DARPA Counter Sniper Technology – 1996 “Bullet Ears”- Saving lives today… February 18, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: AT&T, BBN, Boomerage, Chris Mark, DARPA, Force, Marine, Reconnaissance, Scout Sniper, Steve Reichert, USMC
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While I was serving as a Reconnaissance Marine in 1996, I was asked if I was interested in an opportunity to work with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) on some counter sniper technology that was being developed? Since I was also a Marine Scout/Sniper with combat experience as a sniper, I was told I was a good fit. I jumped at the opportunity to make some per diem, and screw around at Ft. Benning during the Summer Olympics, which were being held in Atltanta (about an hour away).
There were numerous systems and we spent our days shooting, trying to beat the 
systems, writing reports on our findings, and talking trash with all of the bearded PhD engineers who built the cool toys that we could break. It was immensely fun. In 1996, the technology was in its infancy and the computer processing power was not yet well enough defined to make the systems very effective. There was one system that we evaluated that struck a chord with the snipers. It was based upon a series of sensors that ‘heard’ the supersonic crack of the bullet as it passed between the sensors. It would use basic time differences and triangulate the position of the shot and, using basic trigonometry, it could calculate where the shot originated, the caliber, and other factors. Ultimately we gave it good reviews and the DARPA representative code named it “Bullet Ears” (yeah..I am not making this up)..
Today I was reading an article by Steve Reichert (the Marine Sniper with the Mile long shot and three kills with one shot) titled DARPA’s XM3 Sniper Rifle. In the article, it references a sniper detection system named ‘Boomerange’ by Raytheon’s BBN Systems. Imagine my surprise when I checked out the system and realized it was the actual finished version of “Bullet Ears” we had tested almost 20 years ago!…It has been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan…Wow. To think it has actually saved lives. That is very cool to think that a technology we tested in 1996 is saving lives in 2014…
Court Upholds 1st Amendment Rights for Bloggers! (Big Win for Bloggers!) February 14, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: 1st Amendment, 9th Circuit Court, AT&T, bloggers, Chris Mark, Gertz, Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc
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According to an article in USA Today, On January 17th, 2014 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that “..bloggers and the public have the same First Amendment protections as journalists when sued for defamation: If the issue is of public concern, plaintiffs have to prove negligence to win damages.” At a high level, the Appeals Court ruled that Standards set by a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc., apply to everyone, not just journalists. What does this mean? Quite simply if you want to blog about a company, public figure, or anyone else and your blogs are in the ‘public interest’ and not driven by malice and are not negligent, then you have a right to do so without being sued for defamation. The court said specifically: “Because Cox’s blog post addressed a matter of public concern, even assuming that Gertz is limited to such speech, the district court should have instructed the jury that it could not find Cox liable for defamation unless it found that she acted negligently,” judge Andrew D. Hurwitz wrote. “We hold that liability for a defamatory blog post involving a matter of public concern cannot be imposed without proof of fault and actual damages.”
This is a great ruling for bloggers and individuals as it protects their comments and opinions under the 1st Amendment.
Chris Mark in February 2014 SC Magazine “The Need & the Challenge” February 14, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: AT&T, Chris Mark, cybercrime, information security, InfoSec, SCMagazine, security
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Chris Mark’s (this author) article “The Need and the Challenge” has been published in the February, 2014 edition of Secure Computing Magazine. The article focuses upon the need to define the term ‘security’ and the challenge associated with denoting such a term. Here is an intro “While used every day, the term “security” can be deceptively difficult to define and may contain various meanings to different people in divergent contexts. The industry at large seems to have adopted a stance of “I know it when I see it,” as opposed to objectively defining the concept. Unfortunately, this creates numerous problems for those who have a need to ‘secure’ data, or any other asset.” Continue reading here!
Randy Abbott admitting he lied…. February 3, 2014
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Sorry for the posts about Stolen Valor but this is important to me. This man, and others, have stolen the valor of those who earned the right to call themselves Recon Marines and Scout/Snipers. There are many brave men who have willingly gone into harm’s way and many who came back wounded or not at all. Randy Abbott claimed an honor that he did not earn. He has been publicly exposed and now recorded admitting to Jonn Lillea of ThisAintHell that he lied. Is this enough? Depends upon who you ask….
Randy Abbott – “paralyzed surfer who was robbed” AND A Recon/Sniper? Yeah..OK… February 3, 2014
Posted by Chris Mark in Uncategorized.Tags: GoFundMe, randy abbott, Recon, Scout Sniper, sniper, Stolen Valor, the view from 42
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UPDATE: The fine folks at This Aint Hell (but you can see it from here) just published a story on Randy Abbott and included his DD214s as well as a speech he gave at the Travis Manion 2013 Hero Run. While he claims he: “…spent (his) first eight years assigned to Special Operations Command with a counter terrorist unit”..His DD214s confirm what we already knew…he was NOT a Recon Marine and NOT a Marine Corps Scout/Sniper. Mr. Abbott was a BulkFuel specialist (ran a gas station) and an Admin Marine (Made sure Marines got paid and had records updated). Thanks to A Buncha Damn Cowboys for their work on outing this guy. Who is this shadowing group? Pretty simple. It is a group of Recon Marines, Scout/Snipers and SARCs who were tired of people claiming honors which they had not earned.
Two weeks ago I (and a lot of my friends) read a story about Randy Abbott. Randy is a paralyzed surfer who said his surfboards were stolen at the beach. According to Randy he hit one of the guys with an uppercut but they ran away with his boards. By most accounts a pretty decent guy.
Since the report of the theft and his status as a ‘disabled vet Recon/Sniper’ there has been an international outpouring of support and numerous people donated thousands of dollars in response. In the story, they state that after spending “fourteen years as a Marine Corps recon scout sniper”, his body was banged up. Randy was not just a Scout/Sniper but a real life “Recon Sniper”? WOW!…I had to do more research as the Marine Reconnaissance and Scout/Sniper community is VERY small and I had not heard of this guy! Why..I am a Recon Marine and Scout/Sniper!! So I did some research and found a picture on his Facebook page that was a giant tattoo of non other than the 1st MarDiv Scout/Sniper School with the motto: “Suffer patiently and patiently suffer”. Nobody would go so far as to get a tattoo of a sacred sniper HOG (Hunter Of Gunmen) logo unless they were ‘legit’. Since nobody could find Mr. Abbott in any of the secret ‘invite only’ Facebook pages for Recon Marines and Snipers (yup…they exist), the Sniper School “God book” or any other places that we use to verify Recon Marines and Snipers (instructors, classes, people who served with him etc.) the question was raised as to whether or not Mr. Abbott was really a Scout Sniper or Reconnaissance Marine? A few former Recon Marines reached out and Randy said he served with “1st Recon BN, Sniper Platoon” That seemed odd since nobody can remember a ‘sniper platoon’ in 1st Recon Bn. More research and NOTHING…his DD214 has been requested but if you know how to contact Randy, please ask him to shoot me an email and we can clear all this up. I have posted my own DD214 to show how easy it is to demonstrate you are Recon Marine or Scout/Sniper. Until then, it appears as if this man is simply making things up…
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