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‘It Is Surprisingly Simple’

 

When readers challenged a New Zealand Web publisher’s claims that terrorists could easily build their own cruise missiles, he decided to prove it by building a $5,000 cruise missile himself and documenting his progress online

 

Last week, U.S. law-enforcement officials trumpeted the arrest in New Jersey of a would-be arms dealer accused of arranging the sale of a shoulder-launch missile to an undercover agent for use in a jihad against a U.S. airliner. But Bruce Simpson is more concerned about another potential—and frightening—scenario that wouldn’t involve the purchase of missiles by terrorists, but the building of them.

 

To prove his point, Simpson, 49, a New Zealand Internet publisher and jet-engine consultant, is assembling a cruise missile—the same type of weapon used by U.S. forces to help win the war against Saddam Hussein earlier this year—in his garage and documenting his progress online (interestingprojects.com). He says he’s trying to show governments how easy it would be for terrorists to build the low-cost but lethal missile so that they will put more effort towards preventing such an attack. It’d be easy to dismiss him, as the FBI and Department of Defense apparently did when he contacted them initially with his concerns, if he weren’t well on his way to completing the missile and for less than $5,000. Simpson hopes to test launch the missile at the end of September if he can get the New Zealand authorities to take him as seriously as readers—including some military personnel—have since he began his project online. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke to Simpson about the details and dangers of assembling a do-it-yourself cruise missile. Excerpts:

 

Why build a cruise missile?

It was a follow up to an article I wrote over a year ago [on my Web site] in which I presented the possibility that, given improvements in today’s off-the-shelf technology, almost anyone could build their own cruise missile that could be quite effective against soft targets on U.S. soil—soft targets meaning, basically, any nonmilitary installation.

 

Most people agreed, but there were a number of people who claimed I was overstating the case and that it’s not possible to build a real cruise missile without access to sophisticated gear, specialist tools and information not readily available outside the military. So, in order to prove my case, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and build a cruise missile in my own garage, on a budget of just $5,000. I had to make some modifications for that price. It’s got a limited range, but it’s at least 100 miles, a limited payload of 10 kilograms and limited accuracy of about 100 yards.

 

Is this legal?

One of the first things the New Zealand government said when I started attracting attention was that I wasn’t breaking any laws

 

What are you hoping to accomplish?

I want to raise public awareness. The only weapon we have against threats like this is public awareness. So that if you have a neighbor who is casting around with suspicious-looking materials in the garage and working late at night, you’d hope people would pop their head over the fence and ask what he is doing.

 

How long do you think it will take to complete?

I think the missile will be completed by the end of next month. It’s been surprisingly quick because it is surprisingly simple. It’s a modern version of a very simple engine and airframe. I am also waiting for assistance from the New Zealand Defense Forces to organize a time for testing the missile. I have repeatedly called them to request that they participate or oversee the testing.

 

Could you test it on your own?

I could test it out on sea but it has a 100-mile range, which could pose some problems. I’ve had invites from other countries, too.

 

Where?

An individual from Korea who had invited me to test it there.

 

South, I hope.

[Laughs.] It was South Korea.

 

Does the U.S. government know what you’re up to?

Before I even put Web site up, I contacted the Department of Defense. They started a program to look into low-cost cruise missiles in 1997 so they obviously acknowledge the threat. So I contacted them and the FBI twice by e-mail, advising them of the project and letting them know that the intentions were benign and even offering to share all my information and take suggestions.

 

Did they take you up on the offer?

I got an automated response from the FBI and nothing at all from the Defense Department. That was before the publicity so they probably thought it was just some crazy nut. The only response from U.S. authorities has been a Defense Department spokesman who was quoted as saying that what I was doing was “unhelpful.” Either they don’t read their e-mail or they are prepared to dismiss e-mail as not worth considering because it could be from an idiot—either of which is disturbing. In this day of terrorism, you can’t ignore anything.

 

If this is such a threat, why do you think there hasn’t there been more effort by the government to educate the public?

