I'm not sure if y'all are aware of Jeff Skunk Baxter's second occupation as a Defense Consultant and Specialist for Missle Defense System's?
Here's part of His Wiki Bio-
Baxter fell into his second profession almost by accident. In the mid-1980s, his interest in music recording technology led him to wonder about hardware and software originally developed for military use, specifically
data compression algorithms and large-capacity storage devices.
[7] His next-door neighbor was a retired engineer who had worked on the
Sidewinder missile program.
[7] This neighbor bought Baxter a subscription to
Aviation Week magazine, provoking his interest in additional military-oriented publications and missile defense systems in particular.He became self-taught in this area, and at one point wrote a five-page paper that proposed converting the ship-based anti-aircraft
Aegis missile into a rudimentary missile defense system.
[7] He gave the paper to
California Republican Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher, and his career as a defense consultant began.
Backed by several influential Capitol Hill lawmakers, Baxter received a series of security clearances so he could work with classified information. In 1995,
Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Curt Weldon, then the chairman of the House Military Research and Development Subcommittee, nominated Baxter to chair the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense.
Baxter's work with that panel led to consulting contracts with the Pentagon's
Missile Defense Agency and
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He consults for the
US Department of Defense and the US intelligence community, as well as defense-oriented manufacturers such as
Science Applications International Corporation,
Northrop Grumman Corp.,
General Dynamics, and
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.[7] He has said his unconventional approach to thinking about
terrorism,
[7] tied to his interest in technology, is a major reason the government sought his assistance.
"We thought turntables were for playing records until
rappers began to use them
as instruments, and we thought airplanes were for carrying passengers until terrorists realized they could be used as missiles,"
[20] Baxter has said. "My big thing is to look at existing technologies and try to see other ways they can be used, which happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at."
Baxter has also appeared in public debates and as a guest on
CNN and
Fox News advocating missile defense.
[7] He served as a national spokesman for Americans for Missile Defense, a coalition of organizations devoted to the issue.
In 2000, Baxter considered challenging Representative
Brad Sherman for the
24th Congressional District seat in California before deciding not to run.
[21]
In April 2005, he joined the
NASA Exploration Systems Advisory Committee.
Baxter was a member of an independent study group that produced the Civil Applications Committee Blue Ribbon Study recommending an increased domestic role for US spy satellites in September 2005.
[22] This study was first reported by
The Wall Street Journal on August 15, 2007.
[23] He is listed as "Senior Thinker and
Raconteur" at the
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition,
[24] and is a
Senior Fellow and Member of the
Board of Regents at the
Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
[25]
