control
MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL  Common Market of the South (South American Southern Cone Customs Union)
MERIT  Military Exploitation of Reconnaissance and Intelligence Technology
MERSHIP  Merchant Ship
MESA  Mechanically Steered Antenna
MET  (1) Mobile Exploitation Team; (2) Meteorology; (3) MILSTAR Engineering Development Model Terminal
METCOM Control of Meteorological Information
METEOSAT  Meteorological Satellite
METL  Mission Essential Task List
METOC  Meteorological and Oceanographic
METSAT  Meteorology Satellite
METT-T  Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops and Time Available
MEU  Marine Expeditionary Unit
MEU(SOC)  Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable)
MEWSS  Mobile Electronic Warfare Support System
MEWSS PIP  Marine Electronic Warfare Support System-Product
MF  Medium Frequency
MFC  Multinational Force Commander
MF IDB  Mainframe Integrated Data Base
MFLOPS  Millions of Floating Point Operations per Second
MFO  Multinational Force and Observers
MFP  Major Force Program
MFP2  Major Force Program 2
MFR  (1) Memorandum for Record; (2) Mutual Force Reduction
MFS  (1) Ministry of State Security (East German); (2) Multifunction Switch
MFT  Mission, Functions and Tasks
MG  Machinegun
MGID  Military Geographic Information and Documentation
MGMT  Management
MGPS  Mobile Ground Processing System
MGR  Manager
MGRS  Military Grid References System
MGS  (1) Mission Ground Station; (2) Mobile Ground Station
MGT  (1) Mobile Ground Terminal; (2) Management
MHC  Coastal Mine Hunter
MHD  Magnet-to-Hydrodynamic
MHE  (1) Mechanized Handling Equipment; (2) Message Handling Enhancement; (3) Materiel Handling Equipment
MHOP  Multiple-Hop
MHS  Message Handling System
MHV  Miniature Homing Vehicle
MHW  Mean High Water
MHz  Megahertz
mi  Miles
MI  (1) Military Intelligence; (2) Message Indicator
MIA  Missing in Action
MIB  (1) Military Intelligence Board; (2) Military Intelligence Battalion; (3) Management Information Base
MIBNLI  Military Intelligence Battalion, Low Intensity
MIBWG  Military Intelligence Board Working Group
MIC  (1) Mid-Intensity Conflict; (2) Multinational Intelligence Cell; (3) Monolithic Integrated Circuit; (4) Maritime Intelligence Center
MICEP  Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program
MICNS  Modular Integrated Communications and Navigation System
MICOM  Missile Command (U.S. Army)
MICON  Military ICON
micro  one millionth
MICFAC  Mobile Integrated Command Facility Ashore Center
MICS  MIIDS/IDB Interface to Client/Server
MICV  Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle
MID  (1) Military Intelligence Detachment (2) Military Intelligence Digest MIDB Modernized Integrated Data Base; Migratory Integrated Data Base
MID(S)  (1) Military Intelligence Detachments (Strategic); (2) Mobile Imagery Dissemination System
MIDAS  MAXI Intelligence Desktop Application Software
MIDE  Mean Installation Damage Expectancy
MIDEASTFOR  Middle East Force
MI DET  Military Intelligence Detachment
MIDL  Miniature Interoperable Data Link
MIDLANT  Mid-Atlantic
MIDPAC  Mid-Pacific
MIDMS  Machine Independent Data Management System
MIEF  Master Imagery Exchange Format
MIERS  Modernized Imagery Exploitation & Reporting System
MIES  Modernized Imagery Exploitation System
MIFASS  Marine Integrated Fire and Air Support System
