When Researching Nuclear Weapon Devices - Repercussions?

[LostDogma]

For my next script, I want to - Need To - research the parts used in these instruments and diagrams. With all that has transpired since 9/11, I believe my research - say if I use the Internet, I believe my researching will be tracked and I wonder if anyone has thoughts, experience as to what is the best way to do this, and are there any repercussions? Or are they only as I imagine them in my slightly paranoid mind? Which is to wonder - if being tracked by a govt agency for doing this kind research is a real and possible repercussion. I'd prefer to be tracked by the Hollywood Reporter.

[Frank Miranda]

Or are they only as I imagine them in my slightly paranoid mind?

Yes. I research the same all the time for the past several years and have yet to be carted off to prison. The neighbor's dog watches me when I leave the house though...

[Fortean]

Under the terms of the Patriot Act of the United States....

Well, send us a postcard from Camp X-Ray.

Edited to add the following:

Even before the September 11th attacks, the FBI was using CARNIVORE (http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=9958&c=130) to monitor Internet traffic.

Since the September 11th attacks, and up to a couple of months ago, the U.S. Department of Defense had been working upon "Total Information Awareness," (http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=13764&c=206) which would be able to monitor all available data about you and your transactions.

Under the "Patriot Act" (http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=13593&c=130): "Surveillance orders can be based in part on a person's First Amendment activities, such as the books they read, the Web sites they visit, or a letter to the editor they have written."

Speaking from experience, just asking the wrong questions can get your name onto a list of "suspects" and targeted for monitoring by the National Security Agency. About twenty years ago, I asked for the "codes," (and their "keys"), used by Nazi spies that had been decrypted by Canada's "Examination Unit" in 1941. The Canadian government refused to indicate that any such records might exist, (as the existence of the "Examination Unit" was still secret over forty years later), until I launched the first Federal Court review for the release of government records under the "Access to Information Act." The review took seven years to conclude in my favour, after the release of thousands of records; but, neither the Federal Court, the Information Commissioner, nor the Communications Security Agency have provided me with copies of the "codes" or "keys," which the CSE has continued to claim that they do not have. They do have them, as some were inadvertently declassified, when the military reviewers were deleting any identifiable information about the Nazi spies, under the "Privacy Act," (why the identities of Nazi spies were protected so diligently was never explained). Shortly before a preliminary hearing before the Associate Chief Justice of Canada, two military officers and a member of the Justice Department traveled from Ottawa to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland, to consult on what records could be released. The NSA was advised of my identity, my requests, and the court case; and, the principal objection of the NSA was that the thousands of records could not be reviewed in only a few days. All the records that I requested originated within Canada's "Examination Unit," in 1941, when neither the United States nor British governments were providing Canada with signals intelligence; so, there was no real reason for these people to ask permission from the NSA, as none of it originated from the United States. I know that my telephone was tapped and that my mail was opened, (possibly in an effort to try to discover my sources of information); but, I had done nothing criminal, nor had I done anything to threaten the national defence or international relations of Canada.

Of course, the fun part was reading a memorandum given to a future prime minister of Canada by the FBI, (two weeks before the attack at Pearl Harbor), regarding why the United States refused to cooperate with Canada in an exchange of signals intelligence. The Canadian government did not delete the same sections of their copy of the memo as the FBI had done, when it released its copy of the same memo to me under the "Freedom of Information Act." Neither the CSE nor FBI consulted one another, when they should have!

You can learn a lot by asking questions, (even the wrong kind); but, be ready to pay for the consequences of your actions, whether or not you are supposedly protected by a "Bill of Rights" or a "Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

There is no longer any threat of "Total Information Awareness." It no longer exists: "The program’s previous name, 'Total Information Awareness' program, created in some minds the impression that TIA was a system to be used for developing dossiers on U.S. citizens. That is not DoD’s intent in pursuing this program. Rather, DoD’s purpose in pursuing these efforts is to protect U.S. citizens by detecting and defeating foreign terrorist threats before an attack. Therefore, to make this objective absolutely clear, on May 20, DARPA changed the program name to Terrorism Information Awareness." (http://www.darpa.mil/body/tia/tia_report_page.htm)

[LostDogma]

Thanks, Fortean.

