Tag Archives: afrl

Air Force Paper on the Passive Terrorism of Hijabs

Writing at The Intercept, Murtaza Hussain took issue with a “US military white paper [describing] wearing hijab as ‘passive terrorism’.”

A policy paper issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory, titled Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods & Strategies, includes a chapter setting forth controversial and unsubstantiated theories of radicalization, including the idea that support for militant groups is driven by “sexual deprivation” and that headscarves worn by Muslim women represent a form of “passive terrorism.”

In the interest of accuracy, it is worth noting the publication was not an Air Force policy paper, and it included the disclaimer that the views were expressly only the authors’.

It is also not unusual for the US military to publish academic Read more

Need an Airstrike? There’s an App for that.

The Air Force Times highlights a smartphone app that could conceivably be used by troops to direct airstrikes:

Draper Laboratory of Cambridge, Mass., is working with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., on a new program called the Android Terminal Assault Kit, or ATAK, that it said will transform the way troops request air support.

The application will allow troops in the field to open a map and, with a few screen taps, label the locations of enemy troops, civilians, friendly forces and potential evacuation points, and then securely transmit the data to inbound pilots or operations centers.

However, they’re not developing the app for the iPhone, because “the security was better” on the Android OS.

ADVERTISEMENT