15 October 2007

Article 128

Text from the Uniform Code of Military Justice:

“(a) Any person subject to this chapter who attempts or offers with unlawful force or violence to do bodily harm to another person, whether or not the attempt or offer is consummated, is guilty of assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct”

That is what the Uniform Code of Military Justice calls Article 128. That is also what the Minnesota Air National Guard says was done to it by the Air Force on behalf of the CIA, over an airplane called “Article 128.” Actually, I think it is the four-star Air Force Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but maybe that is just a coincidence.

Article 128 was the cover name for a flying machine so breathtaking that it's capabilities are unbeatable today, nearly half a century after Kelly Johnson and his Lockheed Skunkworks engineers began to sketch out an airplane that would be radar-stealthy, capable of sustained flight in excess of Mach Three, and operate somewhere over 90,000 feet, at the edge of outer space.

It is a little more complicated than simple assault, though, and it really goes right to the heart of what was born in the struggle to defeat fascism. It was a challenge to confront the Red Menace on such a lovely morning, though I felt up to it. Cool with the promise of Autumn; Golden, though so painfully dry. The article in the paper said that Article 128 was at CIA, where sources in Minneapolis darkly said it would never be seen by the public again.

I looked through the harvest of warning information that had passed through the computer on my desk, wishing I was outside. It was weirder than usual.

On the upside, I was comforted that Chinese medical officials agreed last week to not transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families. I am not a Falun Gong member, though I have been handed some of their alarming literature that indicates their members are routinely subjected to organ-harvesting while in jail. I do not intend to be in Chinese custody any time soon. But you never can tell the way the world is working these days.

On the downside, I heard that four committees of Congress have voted to table a conventionally-armed version of the Navy's Trident D-4 submarine-launched missile The project was supposed to involve the removal of nuclear warheads from some of the 24 Trident missiles carried aboard the dozen Ohio-class submarines, giving the vessel the versatility of launching a conventional or a nuclear weapon.
 
The impetus for the conventional Trident came from the military need to rapidly attack distant so-called "high value" targets without using atomic bombs.
 
Possible targets are alleged nuclear weapons facilities in North Korea and Iran. I did not see anything about Syria on the list, so it is possible that the New York Times is correct in saying that a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor is what the Israelis hit on that mysterious air attack last month.
 
I think I am cautiously in favor of the former decision, and uncertain about the latter. Of course it would be tempting to rain down missiles on people we don't like, provided they deserve it.

The argument against the capability is that the Russians and the Chinese would not necessarily know where the rockets were going, and as prudent nation-states, would have to consider the little blips as nuclear threats to their respective homelands and do something rash in the way of response.

It all sounds a little ridiculous, until you remember that Russia went to full nuclear alert in 1995 over the launch of a Norwegian meteorological missile, and we almost got to the dreaded “launch on warning” scenario with nary a Communist in sight. That would be worse than being a Chinese prisoner and waking up in the morning with no kidneys.

I sighed and shut down the computer. The assault on the Minnesota Air National Guard had apparently been a nasty one. The Congressional delegation had been dragged into the mess by the former curator of the Air Guard museum. I did not know of any particular relationship between the Skunkworks and the CIA with the MANG, except that James Goodall really liked the airplane.

I really like airplanes, too, but I doubt if the Air Force would donate a pristine F-4 Phantom to place on a pole out in front of Big Pink.   I thought the CIA, which had stated the requirement, paid for the project, recruited the pilots, and provided the operating budget might have a better claim on the Blackbird.

The MANG demurred, claiming they had found Article 128 on a scrapheap in Palmdale, California, cut the wings off, and bundled it into a C-5 Galaxy airlifter for transport to Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport.

The controversy was bitter. The possession of the Blackbird by the Minnestonans seemed capricious at best, but they had been good stewards while they had it. It was a popular draw at the museum, and volunteers had put in thousands of hours of labor to make the airplane look good.

When it appeared that the Air Force, which retained title to the A-12 was serious about taking it back, Goodall clambered up onto the delicate titanium wing and ripped all the instruments out of the cockpit. In a Wall Street Journal article about the matter, Goodall admitted he had removed the cockpit fixtures to keep the CIA from getting them with "his" plane.    

He sounds like a man with serious delusional issues, and maybe a candidate for the Chinese campaign against the Falun Gong.

Naturally, the surviving veterans of the Blackbird program were incensed. Their organization wanted the airplane at CIA HQ, where it really belonged.
 
With the support of General Mike Hayden and the United States Air Force, the assault on the Minnesota Air National Guard was successful, and by last month, Article 128 was at Langley, a centerpiece for the 60th anniversary celebration.

Ultimately, the Blackbird is going to be up on a pole, and it will not be visible to the public.

Which is why I fired up the car that lovely morning, and drove up to see it before anything else happens. It was a very curious thing. I have credentials that theoretically could get me on the compound at Langley. I did not know if they would work, and as I drove up to the gate I pondered what I would say if they asked my business.

Should I tell them I was on an intelligence mission to examine Article 128?

As it turned out, the nice men with the machine guns at the gate just waved me through, and after driving a lazy circuit around the compound, discovered that I could park my car right under the Blackbird's wing, no assault required whatsoever.

Copyright 2007 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

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