MIG  (1) Mikoyan (FSU) Aircraft; (2) Military Intelligence Guide; (3) Military Intelligence Group
MIGP  Military Intelligence Group
MIIA  Medical Intelligence Information Agency (now AFMIC)
MIIDS  Military Intelligence Integrated Data System
MIIDS/IDB  Military Intelligence Integrated Data System/Integrated Database
MIIPS  Military Intelligence Information Processor Subsystem
MIJI  Meaconing, Intrusion, Jamming, and Interference
MIJIFEEDER  Meaconing, Intrusion, Jamming, and Interference Report Feeder
MIL  Military
MILAN  International Antitank Guided-Missile System
MILCOM  Military Communications
MILCOMSAT  Military Communications Satellite
MILCON  Military Construction
MILDEP  Military Department
MILGP  Military Group
MILGRPS  Military Advisory Groups
mili  one thousandths
MILNET  (1) Military Logistics Equipment; (2) Military Network
MILOBS  Military Observer(s)
MILPERS  Military Personnel
MILSAT(COM)  Military Satellite (Communications)
MILSPEC  Military Specification
MILSTAR  (1) U.S. Military Communications Satellite Program; (2) Military Strategic and Tactical Relay
MILSTD  Military Standard
MIMES  Multi-Spectral Imagery Materials Exploitation System
MIMI  Multi-Level Interactive Man/Machine Interface
MIMIC  Monolithic Microwave/Millimeter Wave Integrated Circuit
MIMS  Multiple Independent Maneuvering Submissile
min  Minutes
MIN-O  Minimum Weapon for Damage
MINI-DISE  Compact Version of Deployable Intelligence Support Element
MINTERM  Miniature Terminal
MINURSO  United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
MINX  Multi-Media Information Exchange
MIPE  Mobile Intelligence Processing Element
MIO  (1) Missile Intelligence Officer; (2) Counter-Terrorism Database
MIP  (1) Management Implementation Plan; (2) Message Input Processor
MIPE  Mobile Intelligence Processing Element
MIPIR  (1) Multi-Mission Imagery Photographic Interpretation Report; (2) Multi-Source Photo Interpretation Report
MIPR  Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request
MIPS  Million Instructions per Second
MIR  (1) Mission Intercept Report; (2) Morning Intelligence Report
MIRA  Medium-Wave Infrared Acquisition Array
MIRACL  Mid-Infra-Red Advanced Chemical Laser
MIRADCOM  United States Army Missile Research & Development Command
MIRE  Mission Intercept Report-Electrical
MIRF  Mission Information Recording Facility
MIRGS  Multi-Intelligence Reconnaissance Ground Station
MIRS  Miniaturized Imagery Receive System
MIRV  Multiple Independently-Targetable Reentry Vehicle
MIS  (1) Management Information System; (2) Military/Monthly Intelligence Summary; (3) Mission Integration Segment
MISE  Military Information Support Element
MISREP  Mission Report
MISSI  Multilevel Information System Security Initiative
MIST  (1) MCCS Intelligence Support Team; (2) Modular Interoperable Support Terminal; (3) Military Information Support Team
MISTE  Miniature Integrated Satellite Terminal Equipment
MIT  Mobile Interrogation Team (HUMINT)
MITASK  Mission Tasking
MITS  (1) Monthly International Terrorism Summary; (2) MAC Imagery Transmission System; (3) Multimedia-Intelligence Tracking Subsystem
MITT  Mobile Integrated Tactical Terminal
MITTS  Mobile Intelligence Tactical Transmission (System)
MIUW  Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare
MIW  Mine Warfare
MJCS  Memorandum for the Joint Chiefs of Staff
MK-5O  Advance Lightweight Torpedo
MK V  Mark V Special Operations Craft
MLA  Multispectral Linear Array
