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ERIM
Weapon

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Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

By RICHARD B. INNES
A FAVORITE coffee-break
amusement of Environ-
mental Research Institute in
Michigan (ERIM) employees in
recent months has been to re-
gale each other with the latest
fictions we have read concern-
ing the work we do in our lab-
oratories. Since misconceptions
and exaggerations are m a j o r
elements of conscious humor,
persons who can recognize
these elements in supposedly
serious statements can enjoy
such tales as a class of "in"
jokes. Because the guessers
have painted us as combinations
of Dr. Wonmug, Captain Nemo,
and Count Dracula, you will un-
derstand our hesitation about
setting the record straighter and
thereby disappointing our rdor-
ing kids and awed next-door
neighbors. But research is, after
all, the honesty business, and
my scientific conscience clam-
ors for equal time with the fun
I'm having as an alleged char-
acter out of science fiction fan-
tasies. Also, the Dracula part
has been carried a bit too far
in some references, so that I
find myself wondering if even
some sensible persons are begin-
ning to suspect that a charge
like that, if left unanswered,
might have something in it.
My-acquaintance with the re-
search done by ERIM Labs and
its predecessors spans 21 years,
starting when it was called the
Willow Run Research Center.
When I joined WRRC in 1953,
Stalin had just died but no new
USSR policies were evident, "A-
bombs" existed and "H-bombs"
were known to be possible, Unit-
ed Nations forces had chased
the Chinese "volunteers" out of
North Korea and the endless
armistice there was about to be-
gin.
IN THAT atmosphere, WRRC
was in the last stages of de-
fining a computer-aided, humn-
controlled system for defending
the U.S. and Canada against a
then-possible massive attack by
both manned and un-manned
(machine-g u i d e d) 600-mph
bombers carrying nuclear wea-
pons. Also, the knowledge that
17,000-mph intercontinental bal-
listic missiles would become a
reality in the 60's was being fac-
ed by a WRRC search for real-
istic ways to ward off that fore-
seen and seemingly unstoppable
threat.
All work done then was DOD-
funded, everyone needed a se-
curity clearance or two, and we
did have armed guards at our
doors. No citizens objected
then; the needs were widely un-
derstood and the alternative
consequences wer widely fear-
ed.
That tension is years behind
us now, and the emphasis of
our work has changed to match.
Many of our new employees
have no need for clearances for
their projects. Because non-
military projects match DOD
ones in funds, they therefore
exceed the military projects in
applications. No doubt this last
statement needs explaining to
outsiders. The key to the ex-
planation is that DOD contracts
in regard to remote s- nsing
systems pay for developing
most of the new and improved
sensor apparatus. The appara-
tus then becomes available for
other uses. Development of new

types of hardware is exp
so work on the military
cations of each new ap
uses a minority of the D(
lars. On the other hand
qualified users of the :
developed sensors usual
no development costs.
even a 50-50 split impli
siderably more applica
sensors to civil uses t
military ones.
ALTHOUGH THE r
side of the picture has
ished, I am writing her
about that side, since tho
jects are the ones :n
versy. My intent is to
a few points about the
of that minority of sen
plications projects, sin
controversy comes
through misunderstandin
points.
Military sensor systems
known in the past twod

sensors
pensive, These systems just don't work
y appli- that way. When they are able
paratus to do their job, what they ac-
OD dol- complish is to make it possible.
1, other for their side's weapons to be
lready- concentrated more closely upon
lly pay the other side's weapons, and
Hence upon the closely associated cruc-
es con- ial military supplies. Hu m a n
:ion of losses, especially of non-combat-
han to ants, are then reduced, rather
than increased. It is when the
guidance they are intended to
military provide is inadequate that the
dimin- scattergun approach, spreading
re only destruction indiscriminately over
)se pro- large areas, is liable to be used
contro- instead.
explain If sensor systems are to be
nature blamed in any way for t h e
sor ap- "body count" philosophy of suc-
ce the cess that we heard too often
largely from Vietnm, their fault did not
g these come from "successes" of find-
ing killable bodies, but in fail-
I have ures to find better targets un-
decades der some of the conditions there.

don't
goals are usually more like a
decade ahead. Therefore its aim
is not to prepare for any speci-
fic conflict, but to be ready fur
what may be occuring a number
of years later. When we were a
target of protestors a few years
back, based on the appaient
supposition by many of :hem
that our efforts at that time
were aiding U.S. military ac-
tions in Vietnam, the Pentagon
budgeters were at t:e same
time already cutting down its
part of our funds )ecause they
knew that our contemporary
work, valuable as it could be in
later years, could have little ef-
fect on that ongoing action. The
available DOD funds were be-
ing heavily absorbed by that
fighting, and it was military
technology research, which was
farthest removed from DOD's
most immediate problem, t h a t
first got the axe. (I have often
wondered how much of the pro-

