THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

NASA Creates Unit to Hasten Dawning of Nukes on Moon

The eventual deployment of nuclear reactors on the Moon blasted a baby step closer to reality today, with NASA embarking upon the creation of a new unit tasked with bringing such a nuclear capability to fruition. The Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU) for Fission Surface Power (FSP) on Nov. 14 began searching for potential contractors capable of helping the new entity to initially develop and test a "simulated nucelar heat source," according to a presolicitation notice that The Peacock Report (TPR) located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The TDU is "planned as a 5 or 6-year activity with concept definition and risk reduction that could lead to the start of a potential flight development program in the future," the document says:

FSP systems provide a potential option to support future human exploration missions on the Moon and Mars. FSP is a current technology project under the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) sponsored by the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

TPR broke the story early last year that the Bush Administration envisions building nuclear facilities and robotic spacecraft-manufacturing plants on the Moon as a critical step in eventually sending humans to Mars (see TPR, 03/23/2006; New Details of U.S. Moon-Base Project Reveal Nuclear Intentions).

DARPA Explores Use of ICBMs for Surveillance Tech Deployment

The swift, global deployment of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) equipment using non-lethal intercontinental ballistic missiles is one of the latest initiatives to come out of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). According to a Special Notice that The Peacock Report located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the goal of the Rapid Eye program is to develop and "deliver a persistent ISR capability anywhere on the globe within one hour..."

While currently in the conceptual stage, DARPA envisions the creation of an intercontinental ballistic missile system to deliver what is known as a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle to geographic targets of interest. The agency on July 25 will meet with industry and scientific-community representatives to discuss the project. Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm and military contractor, is hosting this "industry day" event at its Arlington, Va. offices.

'Traitor Psychology' Getting Expanded Role in DoD 'Deception-Detection' Training

Assessing the "psychology of traitors" is among the numerous areas of expertise that the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) unit hopes to instill in its investigators and polygraph examiners. CIFA is soliciting private-sector help in jointly developing advanced training in this and other areas in the so-called "science of the psycho physiological detection of deception (PDD)," according to a planning document that The Peacock Report (TPR) recently located.

CIFA's Defense Academy of Credibility Assessment (DACA) claims that it seeks to raise the bar on its graduate-level, "human screening" training because:

The post 9/11 situation and environments have brought change to our mission. Issues associated with the Global War on Terrorism now mandate that federal polygraph examiners possess a broad knowledge that enables them to conduct all facets of investigations using credibility assessment tools. The topics encompassed by this course will prepare the federal examiner for these missions.

The Psychology of Traitors segment of the training specifically will examine "the motivation and psychological makeup of traitors." In relation to this proposed area of study, the document poses the question, "Can these personality types by predicted and isolated?"

The document, it should be noted, does not define the word "traitor."

In another recent deception-detection front, TPR on April 21 had reported that CIFA/DACA also planned to outsource an overall assessment of existing "rapid human-screening" methods. This contracting action was slated to be a two-phase project involving "a review of existing literature on techniques and technologies, as well as testing of such methods on 'human participants.'"

Special Ops Medics Injure, Then Revive Goats to Save Soldiers' Lives

The U.S. Special Operations Command (SOC) this month will receive a shipment of 280 caprines (goats) that trainees of the SOC Medical Training Center will experiment upon to sharpen their combat-medic skills. Delivery of the male goats will be the latest installment of thousands of the animals shipped to the Ft. Bragg, N.C. facility in recent years, according to a recent solicitation and related documents that The Peacock Report located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps contractor database.

A U.S. Army statement on the matter asserts that the practice of experimenting on goats -- a practice which it points out is not limited to military medical research and training -- helps to save soldiers'  lives:

While goats are not biologically identical to humans, caprines have characteristics in common with human beings that enable the student medic to learn basic medical principles. For example, the Soldier learns to properly diagnose and stabilize injuries related to airways, bleeding and associated hemodynamics. The American College of Surgeons also uses caprines for the training of physicians in their Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course.