MLBM  Modern Large Ballistic Missile
MLE  Mobile Logistics Element
MLLW  Mean Lower Low Water
MLM  Military Liaison Mission
MLNIS  Modified Atlantic Naval Intelligence Summary
MLO  Military Liaison Office
MLP  Multi-Line Phone
MLPP  Multilevel Precedence Preemption
MLRP  Marine Corps Long-Range Plan
MLRS  Multiple Launch Rocket System
MLS  (1) Microwave Landing System; (2) Multi-Level Security; (3) Multi-Level Simulcast
MLSATCOM  Military Satellite Communications
MLST  Mobile Logistics Support Team
MLW  Mean Low Water
MM  (1) Millimeter; (2) Million; (3) Manual Morse; (4) Minelayer
MMB  Miniature Multiband Beacon
MMI  Man/Machine Interface
MMIC  Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit
MMIS  Military Man in Space
MMP  MAGTF Master Plan
MMS  Multimission Modular Spacecraft
MMU  Manned Maneuvering Unit
MMW  Millimeter Wave
MN  Multinational
MNAS  MAXI Network Access System
MNC  Major NATO Command (NATO)
MND  Multi-National Division
MNF  Multi-National Force
MNIC  Multinational Intelligence Cell
MNMIC  Modernized NMIC
MNS  Mission Needs Statement
MNTHS  Months
MNU  Middle Name Unknown
MO  Counter-Terrorism Database
MOA  (1) Memorandum of Agreement; (2) Military Operating Area
MOAF  Mission-Oriented Assessment Framework
MOB  (1) Main Operating Base; (2) Missile Order of Battle; (3) Mobilization
MOBDES  Mobilization Designee (now IMA)
MOBEX  Mobilization Exercise
MOBS  Multiple-Orbit Bombardment System
MOBSTA  Mobilization Station
MOBTDA  Mobilization Table of Distribution and Allowances
MOC  (1) Minister of Communications; (2) Mission Operations Center; (3) Mission Operations Chief
MOD  (1) Ministry of Defense; (2) Mobile Obstacle Detachment
MODA  Ministry of Defense and Aviation
MODCOM  Modular Communications
MODEMS  Modulation/Demodulation Equipment
MODS  Multiple Object Data System
MOE  Measure of Effectiveness
MOGAS  Motor Gasoline
MOICPAC  Maritime Operational Intelligence Center, Pacific
MOJT  Managed On-the-Job Training
MOL  Manned Orbital Laboratory
MOLINK  Moscow/Washington Emergency Communications Link
MOLNIYA  Soviet (FSU) satellite
MOM  Ministry of General Machine Building (FSU)
MOMCOMS  Man-on-the-Move Communications System
MOOTW  Military Operations Other Than War
MOP  (1) JCS Memorandum of Policy; (2) Ministry of Defense Industry (FSU)
MOPOT  Mobile PSYOP Transmitter
MOPP  Mission-Oriented Protective Posture
MOPS  Million Operations per Second
MORL  Manned Orbital Research Laboratory
mort  Mortar
MORTREP  Mortar Bombing Report
MOS  (1) Military Occupational Specialty; (2) Maritime Operational Intelligence Summary; (3) Marine Observation Satellite
MOSFET  Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
MOSS  Manned Orbital Space Station
MOST  Mosaic Optical Sensor Technology
MOSW  Military Operations Short of War
MOT  Military Ocean Terminal
MOTIF  Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility
MOU  Memorandum of Understanding
MOUT  Military Operations in Urban Terrain
MOV  Military Owned Vehicle
MP  (1) Military Police; (2) Military Personnel
MP&B  Mission Planning and Briefing
MPA  (1) Maritime Patrol Aircraft; (2) Mission and Payload Assessment; (3) Mission Planning Agent
MPARE  Mission Planning, Analysis, Rehearsal, and Execution System
MPC  (1) Mobile Processing Center; (2) Manpower and Personnel Center; (3) Message Processing Center; (4) Media Production Center
MPDS  Message Processing and Distribution System