Security by obscurity, as its called, is one technique people use to reduce the threat that something poses to some extent because it’s a difficult threat to defend against. Governments are a little reluctant to admit the vulnerability exists.

 

How hard was it to get all the components?

That’s one of the issues. Everything flies under the radar of authority. The components are innocuous and pose no threat. It’s only when you assemble them do you have a problem. You can’t ban kitchen knives just because a few people use them to stab someone. They have found more positive uses than negative ones for these components like GPS systems. It was far easier than I thought to collect and import all these components, actually. I got quite a bit of the stuff from eBay and others from normal retailers. It took three weeks and I think the initial purchasing cost me about $1,100 U.S. I should get into the arms business.

 

Speaking of which, aren’t you concerned that would-be terrorists or arms dealers might get ideas from your site?

I think it’s one of those things that people who want to build such a device already have access to such information. My publishing is not going to motivate them if they are already motivated to perform some evil act. This kind of information has been culled over for many years in many places. I mean Encyclopedia Americana gives a recipe for gun powder. Information itself is not a threat. It is what people choose to do with that information.

 

What kind of response have you gotten from the public?

The project has attracted a lot of attention. The vast majority have acknowledged that it is a good thing to build awareness.

 

You said you’ve received e-mails from former and current U.S. military personnel who acknowledge that the threat is one they are very much aware of but for which there is little effective defense available. Why is that?

Once you’ve built a cruise missile it’s hard to shoot down because it’s low and fast. You may hear it, but by the time you see it, it is almost overhead so you don’t have time to aim and pull the trigger. And if you do—let’s say a fighter jet shoots down a missile—there will almost certainly be collateral damage. Also, the missile may not have conventional payload but a biological one.

 

The United States has considered the cruise missile the gem in the crown. Every major military action recently has been involving cruise missiles.

 

Isn’t there anything besides raising public awareness that can be done to prevent criminals from building a cruise missile?

Not really. There are already millions of GPS systems out there and when you restrict the sales of them, then people who want them just steal them from those who already have them.

 

Wouldn’t someone draw attention with a missile that size if they tried to transport it?

The key criteria of the missile has been easily transported and launched. I can take it apart and put it in the back of my pickup and reassemble and launch it from a ramp on the back of my truck. I plan to drive through [the New Zealand city of] Auckland with a cruise missile in the back of my truck unassembled but covered to prove you could transport it through a highly populated city (or be proven wrong).

 

But why go through the trouble of building a missile if you could buy one on the black market?

I think the answer is that there is a much greater chance of being caught if they are buying a weapon as proven [last] Tuesday [when alleged British arms smuggler Hemant Lakhani was arrested].

 

I would imagine there are many more arms smugglers out there to fill his shoes.

One would hope we would catch most if not all.

 

Why put so much of your own money into this?

I haven’t even used all the $5,000 I budgeted yet, so it is not a very expensive project. I don’t see it as a profit-making venture. I make money from doing jet-engine design and from publishing and other activities that I am involved in. This was an opportunity to leverage the work I was doing elsewhere and raise public awareness of the threat. I was as horrified as anyone with the events of 9/11 and wanted to do anything to avoid a recurrence of that type of attack.

 

What happens if the launch fails?

I guess the thing could collapse in heap of flame, in which case it proves something too—that maybe it is not as easy as I said it was.

 

What are you going to do once it’s launched?

I’m going to build another one.

 

Are you serious? How are you going to pay for this?

Yes, I want to do a comparison between new technology and everything done on the first one. I’ve funded this all myself so far. Then I plan to put out a subscription in return for a small amount of money and give people detailed information on the project and video because I want to get more of the project completed.

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Originally posted by Pistol

I <3 cruise missiles.

 

dude's fuckin' psycho. I mean it's cool thats he thinks/knows he build one. but i mean would you want it in your garage while you and your family sleep? fuck that.

so if it blows up you all die together muahahahaha.......k im done...
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