BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Pentagon axes online terror bets
Pentagon axes online terror bets
Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: "I share your shock"
The Pentagon has abandoned plans to set up a controversial online trading market to help predict terrorist attacks.
There was uproar after opposition Democrats in the US Senate highlighted the plan and described it as ridiculous and grotesque.
Under the plan, bets could have been made about future terrorist attacks, conflicts, and assassination attempts.
But the proposal ran into fierce opposition in the US Congress.
Oops! Looks like I was wrong t pedict this lasting. It never even got beyond the starting gate.
You can perhaps see now why I generally don't bet. In some ways I think this is a shame. I think Darpa should be congratualted for their out of the box thinking rather than castigated.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not defendng terrorism or anything that would encourage its outbreak, however innovative ideas on how to gether intelligence, like this shold not be simply brushed aside with knee jerk reactions to misplaced outrage.
Posted by Paul Goodison at July 29, 2003 11:29 PM | TrackBack