MPDT  Message Processing Distribution Terminal
MPEG  Motion Picture Experts Group
MPF  (1) Maritime Prepositioned Force; (2) Message Processing Facility; (3) Mission Planning Folder; (4) Media Production Center
MPF-E  Maritime Prepositioning Force Enhanced
MPI  Mean Point of Impact
MPM  Mission Planning Module
MPN  MSE Packet Network
MPP  Massively Parallel Processing
MPRS  Mission Planning and Rehearsal Segment
MPS  (1) Maritime Prepositioned Ships; (2) Message Processing System; (3) Master Personnel System; (4) Modular Printing System
MPSOC  Multi-Purpose Satellite Operations Center
MPSS  Ministry of Communications Equipment Industry (FSU)
MPWS  Mobile Protected Weapon System
MQS  Military Qualification and Standards System
MR  (1) Military Region; (2) Medium Range; (3) Motorized Rifle
MRB  Motorized Rifle Battalion
MRBM  Medium-Range Ballistic Missile
MRC  (1) Movement Report Center; (2) Military Region Command; (3) Motorized Rifle Company; (4) Major Regional Contingencies; (5) Major Regional Conflict
MRCA  Multirole Combat Aircraft
MRCS  Medium-Resolution Camera System
MRD  (1) Mission Rehearsal Device; (2) Motorized Rifle Division
MRDBS  (1) MASINT Requirements Data Base System; (2) Measurement and Signature Intelligence Requirements Database
MRDFS  Man-Transportable Radio Direction-Finding System
MRDC  Missile Research and Development Command (U.S. Army)
MRF  Ministry of Radio Industry (FSU)
MRI  Military-Related Intelligence
MRK  Manual Remote (re)Keying
MRL  (1) Multiple Rocket Launcher; (2) Master Requirements List
MRLS  Multiple Rocket Launcher System
MRLOGAEUR  Minimum Required Logistics Augmentation Europe
MROC  (1) Multiple-Command Required Operational Capability; (2) Minimum Required Operational Capabilities
MRP  Mobilization Readiness Project
MRPE  Mobile Receive Processing and Exploitation
MRR  Motorized Rifle Regiment
MRS  Movement and Reinforcement Study
MRT  (1) Mobile Remote Terminal; (2) Miniature Receiver Terminal
MR-UAV  Medium-Range Unmanned Airborne Vehicle
MRV  Multiple Reentry Vehicle
MRVC  Multi-Rate Voice Card (Red Switch)
ms  Millisecond
MS  (1) Multispectral; (2) Mobilization Station
M&S  Modeling and Simulation
m/s  Meters per Second
MS-DOS  Microsoft Disk Operating System
MSA  (1) Military Strength Assessment; (2) Minimum Safe Altitude
MSAM  Medium Surface-to-Air Missile
MSB  Minesweeping Boat
MSC  (1) Military Sealift Command; (2) Coastal Minesweeper; (3) Major Subordinate Command (NATO); (4) Military Staff Committee
MSCD  Military Support to Civil Defense
MSCS  Multiple Source Correlation System
MSCT  Training Coastal Minesweeper
MSD  (1) Minesweeping Drone; (2) Mensuration Support Data
MSDF  Maritime Self-Defense Force (Japan)
MSE  Mobile/Multi Subscriber Equipment (Network) (U.S. Army)
MSEL  Master Scenario Events List
MSF (1) Fleet Minesweeper; (2) Mobile Strike Force; (3) Medicines Sans Frontiers
MSG  (1) Marine Security Guard; (2) Military Support Group
Msg  Message
MSGGEN  Message Generator
MSH  Mine Hunter
MSI  (1) Inshore Minesweeper; (2) Multi-Spectral Imagery; (3) Multisensor Interpretation
MSIC  Missile and Space Intelligence Center
MSID  Message Identifier
MSIP  (1) Multi-Spectral Image Processor; (2) Multisensored Intelligence Processor
MSK  Minimum Shift Keying
MSL  (1) Missile; (2) Mean Sea Level
MSM  (1) Minesweeper (River); (2) Ministry of Medium Machine Building (FSU)
MSN  Mission
