DOD PR in the Tech Community

The previous post discussed military plan author and DOD Office of Force Transformation representative Thomas Barnett and his dream of a US-administrered global police force. He has not been the only one working the tech conference circuit, Greg Glaros of the US Navy spoke at Supernova (touting a new carbon-fiber hull vessel with electronic keel which reabsorbs its own wake among other things) and JC Herz of DARPA and the National Research Council spoke at O'Reilly Media's Where 2.0 conference earlier in 2005.

With all the technology involved with military equipment, it is logical that representatives of the US military would be speaking at tech conferences as a norm, but the frequency seems to have stepped up in proportion to the declining support for the war in Iraq. Also, the talk material and tone is positioned as public relations, marketing and propaganda; there is more content about building support for the military's strategic plans rather than discussing the technical details. It seems to be a misguided attempt on the part of the government and a programming oversight on the part of tech conference organizers.