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Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, missle defense expert

shecky

Master Poster
shecky
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
2,192
Self taught missle defense expert, that is.

Hell, there are at least a dozen regular posters here that fit that description.

Still, I'm curious about what he does to earn money for defense consulting. Too many teats free for the suckling?

Maybe the defense dept should hire the KISS Army to find Osama.

More info here.
 
shecky said:
Self taught missle defense expert, that is.

Hell, there are at least a dozen regular posters here that fit that description.

Still, I'm curious about what he does to earn money for defense consulting. Too many teats free for the suckling?

Maybe the defense dept should hire the KISS Army to find Osama.

More info here.
Click to expand...

First, this is old news.

Second, it's old news that the Defense Dept. has a lot of money to throw around.

Third, if the article can be believed, it appears he pulled his pants up from around his ankles, walked away from the keyboard, read books and got actual experience with electronics and acoustics. Then wrote a paper that made some sense, and sent it to an appropriate person. Also, he knew someone.

Did you read the article, or are you just jealous?

"
Like many musicians, Baxter has always been interested in how technology can be applied to music, and has become adept at working with the science of sound. He's served as a technical adviser for major musical manufacturers such as Akai Digital, Roland and Audio-Technica. And his fascination with circuitry and electronics stretches beyond the musical domain into the military realm. In the '80s, while his peers would drink beer and play video games on tour, Baxter would immerse himself in technical defense magazines.

"Technology is really neutral, it's just a question of application," he said. "For instance, if TRW came up with a new data compression algorithms for their spy satellites, I could use that same information and apply it for a musical instrument or a hard disc recording unit. So it was just a natural progression."

Baxter's evolution from defense technology hobbyist to professional happened more by circumstance than intent. A decade ago, one of his friends was writing an op-ed piece on NATO and weapons systems, and knowing Baxter's fascination with military gizmos, she asked if he would help out. He was so inspired by the project, he wrote his own paper on missile defense and handed it to Rohrbacher, who showed it to his associates.

"His friends said, 'Is this guy from Raytheon or Lockheed?' And he said, 'No, he's the guitar player for the Doobie Brothers.' So naturally that raised a few eyebrows," Baxter said.

Based on the paper, Republican Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon, the chair of the Procurement Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, invited Baxter to help form a civilian advisory board on missile defense.

"The next thing I knew, I was up to my teeth in national security, mostly in missile defense, but because the pointy end of the missile sometimes is not just nuclear, but chemical, biological or volumetric, I got involved in the terrorism side of things.""
 
he wrote his own paper on missile defense and handed it to Rohrbacher
Click to expand...
A raving nut if there ever was one. (His involvement doesn't mean that Baxter is incompetent, nor is it a ringing endorsement.)
 
Re: Re: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, missle defense expert

TeaBag420 said:
First, this is old news.

Second, it's old news that the Defense Dept. has a lot of money to throw around.

Third, if the article can be believed, it appears he pulled his pants up from around his ankles, walked away from the keyboard, read books and got actual experience with electronics and acoustics. Then wrote a paper that made some sense, and sent it to an appropriate person. Also, he knew someone.

Did you read the article, or are you just jealous?
Click to expand...
lol. Well said.

Funny how they called him a "rock hero" though. I always got the impression he was one of the more under-appreciated rock guitarists ever.
 
Yeah agree. Too bad he didn't stick with Steely Dan, but it was the Doobs' gain. I'd love to see him play sometime, even if just solo. Wonder if he occasionally guests at a DC pub or something or is completely retired....
 
No doubt he's clever. But it seems he's more Tom Clancy than Werner von Braun. IOW, he's better at ********ting than science. Having a impressionable patron (Rohrbacher) and a bit of star power, I think, are more responsible for his defense gig than his intellectual chops.

Come to think of it, i am a bit jealous. He's probably the closest thing to a real Buckaroo Banzai that I can think of.
 
I doubt it. Sure that helped get him in the door, but I think if he just sat around going "then I remember this one time, me and Tom brought these incredibly built blondes back to the bus, and....." - that he wouldn't last long or be taken seriously by anyone. Not everyone is a 70s rock nostalgia freak, certainly not in the DoD world at least.
 
shecky said:
No doubt he's clever. But it seems he's more Tom Clancy than Werner von Braun. IOW, he's better at ********ting than science. Having a impressionable patron (Rohrbacher) and a bit of star power, I think, are more responsible for his defense gig than his intellectual chops.
Click to expand...

I think it's cool that he wasn't a FIRETRUCKIN' MOTHERLOVIN' NAZI. But that's just me.

Sounds like someone's jealous.....
 
Someone just pointed out that Kris Kristofferson is a better Buckaroo Banzai match. Looking up his accomplishments, now I'm really jealous.
 
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