MSO (1) Ocean Minesweeper; (2) Marine Safety Office; (3) MILSATCOM Systems Office
MSP  Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry (FSU)
MSPB  Merit System Protection Board
MSPF  Marine Special Purpose Forces
MSR  (1) Patrol Minesweeper; (2) Main Supply Route; (3) Missile Site Radar
MSRT  (1) Mobile Subscriber Radio Telephone; (2) Mobile Subscriber Remote Terminal
MSS  (1) Message Support Subsystem; (2) Specialized Minesweeper; (3) Moored Sonobuoy System; (4) Mission-Management Support System; (5) Mission Support System; (6) Multispectral Scanner
MSSC  (1) Medium SEAL Support Craft; (2) Specialized Coastal Minesweeper; (3) MEU Service Support Group
MSSI  Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence
MSSP  Multi-Functional Smart Sensor Packages
MSSS  Maui Space Surveillance System
MST  (1) Mutual Security Treaty; (2) Maintenance Support Team; (3) Miniature Satellite Transceiver; (4) Multiband Satellite Terminal
MSTS  (1) Multisource Tactical System; (2) Multisource Transceiver System
MSU  (1) Major Subordinate Unit; (2) Ministry of the Soviet Union
MSW  MASINT Server/Workstation
MT  (1) Metric Ton; (2) Megaton; (3) Motor Transport; (4) Maintenance Trainer; (5) Machine Translation
MT-LB  Soviet (FSU) Tracked Vehicle
MTA  Maritime Threat Analysis
MTACCS  (1) Marine Tactical Command and Control System; (2) Marine Tactical Air Command Center System
MTAS  Multisensor Target Acquisition System
MTB  Motor Torpedo Boat
MTBF  Mean Time Between Failures
MTBSP  Mobilization Troop Basis Stationing Plan
MTCACS  Marine Corps Tactical Command and Control System
MTCR  Missile Technology Control Regime
MTDS  Military Tactical Data System
MTF  Message Test Format
MTG  Master Training Guide
MTH  Memorandum To Holder
MTI  Moving Target Indicator
MTIB  Soviet (FSU) Amphibious Armored Tractor
MTIC  Military Target Intelligence Committee
MTIMS  Military Target Intelligence Management Structure
MTIT  Military Technical Intelligence Team
MTL  Mean Tide Level
MTLR  Moving Target-Locating Radar
MTL(S)  Material(s)
MTMC  Military Traffic Management Command
MTN  (1) Mountain; (2) M22 Tactical Network
MTO  Mission Type Order
MTO&E  Modified Table of Organization & Equipment
MTP  (1) Mission Training Plan; (2) Master Training Plan
Mtr  Motor
MTS  (1) Maritime Tactical Schools (NATO); (2) Man-Transportable
SOCRATES; (3) Masked Target Sensor
MTST  Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (IBM)
MTT ( 1) Military Training Team; (2) Mobile Training Team
MTTR  Mean Time To Repair
MTZ  Motorized Infantry
MULE  Modular Universal Laser Equipment
MUSARC  Major United States Army Reserve Command
MUSIC  Multi-User Special Intelligence Communications
MUSE  MC&G Utility Software Environment
MUTES  Multiple Threat Emitter System
MUX  Multiplexer
Mvr  Maneuver
MV  Magnetic Variation
MVS  Multiple Virtual Storage
MVS/XA  Multiple Virtual System/Extended Architecture
MW  (1) Mine Warfare; (2) Millimeter Wave; (3) Microwave; (4) Missile Wing
MW/AA  Missile Warning/Attack Assessment
MWC  Missile Warning Center
MWDS  Missile Warning Display Subsystem
MWHQ  Mobile War Headquarters
MWIR  Medium Wavelength Infrared
MWL  Mean Water Level
MWR  Morale, Welfare, and Recreation
MWS  Missile Warning System
MWTGM  Millimeter Wave Terminal Guided Missile
MX  (1) Missile, Experimental; (2) Peacekeeper Ballistic Missile; (3) Mechanized; (4) Mexico; (5) Mission; (6) Maintenance

