US Army’s Star Trek War Room Is a Replica of the Starship Enterprise
September 20th, 2013
Government spending is completely out of control. Bureaucrats and politicians are poor stewards of taxpayers’ hard-earned funds, and the Department of Defense is no exception. Foreign Policy is reporting that officials brought in an expensive Hollywood set designer to build a custom Star Trek themed war room, crafted to be an exact replica of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, at the US Army base Fort Belvoir.
The Army’s Star Trek play set is referred to as the “Information Dominance Center.” From a captain’s chair just like Jean-Luc Picard’s, current NSA Director Keith Alexander once ran information warfare campaigns back when he was in charge of the Army’s Intelligence and Security Command. He has since imported those same tactics for domestic use at his new job as head of the NSA, stealing private information from the very taxpayers who funded the Army’s high-tech toy. Meanwhile, Congress is struggling to come up with an agreement to continue funding the government, which is suffocating under trillions of dollars worth of debt.
Imperial Excess
The Army’s Star Trek themed war room features lots of expensive, purely-cosmetic bells and whistles. The room’s automatic doors produce that same “whoosh” sound effect that can be heard when doors open and close in the iconic science fiction series. Chrome panels give the Information Dominance Center that futuristic look, and a massive TV screen covers the wall in front of the captain’s chair. It’s unclear how these cosmetic features benefit US national security.
According to the above-linked article by Foreign Policy, such lavish features do clearly please members of Congress, “Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather ‘captain’s chair’ in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen. ‘Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard,’ says a retired officer in charge of VIP visits.”
Dangerous Toys
While the US government faces a mountain of debt, bureaucrats continue to waste money in an almost exaggerated, provocative way. Meanwhile, The Guardian notes that NSA Director Keith Alexander recently brought home information warfare tactics, which he honed at the Information Dominance Center, for domestic use on the American people.
The Army’s Star Trek war room is a symbol of the imperial excess that risks plunging the US into a Roman Empire style decline. Obviously, when an organization is deeply in debt, extra funds should not go to create plush, quirky play sets. Record numbers of Americans have given up on looking for a job. Grocery, fuel, and rent prices are surging. The nation has been at war for over a decade, and troops and veterans are committing suicide at a tragically unprecedented pace. These are serious matters. Bureaucrats and politicians are playing Star Trek while Americans suffer.
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