'te ill
the same devices used t study
earthquakes.) Arms limitations
agreements also depen I heav-
ily on the ability of all signers
to learn whether 'he others are
obeying the agreements.
ANOTHER SPECIFIC war-de-
terrence example is one of the
new, much-publicized weapon-
detection sensors, the U-2 air-
craft and its specialized cam-
eras (neither of these a Wllow
Run development), which first
calmed down the missile race
of the late 50's by showing the
true nature of the "missile
gap", and later made the Cuban
missile crisis a "'inped in-the-
bud" weapon-emolacement fail-
ure before it could become a full
missile-to-missile c-nf-ontation.
So it was remote sensing 'ech-
nology that oened the Soviet
and Cuban skies when diplo-
macy could not, and it is con-
tin'ina, at ERIM and elswhere,
to nibble down other informa-
tion barriers that might hide
prenarations for war, or war-
nrovoking incidents, in any part
of the world.
Another type of militar-svs-
tems work formerly performed
by Willow Run Labs and still
done occasionally by :ERIM
comes as a resilt of the non-
nrofit, non-manufacturing status
of this organization. That f'nc-
tion is to monitor work done
by nrofit-making manufacturers
for DOD, particularly work that
is a follow-on from our own re-
search nroiects. Since we have
no competing product to sell,
hbt do have thorongh knowledge
from onr work with exeriment-
al prototypes, we can reduce
waste of public tax dollars by
helning to keen the manufac-
turer from makinag design mis-
takes, doing faculty testing, or
even misrenresenting the work
(lone. In other words. ERIMI is
in a nosition to perform as a
sort of scientific coach and re-
feree for public projects. ERIM's
choice of taxing itself by fore-
going a nrofit in order to keep
fit to perform this kind of serv-
ice is rather analoous to the
action of a person who, in order
to take an office of public trust,
divests himself of potential
"conflict-of-interests" invest-
ments.
T-tERE, PVE confessed. My
bubble of bravado has been
popped. Although my lab door
remains locked, my cloak is
only paper and my dagger but
rubber. My computer display
sometimes blanks when it should
blink, and my laser is about
as deadly as a flashlight. I
use my right name when I trav-
el, and my expense account is
anything but unlimited. And I
never could manage a good
sinister leer without laughing.
Seriously, I am not embr-
rassed by my efforts ani 's-
sociations of the past 21 years,
although I could wish that more
of those efforts had produced
even better results. I expect
those needed improvements will
come in some future year, and
that ERIM will continue to be
responsible for a significant
number of them, along with
more publicizable accomplish-
ments in non-military uses of re-
mote sensing and other useful
researches.
Richard B. Innes is an engineer
with ERIM.

Saturday, March 22, 1975

News Phone: 764-0552

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104

Feldkamp's folly revisited

AS THE SQUEEZE on dormitory
rooms and off-campus spaces for
next fall becomes more intense, the
University appears ready to adopt
more extreme measures to house its
students. At this week's Regents'
meeting, Housing Director John Feld-
kamp proposed that the University
place students in 200 rooms at the
Ann Arbor Inn downtown or in open
dorm spaces at Eastern Michigan
University in Ypsilanti.
We feel that although these spaces
are obviously preferable to kicking
students out into the streets, the Uni-
versity should only rent hotels and
dorms outside the city as an absolute
last measure. Not only would the
location of the Ann Arbor Inn be
most inconvenient for students-since
long walks to classes would be neces-
sary-the University would probably
attempt to crowd an excessive num-
ber of students into the rooms.
THE DORMS AT Eastern Michigan
would be an even worse choice for
University students. Some sort of
regular bus service would be required
to get the students to classes every
day, since present public transporta-
tion would be insufficient to meet the
added demand. And even if the trans-
portation service was provided, it's a
safe bet that very few students would
be eager to face a 20 minute to half
hour bus ride every time they wanted

to go to central campus.
It seems obvious that before the
Board of Regents takes a final vote
on the matter of what to do with the
approximately 1,000 students who
have been shortchanged by this
week's dorm lotteries, they should ex-
plore every possibility. The University
should discuss the possibility of pro-
viding housing by renting space from
local landlords before they go to
hotels located off-off campus.
Even more important, there is no
good reason why the University should
be forced to deal with these measures
at the very last minute. The Housing
Office should have announced the
lottery months ago, thus giving stu-
dents the opportunity to find housing
on their own as well as giving the
administration more time to explore
other possibilities.
By throwing this number of stu-
dents into the housing market at the
same time, the University has created
a situation which will only serve to
aid landlords who will be overwhelm-
ed with requests for rooms all at
once, thus enabling them to raise the
rents on frustrated students.
Although we can't say that stu-
dents should absolutely never be plac-
ed into the Ann Arbor Inn or dorms at
Eastern Michigan, we feel strongly
that every conceivable option should
be studied before such desperation
measures are adopted.