null

Martian Photos?

Below are photos collected from sites ranging from NASA.gov UFOsightingsDaily.com. Each shows a configuration that is either a sign of life on Mars or a rock. Note: I have doubts as to the legitimacy of one of them.

shin bone?

Martian rodent?

ball game?

iguana?

Martian emoticons

[image error]

"Face" captured by NASA satellite in 1976

Definitive proof of intelligent life on Mars: Human. Curiosity drilled here to take a soil sample. And found methane, the presence of which could signify life…

metal handle?

tortoise?

colony?

 

Related Link: My True Area 51 Story, Once a Spy

Lamborghini vs. SU-27

Ever wondered who would win a race between Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 (shown below, all white) and a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet (red, white, blue)?

With a 5.2-litre V10 engine producing 448kW of power and 560Nm of torque, the Huracán can go from 0 to 60 in three seconds.

With 12,500kgf of thrust from its twin engines, the Su-27 touches 1,550 mph. But from a standing start? Plus it's an old plane, at 37.

Fortunately some Russians wondered about this, set up the race recently, and videotaped it…

Related Links: Once a Spy, Amazing F/A-18 Crash,

null

The Favorite War Story of 8-Year-Olds

Ever watched in horror after you've flushed and the water in the toilet bowl is rising? Hopefully your experience wasn't as bad as this one:

It was April 14, 1945. World War II was a couple weeks from over. German's 220-foot U-1206 submarine was eight miles off the coast of Scotland, some 200 feet down. The sub had recently had a bathroom upgrade—new, high-pressure toilets that could be used while running at depth.

In theory.

So, of course, a toilet overflowed, flooding the forward section of the boat, including batteries, causing them to release chlorine gas. That left the captain, whose named was Schlitt, with no choice but to surface, upon which time he was pounded by British bombers. Schlitt then had to scuttle the U-1206, earning it the distinction of the first warship in history to be sunk by a toilet.

The wreck lay on the ocean floor 230 feet down for thirty years until it was discovered by BP workers laying an oil pipeline. U-1206 will be restored and become a permanent exhibit in the Bathroom Hall of Fame, if and when a certain eight-year-old boy I know builds that institution.

Related Links: Personal Submarine Buying Guide, Once a Spy

The Blackbird Turns 50

The SR-71 was a strategic reconnaissance aircraft, but that’s like calling the Taj Mahal a big building. First flown on December 22, 1964 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, the Blackbird replaced the subsonic U-2 spy plane that Russian radar had rendered sitting ducks. Blackbirds could fly record high—90,000 feet—and fast—2,194 miles per hour. And it could sustain such speeds: In 1990, one flew from L.A. to D.C. in an hour and four minutes. That’s 2,144.83 miles per hour. Think about that: six-tenths of a mile per second.

The first SR-71 produced, flown solo by Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland on Dec. 22, 1964. Source: habu.org

If the Russians fired a missile at a Blackbird, it could simply outran the missile. Said a sign over the entrance to an SR-71 base, “Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil—For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing.”

An aircraft designer at the Skunk Works—Lockheed’s secret projects division, which developed the Blackbird—said that the technology in the simultaneous Apollo program was much simpler. As it happens, the pilots who tested the Blackbird, fifty years ago, initially thought it was a spacecraft. And a good deal of UFO sightings in the vicinity of Area 51 in the 1960s: you guessed it.

The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in January, 1966. A total of thirty-two Blackbirds served from 1964 to 1998, flying 3,551 mission sorties whose contribution to national security can’t be understated. Unless you know about the aircraft that succeeded the Blackbird.