The training program voluntarily submits to inspection and accreditation by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). All training is conducted in accordance with established protocols and all applicable federal laws, to include the Animal Welfare Act. Protocols for the use of these animals in training are reviewed, approved and supervised by the appropriate authorities as required by law.

The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) has decried this practice, in which SOC soldiers shoot, rupture the airways, and otherwise intentionally harm the goats as part of an ongoing training project. The society acknowledges that the military anesthetizes the goats prior to experimentation, but rejects the use of animals because it claims that SOC has the option of using alternative means of training. It advocates that the military instead should use TraumaMan or VIRGIL simulation systems.

Martin L. Stephens, vice president for Animal Research Issues for the HSUS, said in a 2004 letter to then-Defense Secy. Donald Rumsfeld:

If there is the intention to use the goats for bullet wound training, bullet wounds will have a much different effect on nonhuman animals due to body size (the bullet would have much more of an impact on a smaller body size) and anatomical and tissue differences. Additionally, human wounding in the field often involves other problems that will require emergency response, such as burns, shrapnel or multiple bullet wounds; therefore this goat training will not simulate combat conditions.

Although the estimated cost of the most recent purchase is unknown, a comparable SOC contract in August 2005 for 340 goats netted a $46,000 award for Triple L of Lometa, Texas. The scope of those contracts pales in comparison to a trio of awards granted to Bruce Rendall Highwater Farms of Kipling, N.C, which sold 6,000 goats to SOC from 2002-2005. According to a document dated July 28, 2005, SOC awarded three separate contracts Highwater valued at about $216,000, $260,000, and $286,000, respectively.

Energy Dept. Gets Ready for More Nuclear Power in Space

The U.S. government appears to be gearing up for additional nuclear-powered, space-based operations, as it is now amassing a list of potential contractors capable of providing support for such endeavors. According to a "sources sought" notice that The Peacock Report located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) is conducting a market survey of firms "capable of providing specialized technical, analytical, advisory and assistance and administrative support services" to DoE's Office of Nuclear Energy. This DoE unit, also known as NE-34, is particularly interested in partnering with companies experienced in the area of "space radioisotope power systems" -- the same kind of nuclear-enabled power source that makes possible the controversial Cassini space probe's continued flight across the solar system.

The Oct. 1997 launch of the Cassini spacecraft had met fierce resistance from opponents who unsuccessfully sought to halt the launch based on their position that the ship's power system -- packed with 72.3 pounds of plutonium -- was a threat to humanity.

The Lockheed Martin Titan IV rocket carrying the craft had a track record of mishaps, including an explosion three years earlier which sent a billion-dollar U.S. spy satellite plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. Although the same class of rocket ultimately catapulted the Cassini probe into outer space without complication, critics claim that NASA had done so after recklessly gambling on the health of the world's inhabitants, all of whom potentially would have been subjected to traces of cancer-causing plutonium.

This most recent nuclear initiative seeks to cull together nationwide experts to assist in the development of new radioisotope systems as well as to provide guidance on terrestrial radioisotope power systems and space reactor power systems. DoE similarly is looking for information from firms capable of providing launch operations and project management assistance as well as nuclear safety analysis services.

DoE expects to award contracts prior to April 1, when work could feasibly commence at multiple vendor sites, according to the document:

"This effort will require travel to various DOE facilities and locations. On-site performance at selected DOE facility will be required. Day to day interaction with NE-34 is a requirement for this contract; the Contractor shall maintain its facility within 40 miles of the NE-34 Germantown [Maryland] Office."

It remains unclear whether this endeavor is related to the Bush Administration's proposal to build a colony on the Moon. That project includes tentative plans to construct a nuclear power plant there, a March 23, 2006 breaking story that TPR was the first to report via the piece New Details of U.S. Moon-Base Project Reveal Nuclear Intentions.

