Military: Sorry, Wrong Numbers

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Using falsified "disinformation" to mislead adversaries is a patented Soviet ruse. Last week there were suggestions that the Pentagon may be playing the same game. Aviation Week magazine reported that for more than two years the Defense Department has deliberately misrepresented publicly available performance standards and other technical data on several key projects. Among them: high- speed microchips, low-visibility Stealth aircraft technology, and perhaps the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars, project. While the program's goal is to confuse Soviet weapons planners, the U.S. public and Congress are also being deceived. Four U.S. Senators have asked the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate. Defense Department officials disclaim knowledge of any such program, and their denials could be sincere: one intelligence expert suggests that a rumor about distorted data could itself be a U.S. disinformation technique.