I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed By

"Science," the Greek word for knowledge, when appended to the word "political," creates what seems like an oxymoron. For who could claim to know politics? More complicated than any game, most people who play it become addicts and die without understanding what they were addicted to. The rest of us suffer under their malpractice as our "leaders." A truer case of the blind leading the blind could not be found. Plumb the depths of confusion here.

Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 2:59 am

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PROCUL ESTE PROFANI —SPECIAL PROJECTS

This patch is from the 416th Flight Test Squadron's Special Projects Flight working on advanced technologies for the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base.

The phrase Procul Este Profani is usually associated with Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid. When Apollo arrives at the Temple of Apollo, the prophet Sibyl utters the words "Procul, O procul este profane" before the pair descend into Hades, where Aeneas is told about the future of Rome.

Members of the unit translate the phrase as "Keep your distance, you who are uninitiated."
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:00 am

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CLASSIFIED FLIGHT TEST, 509, GUSTATUS SIMILIS PULLUS
TO SERVE MAN, 509, GUSTATUS SIMILIS PULLUS


This was the original version of a patch commemorating a flight test series involving a B-2 "Spirit" stealth bomber. The Greek sigma symbol on the test shape's outline signifies the unknown RCS value. The number "509" refers to the 509th Bomb Wing, which operates the United States' stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The alien is a reference to the 509th's infamous lineage. In 1947, the 509th was based at Roswell, New Mexico, home of the "Roswell incident," which ensued after the 509th's commander, Col. William Blanchard, issued a press release whose headline stated: "Roswell Army Airfield Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region."

The dog-Latin phrase Gustasus Similis Pullus translates as "Tastes Like Chicken." Note the knife and fork [trident].

This patch was eventually modified when Air Force officials insisted that the phrase "Classified Flight Test" not appear on the design. In an updated version of the patch, "Classified Flight Test" has been replaced with the words "To Serve Man," referencing a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:01 am

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BIG SAFARI

Big Safari is the code name for a program office at the Air Force Material Command at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Founded in 1953, the code name "Big Safari" was classified for decades.

Big Safari is responsible for aircraft specifically designed or modified for specialized missions, including a fleet of RC- 135 spy planes codenamed RIVET JOINT.

This patch is from the years when the name Big Safari was classified. The lightning bolts probably refer to electronic warfare. The hog almost certainly refers to RC-135 aircraft, which are sometimes called "hogs" because of their extended noses. The cobra may refer to the code name COBRA BALL, which is the code name for a variation of the RC-135. The dog sniffing the man's foot may refer to the code name COMFY HOUND, which was a quarterly report of electronic warfare activities.
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:01 am

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BIG SAFARI PROGRAM

When the code name Big Safari became declassified, the name began to appear on the patch worn by members of the Big Safari Program Office.

Recent projects developed under the Big Safari Program Office include COMPASS CALL (an EC-130H electronic warfare platform), RIVET RIDER (a special mission airborne television broadcast station), PANTHER DEN (an information warfare program office at Hanscom Air Force Base), SCATHE MEAN (a project using decoy drones in the first Gulf War), DISTANT PHOENIX (probably an air-sampling program over the Pacific Ocean in the mid- 1990s), and SCATHE VIEW (a program using video cameras embedded in conventional aircraft as a hidden reconnaissance platform).
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:01 am

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NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE, "WE OWN THE NIGHT", 2000

This patch commemorates the August 17, 2000, launch of a "classified National Reconnaissance Office payload" atop a Titan IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

Clues in the patch's imagery seem to indicate that the satellite in question was, in fact, an ONYX spy satellite, also known by the code name Lacrosse. The owl eyes and the phrase "We Own the Night" seem to imply an imaging platform that can "see" in darkness, indicating a satellite that uses synthetic aperture radar to produce images of the Earth's surface. The wire mesh surrounding the owl's eyes is indicative of the wire mesh on an ONYX satellite that is purported to cover its antennae.

The triangular images on the patch represent other ONYX satellites, all of which are in a reconnaissance orbit. (Different satellite orbits do different "jobs.") Two of the filled-in symbols represent active ONYX satellites. The hollowed-out image represents "Lacrosse 1," which was de-orbited in 1997 after nine years in service (it was originally deployed from the space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-27). The third solid shape represents the satellite being launched.
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:02 am

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NITWITS RUBES OAFS, SETEC ASTRONOMY, TOP SECRET

The first letter of each word in the phrase "Nitwits Rubes and Oafs" spells out the agency responsible for this patch: the NRO, the National Reconnaissance Office. Furthermore, "OAFS" could be an acronym for Onizuka Air Force Station, an Air Force Space Operations base in Sunnyvale, California, colloquially known as the Blue Cube.

It is unclear what the collection of three white stars and one black star represent, although they may be related to the collection of four triangles from the NRO's "We Own the Night" patch depicted on pg. 119.

The phrase "Setec Astronomy" figures prominently in the 1992 film Sneakers, in which the phrase is an anagram for "Too Many Secrets."
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:02 am

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OD-4/ DL AND DX, We Own the Night

These patches are from Operating Division 4 of the National Reconnaissance Office. In the OD-4/ DX patch, the phrase "We Own the Night" recalls the phrase associated with the radar-imaging capabilities on the ONYX series of spy satellites. The figure of the owl is also consistent with the theme of seeing at night. The meshlike structure seems to represent the imaging capabilities of reconnaissance satellites in general, while the polar orbits represented by the rings around the globe are consistent with the kinds of orbits used by spy satellites.
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:02 am

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MISSION OPERATIONS —YOU CAN RUN ...

Another patch associated with Operating Division 4 of the National Reconnaissance Office. The background pattern of stars seems to represent the night sky, with the single white star signifying a reconnaissance satellite. Three orbits are depicted around the Earth, all of which are associated with different reconnaissance tasks.

The horizontal orbit around the Earth represents a geostationary orbit for communications and (in the case of the NRO) signals intelligence collection (SIGINT). The Rhyolite/Aquacade series of satellites, for example, were kept in a geostationary orbit over Indochina to constantly monitor Soviet and Chinese communications during the Cold War. The downlink for the Rhyolite satellites was located in the Australian outback at Pine Gap, where the collected signals were encrypted, then sent to the NSA at Fort Meade via another geosynchronous satellite. The highly elliptical ring depicted on the patch represents a Molniya orbit, which allows a reconnaissance satellite to spend most of its time over one particular region of the Earth and is often used by SIGINT satellites.

The third ring represents a polar orbit, an orbit often associated with imaging and photography because a satellite will cover much larger swaths of the Earth's surface than satellites in other orbits.
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:03 am

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AF TENCAP SPECIAL APPLICATIONS, OBERINT DUM METUANT

TENCAP is an acronym for Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities, a collection of programs that involve developing tactical (battlefield) applications out of reconnaissance satellite capabilities (which are normally thought of as strategic).

"Special" almost invariably means "black" or highly classified.

The phrase "Oderint Dum Metuant" is associated with Caligula, the First century Roman emperor whose name became synonymous with depravity, madness, cruelty, and tyranny. It translates "Let them hate so long as they fear."
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Re: I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed

Postby admin » Fri Jun 10, 2016 3:03 am

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NRO —SNAKES, NUMQUAM ANTE NUMQUAM ITERUM

A National Reconnaissance Office program patch, whose referent remains entirely obscure. The Latin inscription translates as "Never Before, Never Again."
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