And Frank - you have the right to be thanked, too.

[Kenn Hoekstra]

If you're really paranoid, do your searching through www.anonymizer.com (http://www.anonymizer.com)

It masks your IP address and makes it nearly impossible to track where the strings are being sent from.

I use it at work sometimes to foil our net surfing software. :)

--Kenn

www.kennhoekstra.com (http://www.kennhoekstra.com)

[LostDogma]

Thanks, Kenn. It does give me an alternative.

[Ravenlocks01]

Or do the research from a library computer, if that's feasible.

Or from a friend's computer... um... a former friend's computer. :)

[Augie Kestrel]

An agent at the NSA told me once that they're particularly watchful for researchers using anything other than a standard QWERTY keyboard. ;)

[pantalone]

If you take Ravenlocks suggestion and go to a library, look around you. You might actually find the information in what is commonly called a book. At least you might find enough to understand how fusion, fission and even good ol' neutron weapons work. Countries that are trying to build these weapons do not have much problem with the schematics, it is the technology and certain parts that are hard to acquire. When I was in 7th grade I built a mock up bomb using painted styrofoam for a science fair.

[Augie Kestrel]

Come on, pantalone. LostDogma wasn't asking where to find the information. He was wondering if he would be "tracked" if he used the Internet to do his research. That's an entirely different question.

[pantalone]

OK, then Auggie, I'll say everything in short simple sentences.

Good old fashioned nukes are not very complex devices. They take advantage of a particular aspect of the nucleus/ atomic structure. This was all figured out way back in the 1940s. To quote my grandfather, "We can unleash the power of the sun in heart of our enemies cities, but we can't see Ed Sullivan in color." Yes, nukes were invented before color tv.

I recommend books, because I like them. And, unless you are checking them out of the library, no one will know you read it. Now, if you do check them out, that is a record available to law enforcement. You can even buy the books at bookstores, I bet there is something in the War section that'll have more than enough information.

Besides, I think it'd be interesting to note if he came back and said that all the books on nukes were mysteriously 'checked out' or maybe they had key passages blacked out.'

Tell you what, I'll go do some online research. I already have an FBI file. Hey, if they tap my phone again, this'll give them hours of fun listening to my modem on dial up.

[pantalone]

Has anybody else noticed how much useless information is out on the internet? I even was given by google some porn when looking up nuclear weapon schematics. And so many links to fansites for computer games. One golden link shined through:

www.fas.org

There is a nice description of Fatman and Little Boy. a chart showing the minimum critical mass of Uranium and Plutonium, and little info on how a fusion weapon works.

If the FBI knocks at my door, I'll let you know.

[Augie Kestrel]

Why the hostility?

[LostDogma]

Fortean, Frank Miranda, Raven and Augie, and Pantalone – thank you.

I was planning on doing both books and the Internet. The Inter net is a.source. Granted the information available there may pale in comparison to books. And maybe that’s where Pant’s hostility toward the Internet comes in.

[pantalone]

I'm not hostile. I'm a good American. And if John Ashcroft reads this, I only have creative interests at heart in researching nukes.

One other tidbit I encountered with the google. About 40 years ago - in other words, before Al Gore invented the internet - the Army chose two guys to see if they could build a bomb based on info in the public domain. They did. Well, I guess they didn't build the bomb, so much as they found all the information they needed.

[ComicBent]

Fortean, great post!

[Bill Marquardt]

Off the top of my head, I believe George Gamov wrote a book decades ago entitled, "One, Two, Three - Infinity" which explained the basics of nuclear weaponry sufficiently for a writer to create a feasible scenario or description. He also explains things like how to do a simple home experiment to calculate how large a molecule of water is.

Genius is simple. When asked to define time and space, Einstein replied, "Time is measured with a clock and space is measured with a ruler."

[Architeuthis Dux]

Tip: Don't try to put in so much tech detail that it bogs your story down.

Besides, how much information do you really need?




Hey, wait a minute. . .





How much information DO you need?