In the absence of further evidence, I would not draw much inference about these connections. Most major engineering colleges have several Jewish faculty, many of whom have ties to Israel or dual Israeli citizenship. Also, most active researchers on the engineering faculty at Virginia Tech or elsewhere have done work on Department of Defense sponsored research projects. Finally, most of the faculty at the Virginia Tech who have had long careers have dozens of publications on their resume.
This professor’s death was a tragedy, as were the deaths of all the other victims. In the absence of other evidence, I don’t read much ‘strategy’ into this, other than the gunman picked a place where he could kill a lot of people.
I have many friends in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. On a certain level, I am not fully satisfied with the ‘answer’ that this was a lonely Chinese student upset over a breakup with a girlfriend, as the damage he has caused was so far beyond the bounds of that. I think there was a degree of preparation by the shooter that extended back at least several weeks, and I think the shooter must have had some formal military training. I hope there will be answers in the coming days, when the shooter is positively identified and we learn more about his background and motives.
"I have many friends in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. On a certain level,I am not fully satisfied with the ‘answer’ that this was a lonely Chinese student upset over a breakup with a girlfriend, as the damage he has caused was so far beyond the bounds of that. I think there was a degree of preparation by the shooter that extended back at least several weeks, and I think the shooter must have had some formal military training. I hope there will be answers in the coming days, when the shooter is positively identified and we learn more about his background and motives."
Totally agree on all.
Did you look at the conferences this professor had attended and was going to attend? He certainly would have been well known by the Chinese military.
Don't know anything about the significance of his expertise - militarily speaking - would like someone with more military knowledge to talk about that.