are not weapons so much as
they are anti-weapons. (I would
not have stuck with their devel-
opment for 21 years if it had
been the other way around.)
Tactical sensor systems do not
search for people to kill. dust
as the sensors that inspect pas-
sengers boarding an airliner
look not for a would-be hijack-
er's citizenship or past his-ory,
but for any weapon ne or she
might use to carry out aggres-
sive inteitions, so also zre
military sensor systems most
concerned with finding weap-
ons, especially the major lea-
pons of modern warfare, such as
aircraft, tanks, and artillery.
Man-carried weapons are of
great concern also, but these
small items are still best de-
tected by the most sophisticat-
ed sensor system of all, the hu-
man observer - usually repre-
sented by the G.I. on patrol,
risking the possibility that the
weapon's owner may detect him
first.
I CANNOT SEE how any sen-
sor systems I have known could
be held responsible, in a posi-
tive way, for the "death and
maiming" that took place
against both sides in Vie nam.

For Vietnam was indeed b a d
news for some sensor systems,
which had difficulties in pene-
trating environmental obstacles
that were used to advantage by
the Communist forces for hiding
their weapons and supplies. That
type of failure might be held
partly responsible, in a negative
way, for the prevalence of such
loosely-controlled tactics as
"free-fire zones", "search-and-
destroy" ground operations, and
even the bombings of the more
accessible and more vulnerable
industrialized North when the
frustration about "Charlie's"
inaccessibility in the S o u t h
became unbearable to U.S. com-
manders. But the "fault" then
is not that the systems were
brought into existence thru tech-
nological research, but that the
research remained incomplete.
CALLING FOR cessation of
military sensor-systems re-
search on the basis of current
system limitations is like call-
ing for an end to dental-equip-
ment improvements on the basis
that today's drill hurts your
child.
Research on complex systems
is not, and never was, aimed at
tomorrow or even next year. Its

tests' timing came from the
leaders' hope of taking s o m e
false credit for those already
on-going cut-backs.)
WITH SUCH a lead-time be-
tween research and apphcation,
what we were doing then could
not have helped the 18-year-oids
of that war. It was of more con-
cern to the then 8-y ar olds and
up, who may yet, if some other
combat occurs when they reach
soldering age, need whatever
benefit can then be derived
from the experiments that were
being carried on when they
were learning second-grade ari-
thmetic.
Besides reducing the human
impact of the controlled applica-
tion of force, some sensor de-
velopments have become suc-
cesses by lessening the likeli-
hood of war itself. One example
is that of the sensors which
can identify remote nuclear test
explosions. It was only after
these devices were shown to be
capable of monitoa'g foreign
nuclear tests that it became pos-
sible for the anti-resting treat-
ies to become believable and
therefore to become realities.
(Some of those sensors were
developed at Willow Run, being

ALTER-ERIM

Weapons: In human

Bikes not to be toyed with

AS BALMY SPRING temperatures
once again invade the city, thou-
sands of Ann Arborites are once again
mounting their trusty bicycles, eager
to resume their two-wheeled assault
on the town's highways and bikeways.
Cycling is that rare form of trans-
portation that combines energy ef-
ficiency, good exercise, practicality
and a rollicking good time.
But the city's bicycle fiends should
make a special effort not to let the
pleasures of their favorite pastime
obscure the responsible attitude it
requires. Conscientious cycling habits
could save you a lot of pain and in-
convenience in the long run.
Bicycle riders enjoy the same privi-
leges as car drivers on Ann Arbor
streets, but they are also bound by
the same rules. Ann Arbor cops have
been known to issue costly tickets to
riders that failed to heed traffic
signals or follow the traffic flow.
TODAY'S STAFF:

And good bike care habits don't
end with the day's ride. The city's
bicycle theft rate has risen dramati-
cally in the past few years. There's
no sure way to prevent ripoffs, but a
heavy-gauge chain or cable and a
sturdy padlock will make life difficult
for even the most accomplished of
bike thieves.
Also, if you haven't registered your
bike with the police department, do
so. If your permit has expired, renew
it. The brightly colored stickers mean
your bike could be traced if stolen.
They only cost a few bucks, and they
could save you a lot of aggravation.
Editorial Staff
GORDON ATCHESON CHERYL PILATE
Co-Editors-in-Chief
LAURmABERMN... . en"M-vi- -- tn

By DAVID STOLL
NO ONE has accused ERIM's
Richard Innes and his col-
leagues of being science fic-
tion fantasies, or even w a r
criminals. What critics h a v e
pointed out is that the Environ-
mental Research Institute of
Michigan (ERIM) remains, de-
spite its name, a creature of the
U.S. military. This is no more
a fiction or a fantasy than is
ERIM's $4-$5 million in Defense
Department research dollars
last year.
Out of the lab's research for
counter-insurgency war h a s
continued, in the 1970's, work
on imaging radar, multispectral

scanning and target signatures.
Although the floor of military
research moneyrhas abated
somewhat, ERIM still gets be-
tween 45 and 50 per cent of its
funding from military sources.
I hope someday Mr. innes
gets the chance to explain "anti-
weapons" to the survivors of
the Plain of Jars, life on which
was more or less abolished by
the U.S. Air Force in 1972. DC-
spite the fictions and fantaties
of technicians, the surgical tech-
nological war has yet . be in-
vented; it probably never will
be.
INVENTING NEW weapon

"I hope somed
to explain 'anti-u
the Plain of gars
less abolished by
systems has never save
pie's lives; it has only
the loss of more. On the
of Jars and elsewhere in
china, the U.S. military
its weapons to flatten ai
that stood above the grou
to kill everything - pe
and oxen included - whic
ed. It won't be any diffe

from any angle'
:.::: r.. ::......::F::':s .::-:::::::,.:r::.stead, they're merely directed
ay Mr. Innes gets the chance against other weapons: not
day r. noe ges th chnce transport, food supplies or pop-
veapons' to the survivors of uations as in Indochina. If we
were all engineers, maybe we
life on which was more or would never find out who we
the U.S. Air Force in 1972. were killing. Instead, we'd
mostly be interested in things
r::r::<:-::,":: ::->.:.:;.:.;.>>, ::-;: ..:.:.:::: :< :_::; like trajectories a d e u to s
aritm m mm m m m a n ostt a ct ereand equations.
d peo- the next war. We would be so interested in
led to But then, from the talk of en- trajectories and equations, in
Plain gineers, you would never know fact, that we wouldn't even care
n Indo- that people died in a war. Thus, who we were helping to kill. In-
y used Mr. Innes can talk about the stead, we would be experts in
nything "human impact of the control- such rewarding fields as synthe-
nd and led application of force." Tac- tic aperture radar.
easants tical sensor weapons, according
h mov- to Mr. Innes, do not even BUT DOESN'T the ERIM re-
rent in search for people to kill. In- mote sensing technology have
many important, non-military
applications? Yes, Virginia, but
that doesn't mean the technol-
r Ir t h ogy is worth anything.Oh what
_ulelt ,~t worth, for example, are expen-
sive remote sensing satellite
photographs of Genessee Coun-
leveled upon our everyday lives. ty from the air, when "ground
b The paranoia Mr. Johnson's ar- truth" includes thousands of un-
us o ticle projects only further re- employed workers, hungry peo-
among inforces the feelings of helpless- pe, and ill-housed families?
ness and intimidation which too Because it is so expensive
much pervade American con- and sophisticated, the use of
sciousness today. It is now time ERIM's remote sensing tech-
nology is mostly limited to gov-
nple of to assert the rights and suprem- ernment planing bureaucracies,
a poor a- - n th insvisial ". ...u th h1CinaL:- nt - at;^a. an-o-ar-s

lettersietters letters letters lett(

pedestrians
To The Daily:
I MUST STRONGLY object to
Wayne Johnson's article of
March 14, "Curbside Suicide."
If the time for revolution is truly
here, then it must start on the
pedestrian level. How much

In the city of Rome an in-
dividual would surely starve
before the traffic cleared suffi-
ciently to cross the street. I
learned quickly, after close ob-
servation, that one must step
out bravely into the pedestrian
crosswalks and continue unhesi-
tatingly to the opposite curb.

plunge into traffic.
And the Italiansare
means the most courteoi
safe drivers; at least
themselves.
MR. JOHNSON'S exam
Van Dyke in Detroit is