Updated Link To Katrina-Related Contracting Document

A TPR news brief on Hurricane Katrina-related federal genetic-research has been updated with a new link to the source planning document. Readers whom recently accessed the March 17, 2006 piece, NIH Seeks Post-Katrina Human Test Subjects for Genetic Study encountered a dead link to the government contracting database known as FedBizOpps, which under standard operating procedure routinely archives those documents and changes their links.

Readers are encouraged to write to stevepeacock@yahoo.com if they encounter such links and need assistance in finding the relocated documents. With your help, TPR can keep those links updated to the best of its ability and can better serve the public interest.

Energy Dept. Plans Further Cleanup of Nuclear Waste in Washington State

Nuclear "burial grounds" at a U.S. Dept. of Energy-owned wasteland in southeastern Washington state are slated to undergo additional environmental remediation this summer, part of a larger cleanup aimed at ultimately removing millions of tons of contaminated soil and materials.

The 586 square-mile area known as the Hanford Site operated for 50 years as a military plutonium-production facility, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s World War II development of one of the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

Washington Closure Hanford LLC (WHC), which DoE selected in 2005 as the prime contractor for the initiative, is vetting potential subcontractors to focus on the cleanup of specific radiological trenches and other nuclear hotspots at the sprawling Benton County complex. According to a contracting document that TPR located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps procurement database, this phase of the remediation effort will take between two and four years to complete at an additional cost of $10-$20 million.

The contracting document, dated Dec. 14, says that work for the latest procurement action involves "excavation and removal of radiologically and/or chemically contaminated soils and debris. Work may be performed in radiation areas (including High Radiation Areas and Airborne Radiation Areas)..."

This segment of the cleanup is just one part of a larger effort centering on a 210-mile stretch of land along the Colombia River corridor, portions of which in 2000 were designated as the Hanford Reach National Monument/Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. According to WHC’s website, the cleanup "is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and cost $1.9 billion." During that time, WHC will "decontaminate and remove 510 facilities, close or remediate 486 waste sites, cocoon three reactors, and dispose of about four million tons of contaminated material."

To put the breadth of this endeavor in additional context, progress made -- and progress that needs to be made -- was spelled out in a 1,256-page declassified report released a year ago.

Public meetings and updates on the Hanford Site are regularly held in Richland, WA. For further information, a DoE "public involvement" site is available.

Rats on Acid, Mice on Meth

Hordes of vicious rats, tripping on acid, experiencing hallucinations of swirling, goody filled garbage heaps.

Legions of mice on meth, speeding through the crevices of your home in a peripatetic search for cheese, crumbs, or perhaps your toenails when you're not paying attention and your feet are sticking out from the blanket while you sleep.

They could be coming. And the federal government would be responsible. The unleashing of these reprehensible rodents, and the havoc they could wreak upon our society will rest on the hands of the President and his underlings at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), who would be guilty of perpetrating this crime against humanity and against nature.

Okay, if such a thing were ever to happen -- which almost certainly never will occur -- then we would hold the Bush Administration accountable. But it will not happen (I think), so chill.

In reality (well, certainly not from a rat's point of view), NIDA is indeed looking for small businesses capable of administering hallucinogens and speed (and/or related chemical "compounds") into the bodies of live rats and mice, respectively. Under the auspices of the Treatment Discovery Programs at NIDA, the desired outcome of the endeavor is the testing and assessment of "potential pharmacotherapies for drugs of abuse including stimulants and hallucinogens," according to a Nov. 29 "sources sought" notice located by Exhortations.

On a more serious note, if NIDA feels that it has to get rodents all whacked out and high as a means of helping humans to battle substance abuse, so be it. Trip away, little rodents.

If by some chance any of these wide-eyed rodents happened to escape the selected contractor's facilities, and find their way into the privacy of your home, Exhortations has this suggestion: slip a copy of Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd into your CD player (or 8-track tape player, if appropriate), call animal control, then sit back and relax.

