Leading Military Website Adds Influential Blog Covering National Security's Future
SAN FRANCISCO -- the largest online military destination, has announced the addition of Defense Tech (www.DefenseTech.org), a leading web log, or blog, for information and analysis on the future of the military, law enforcement, and homeland defense.
Military Advantage, a subsidiary of Monster Worldwide (Nasdaq:MNST), enables the 30 million Americans with military affinity to access the benefits of service, as well as the news and information that impacts them. With 3.8 million monthly unique visitors (comScore Media Metrix, September 2004), Military.com is the world's largest online military destination. Military.com membership numbers over 4 million and includes over 25% of uniformed personnel, as well as veterans, family members, policymakers, procurement professionals and defense contractors. Web logs, or blogs, have mushroomed in recent years into some of the Internet's most vibrant and influential sources of news and opinion. The Defense Tech blog, begun in January 2003, tracks developments and trends in defense, law enforcement and homeland security. Technology is shaping how wars are fought, borders are protected, crooks are caught, and individual rights are defined. Defense Tech stays on top of these changes, rounding up the day's news, linking to sources of information, and providing analysis on what's ahead. From flying drones to roadside bombs, computer security to nuclear threats, body armor to missile defense, Defense Tech examines the intersection of technology and defense from every angle, covering the exploits of soldiers and hackers, madmen and geniuses, inventors and dictators.
"The addition of Defense Tech enables us to provide unique insight into the developments that impact homeland security, military operations, law enforcement and the everyday lives of those in uniform," said Christopher Michel, founder and president of Military Advantage. "Defense Tech makes sense of today's rapidly changing technology environment, distills the critical issues and identifies the most meaningful trends. Today, we see unprecedented interest in these topics from the general public as well as from defense and national security professionals."
With Pentagon budgets at record highs, and with issues of security weighing so heavily on the national psyche, Defense Tech takes a hard look at how military money is being spent, and whether the tools being acquired are really making Americans safer or not. Pentagon insiders, defense industry experts, military analysts, law enforcement personnel, and servicemembers in the field all contribute ideas and analysis to the blog.
"We all have a stake in our own protection. But too often, the mainstream press doesn't look very hard at the new technologies and approaches the government wants to use to secure our future," said Noah Shachtman, founder and editor of Defense Tech. "Military.com provides a tremendous platform for communicating this information to the military community as well as a large, interested public. The Pentagon budget is more than $400 billion; let's take a close look at it."
Mr. Shachtman writes about technology, defense, politics, and geek culture for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Wired magazine, and others. He's contributed articles to The Village Voice, Salon, Wired News, The New York Post, The American Prospect Online, Details, Esquire, The Forward, and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. As Defense Tech's editor, he's been interviewed by the Associated Press, CNN, CNNfn, CBS radio, NPR, BBC radio -- as well as by newspapers, radio programs, and television stations across the country.
Defense Tech "provides a boatload of information on new military technologies and national security," according to Slate magazine. It "always has something new and interesting." The Seattle Times' online edition adds that Shachtman "has led the way in reporting on some of this technology, long before the establishment press caught on."