John Rollwagen has withdrawn as nominee for deputy commerce secretary. The Senate was investigating an insider-trading charge, but a more likely reason is culture shock on entering the bureaucracy and having to deal with 435 directors [Congress] and 50 committee chairmen. He had no clear authority, no agenda, and no obvious way to create or control movement. [Russell Mitchell, BW, 6/7/93, p. 30.] Rollwagen was CEO of Cray Research Inc., but gave up that job when he moved to DC. Oops.

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) has been terminated after spending $32B over 10 years. Forgotten but not gone, SDI reverts to its old name of Ballistic Missile Defense Organization with a budget request of $3.8B. [Robert L. Park (opa@aps.org), WHAT'S NEW, 5/14/93.] The budget is for ground-based, Patriot-style defense against SCUD attacks. Space-based research may continue in laboratories, and a few anti-MIRV tests are planned over the next decade.

A new DoD-financed report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies calls for increasing reliance on inexpensive guided missiles, drones, and intelligent space-based sensors. "The Military Technical Revolution: A Structural Framework" advocates doctrinal changes to make information central to military weaponry. It's the integration that's needed, not the individual technologies. [George Leopold and Neil Munro, Defense News, 5/31/93.]

The Navy will consolidate two large command and control systems (JMCIS and NTCSS), eliminating specialized computers and unique software. The consolidation will limit upgrades for two or three years, but then savings will free up funds for R&D. [Neil Munro, Defense News, 5/17/93, p. 10.]

The Pentagon has canceled a plan to consolidate all non-weapon software development under control of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). A $1B integrated CASE system is also being scaled back. DISA will retain control of the Defense Information Systems Network. [Neil Munro, Defense News, 5/17/93, p. 6.]

Alliant Techsystems Inc. (Edina, MN) has won a 4-year, $6.7M contract for the Army's Advanced Intelligence Minefield Management--Smart Mines and Remote Control Technology program. One component will be an acoustic sensor to detect vehicles. [Defense News, 5/17/93, p. 15.]

Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. (Salt Lake City) is moving into multimedia education and entertainment, but US and foreign pilot training work is needed to pull the company through. A new contract (with IBM) for the Close Combat Tactical Trainer may bring in $100M over 5-6 years. [Philip Finnegan, Defense News, 5/17/93, p. 24.]

The Canadian Armed Forces are purchasing their first computerized map-making system from Intergraph Canada Ltd. [David Pugliese, Defense News, 4/26/93, p. 22.] (Digital mapping implies a market for software, and for research.)