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[FYI] USA: "Defense Secretary William Cohen made a pilgrimage to



http://jya.com/war-os.htm

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2 March 1999. Thanks to D. 


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/dotmil/arkin.htm 

A Secretary Goes a Courtin' 

By William M. Arkin 

Special to washingtonpost.com 

Monday, March 1, 1999 

There was a time when research and development contracts for the
Defense Department and other federal agencies drove American
technology. Now, commercial and educational organizations outspend and
outshine the government in almost every way, especially in information
technologies. 

Once the best and brightest graduates of computer science departments
flocked to nuclear and military laboratories to fight the Cold War.
Today they go to the Internet and entertainment industries. 

Just 15 years ago, the Pentagon purchased 60 percent of the
information products produced in the United States. Today, it
purchases less than 2 percent. The result is that the military has
less influence on what the commercial infotech sector is doing, and
many worry that this represents a national security problem. 

So, despite the Justice Department's war with Microsoft, Defense
Secretary William Cohen made a pilgrimage to Microsoft's Redmond,
Wash., headquarters in February to get to know the civilian dynamos
better and to build support for military spending. 

[...]

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