One last, slightly relevant bit: video of the actual first flight:

To learn more about the Blackbird, check out this terrific Code One article or the book Sled Driver, the book Sled Driver, or the photo-intensive online Blackbird museum, habu.org. Not incidentally, the Blackbird also has a cameo in the novel Once a Spy.

Related Links: My True Area 51 Story, Birdwatching

December 22: The Blackbird’s 50th Anniversary

The SR-71 was a strategic reconnaissance aircraft, but that’s like calling the Taj Mahal a big building. First flown on December 22, 1964 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, the Blackbird replaced the subsonic U-2 spy plane that Russian radar had rendered sitting ducks. Blackbirds could fly record high—90,000 feet—and fast—2,194 miles per hour. And it could sustain such speeds: In 1990, one flew from L.A. to D.C. in an hour and four minutes. That’s 2,144.83 miles per hour. Think about that: six-tenths of a mile per second.

The first SR-71 produced, flown solo by Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland on Dec. 22, 1964. Source: habu.org

If the Russians fired a missile at a Blackbird, it could simply outran the missile. Said a sign over the entrance to an SR-71 base, “Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil—For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing.”

An aircraft designer at the Skunk Works—Lockheed’s secret projects division, which developed the Blackbird—said that the technology in the simultaneous Apollo program was much simpler. As it happens, the pilots who tested the Blackbird, fifty years ago, initially thought it was a spacecraft. And a good deal of UFO sightings in the vicinity of Area 51 in the 1960s: you guessed it.

The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in January, 1966. A total of thirty-two Blackbirds served from 1964 to 1998, flying 3,551 mission sorties whose contribution to national security can’t be understated. Unless you know about the aircraft that succeeded the Blackbird.

To learn more, check out this terrific Code One article or the book Sled Driver, the book Sled Driver, or the photo-intensive online Blackbird museum, habu.org. Not incidentally, the Blackbird also has a cameo in the novel Once a Spy.

Related Links: My True Area 51 Story, Birdwatching

The CIA’s Cat Ops

If the CIA's decision to spend $20 million to turn cats into field operatives seems at all strange to you, know that it was the 1960s: The agency was also attempting to deploy psychics, drug dealers, Mafiosos, and prostitutes.

Operation Acoustic Kitty commenced when a veterinary surgeon placed a microphone in the ear canal of the first candidate, along with a radio transmitter at the base of the skull and a wire antenna concealed by the fur.

actual diagram

The first operation entailed eavesdropping on two men outside the Soviet compound in Washington, D.C. The newly-minted feline operative was released across the street, and, while scampering toward the targets, was hit and killed by a taxi.

The Agency deemed the project complete failure and cancelled it, destroying most of the records. One item lost to posterity is the training, other than it was hard because the cats’ hunger often took precedence over the mission. Also it’s hard to train a cat.

Further Acoustic Kitty reading can be found here.

Below, photos of a couple of ops for which cats may be better suited…

Related Links: Cat photos (F-14 Tomcat), Once a Spy

The TR-3B Mystery

I saw the following image of the TR-3B Black Triangle on Tiexue.net, a Chinese military news site. The TR-3B is, depending on whom you ask, an alien craft, a classified US system, or complete fiction. Let's get the obvious out of the way: Tiexue.net's TR-3B's shadow falls the opposite way of those of everything else in the picture. Also the thing looks totally fake. Of course these could be the results of alien tech designed to mess with our minds.

Here are a couple of additional TR-3B images (blurry, unfortunately), followed by a German video from June 2014 in which the craft is quite clear.

Shortly after the video went viral, FBI Agent Ben Hansen zoomed in and found frames in which the craft overlapped playground equipment in the foreground [read the story here]. More alien tech? Or terrestrial CGI?

But there are more, courtesy of the Internet, which have yet to be debunked. How cool would it be if they were legit? What do you think of them?

Source: Oom.com

source: super-arsenal.ru

Related Links: My report from Area 51, 7 Grams of Lead