Even rats on acid and mice on meth cannot resist the mesmerizing power of pieces such as Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast and If. Just close your eyes and wait for authorities to arrive. In the end, all will be well.

U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke Energy Production

Over 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are slated for transfer into the hands of private contractors, whom under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy program will "down-blend" the weapons-grade material into nuclear reactor-friendly low-enriched uranium (LEU) -- which would then be shipped to foreign nations. The purported goal of the project is to dissuade other countries from pursuing uranium enrichment weapons-development programs, a measure which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hopes to accomplish by providing those nations with the products necessary to move forward with nuclear energy initiatives.

The Reliable Fuel Supply program seeks to "ensure reliable access to nuclear fuel feedstock for power reactors in foreign countries...," according to a planning document that TPR located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The Nov. 8 document further notes that "This material will provide a significant reserve that will increase the confidence of countries voluntarily choosing not to pursue enrichment and reprocessing that they will not risk losing the benefits of nuclear power."

The selected contractor will convert 17.5 MT of the highly enriched uranium into 40 MT of the low-enriched uranium, it said. NNSA's Office of Fissile Materials Disposition will oversee the activities of the vendor, who likewise will be responsible for transporting "a substantial majority" of the resulting low enriched uranium to an unnamed, designated storage facility.

NNSA did not specify what percentage of this "substantial majority" of LEU would be shipped internationally. Similarly, it vaguely noted that "much" of this reprocessed uranium would be given to the contractor as compensation for its efforts, in addition to the execution of a "property loan agreement" to conduct the operation.

The agency plans to release a formal Request for Proposals for this endeavor sometime in late December or early January. It also said it expects to award a five-year contract by April or May 2007.

As Hezbollah Rains Rockets on Israel, DoD Steps Up Plans to Upgrade Israeli Air Force Bases

The U.S. Dept. of Defense this past week elevated its plans to help modernize several Israeli Air Force bases, where the construction of new facilities and the expansion of runways and other aerospace infrastructure will accommodate Israel’s growing inventory of fighter jets. This heightening of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) activity comes at a time when Hezbollah has stepped up rocket attacks against Israel, leading to the subsequent unleashing of Israeli retaliatory strikes against Lebanon, the staging ground of the Hezbollah assault.

According to contracting document that TPR has obtained, the project -- known as SUFA-4, in reference to the Lockheed Martin-produced Sufa ("Storm") and Suefa ("Thunderstorm") F-16I jets -- initially entailed a projected $10 million infrastructure investment into Ramon Air Force Base (AFB), (about 50 kilometers south of Beer-Sheba), Palmachim AFB (15 km south of Tel-Aviv) and Hazerim AFB (5 km west of Beer-Sheba). DoD also planned to facilitate a separate $10 million package for Nevatim AFB, located about 25 km east of Beer-Sheba.

TPR has learned that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers on July 13 added an additional endeavor to the SUFA 4 project, namely the construction of laboratories and "clean rooms," which typically are used for microelectronics production and maintenance, within an unidentified, 10-story facility in Givayatim, Israel. The addition of this segment increased the projected total of SUFA-4 to $25 million, not including the $10 million upgrade at Nevatim AFB.

Specific to the jets that will be housed in and deployed from these locations, the first of the aircraft had been slated for delivery to Israel in February 2004, according to GlobalSecurity.org. The site also said that three squadrons of the aircraft were scheduled to be operational in 2008.

"It appears that deliveries are taking place at the rate of two aircraft per month, suggesting a force of about 20 aircraft by the end of 2004 and nearly 50 by late 2005," Global Security.org reported. "The first unit to operate the F-16I was the Negev Squadron, which was reformed at Ramon on July 27, 2003, to operate the Suefa. The next unit to reequip with the Suefa will be the Orange Tail Knights Squadron, also at Ramon, followed by the Bat Squadron. With the additional 102 new F-16Is, Israel will operate a total of 362 F-16s - the largest fleet of F-16s in the world outside of the United States Air Force."