Juneau is hardly the top American target for terrorists, so what’s Blackwater doing in Alaska’s capital? Author Stuart Archer Cohen and Juneau’s KTOO News have reported sightings of uniformed guards from the private security contractor, and Cohen has some clues as to why they’re there.

Stuart Archer Cohen:

Blackwater is here to guard a radar station for tests of the National Missile Defense system now officially deployed and operational here in Alaska. Don’t let the words “deployed” and “operational” mislead you: the system can’t really shoot down hostile missiles. It can barely shoot down a single test missile when provided with its exact take-off time and trajectory, let alone detect and destroy a surprise attack by multiple missiles. Unbiased experts, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, assert that because the system can be so easily and cheaply defeated by countermeasures such as decoys, or overwhelmed by the complexity of a real attack, that it will never be a practical defense. Nevertheless, our government continues to divert billions of dollars into the pockets of defense contractors on this wildly expensive high-tech version of France’s Maginot Line, so gleefully outflanked by the Germans in 1940. This is more than just a constellation of pork barrel projects and misguided priorities. It’s theft on a massive scale.

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