Posted on 01/09/2004 12:28:18 PM PST by Calpernia
In its ongoing effort to improve support to troops in the field, the Defense Department is testing radio-frequency identification technology, Alan Estevez, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for supply chain integration, said here today.
RFID tags contain microchips that, when scanned, send out a unique identification signal. Tagged items can be added quickly to inventory databases and can even be wirelessly tracked for short distances.
Tags contain license-plate data that says this data equals this item, said Estevez. For a national retail chain using the tags, it might be a box of disposable diapers. "For us, it may be a box of parts for an F-22," he said.
The goal of using RFID is to make life easier for troops, said Estevez. "It will give us better tracking of inventory so we'll know what we have in stock, where it is and where it is in motion. When the troops overseas order supplies, we'll be able to get our hands on the supplies they need and move it to them in the most effective manner."
With RFID, noted Estevez, troops will not have to scan receipt of the item to get it back into the inventory accountability system. RFID will do it automatically.
This tracking system is not new to DoD, he said. The department used a form of RFID to track container shipments during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he said.
Initially, RFID will be used on cases, pallets and individual packaging of items that require a unique identifier, said Estevez. This would include items over $5,000 in value, key components of major weapons platforms and things such as weapons that are tracked by serial numbers daily.
RFID is being used to track distribution of supplies at the Fleet Supply Center in Norfolk, Va. Tests for tracking field rations and chemical-biological suits are slated for February.
Estevez said one of the keys to successfully implementing RFID is the cooperation of suppliers. "We're working with suppliers (so they'll start) tagging the supplies that they send us; likewise, the supplies we maintain in inventory at our Defense Logistics Agency supply depots will be tagged when they move out to sustain our forces."
The department held an industry summit meeting with suppliers in December, and plans to host another in April.
"We're working with suppliers," said Estevez. "As we devise the implementation strategy, (we want to ensure) it works for them, works for us and becomes win- win for the forces in the field."
Estevez said systems such as RFID are important. "The way we fight has changed, as shown by the speed of battle in Iraqi Freedom," he added. "We have to transform our logistics capabilities in order to meet that new way of fighting wars. RFID is a key component of changing logistics capability, of enhancing our ability to supply our forces."
RFID, he continued, "helps us get the supplies to the (troops) in the field when they need them, and makes their job easier when they receive them."
The goal of using RFID is to make life easier for troops, said Estevez. "It will give us better tracking of inventory so we'll know what we have in stock, where it is and where it is in motion. When the troops overseas order supplies, we'll be able to get our hands on the supplies they need and move it to them in the most effective manner."
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Perhaps track down the bad guys who ambush our convoys and rob our trains for supplies.
The most visible use of this technology is used to bill customers for vehicle toll charges without the need for the vehicle to slow down to scan a bar code.
However, the technology will one day, one day soon, be used to track people. The technology also allows the embedded chips to store and refresh data. The chip's database memory will contain who you are, which stores you entered in the mall, what time you entered them, what departments you visited, what you purchased, your credit balance, etc, etc, etc.
This chip will be embedded in your credit card. There will be no need for you to remove the card; just leave it in your purse or wallet and it will be read and refreshed with new data each time you enter an area that wants to interrogate your information.
In conjunction with veri-chip (http://www.adsx.com/prodservpart/verichip.html), it can be implanted in you.
And presumably, dug back out ...
Individual people or just people in general?
It is generally (and correctly so) thought that the wearing of an aluminum ('tinfoil') suite and hat can substantially 'cut into' the range of such systems; shoplifters have been known to line shopping bags with tinfoil to block the 'reading' of merchandise tags already ...
One RFID 'reader' near every point of egress or ingress at a supply depot ought to be a good start ...
Just people who have agreed to carry the card. Similiar to the people who have agreed to have their tolls recorded and invoiced monthly. This is not some stealth conspiracy.
However, one could easily consider the consequences if carrying such an ID was mandated by government. This eventuality should not be taken to lightly considering that tracking people seem to be a fast approaching objective of government.
For more insight into that aspect of government read Orwell's book "1984". In order to see how government accomplishes a 1984 way of life read Orwell's "Animal Farm".
Been there - done that, hence I can say that some of your paranoia is misplaced *given* your, well, apparent 'basis' for such fears.
Fortunately, and where the 'break' occurs with reality is, we *still* have a representative form of government. The day that goes away I'll give more credence to your 'voiced fears' as expressed.
MUCH talk about "total gov't takeover by executive order and martial law" (COMPLETE with pictures of so-called "Y2K Internment camps") by the now defunct Xlintoon administration preceded the non-event called "Y2K", so, I feel I have some basis for 'debunking' some of this (if only lightly) paranoid-based fears along these lines too ...
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