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Lecture 1

Technology has played a key role in national security and weapons development throughout history. Early tools evolved into weapons used for survival and power. Advances like the stirrup and crossbow made knights and weapons more effective. Gunpowder led to cannons and pistols that transformed warfare by breaching walls and enabling new warships. In World War 2, radar allowed Britain to defeat Germany. During the Gulf War, stealth technology made US planes invisible to Iraqi radar, giving them air superiority. This lecture discusses how technological developments in areas like nuclear weapons have impacted national security policy and decisions over time.

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98 views2 pages

Lecture 1

Technology has played a key role in national security and weapons development throughout history. Early tools evolved into weapons used for survival and power. Advances like the stirrup and crossbow made knights and weapons more effective. Gunpowder led to cannons and pistols that transformed warfare by breaching walls and enabling new warships. In World War 2, radar allowed Britain to defeat Germany. During the Gulf War, stealth technology made US planes invisible to Iraqi radar, giving them air superiority. This lecture discusses how technological developments in areas like nuclear weapons have impacted national security policy and decisions over time.

Uploaded by

jamesyu
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Technology in National Security

Lecture 1
What distinguishes man? The ability to use tools. That is what we’re going to be talking
about. The first tools were weapons.

Weapons were used to survive, by killing animals and avoiding becoming food. Tools
critical. Weapons evolved.

Suddenly, weapons used against each other. The innovative use of technologies to make
weapons.

Mesopotamia
Had good knife weapons—lead the world in weapons—lead the world in power. Now, it
is Iraq.

Advanced Weapons
Technology made tools advance, thus making weapons advanced. Knights are a good
example. The stirrup made Knights better and more accurate. Crossbow was another
advancement—much better and very accurate.

New revolutions in weapons can totally upset a whole paradigm. The longbow replaced
the crossbow.

Clip of Henry V
The longbows and pikes defeated the French, outnumbered 5 to 1. The end of the Knight
on horseback.

Renaissance
Art. New weapons. Science.

Da Vinci designed some weapons too. Helicopter. He wrote of submarines, but he didn’t
want to let it out because he knew they would be used for evil. Not realized until several
centuries later. He was ahead of his time.

Gunpowder
Pistols. Cannons. Early cannons blew up.

Now cannons can break down city walls. The walls needed to be reinforced. Old forts
now useless.

Heavy warships were created.

In the next four years, more happened in technology than in the last 4000 years.

Radar
1940: Allowed Britain to defeat Germany.

Desert Storm:
USA bombed Bagdad. Bagdad tried to shoot down USA, but couldn’t do it. What
happened? What was the problem? Why was radar not working for Bagdad?
Stealth technology incorporated in the F1-17. Radars could not detect them.

At first, these technologies didn’t want to be accepted. Very controversial. It was the
policy makers that made the decisions.. not the engineers.

Stealth and smart bombs were contested by a caucus. He had to make a decision against
this—the technology saved many USA lives.

There should be an intense education of science in leaders. The best of the best should be
selected as king (Plato’s Republic). Now, in the modern world, a scientific training may
actually be a liability.

Persuaded Einstein to write a letter to Roosevelt—to say how important new


developments in nuclear science, about atomic bomb. The manhattan project came out of
this. Hitler also got word of the atomic bomb, but he decided that he would win the war
before it could be developed.

This course connects policy makers and scientists.

There will be a test on the history.

Buy Book:
Preventive Defense, Carter and Perry

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