Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

X-37B’s Mysterious Mission could be an encounter with a Russian “Inspection Satellite.”

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Joy Votrobek, ASCF, May 19, 2020

 Sunday, May 17th, 2020, was a historic day for the new Space Force and Cape Canaveral.   The crewless X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was launched successfully on the back of the Atlas V Rocket, compliments of United Launch Alliance.   NASA ended space shuttle flights in 2011, and the U.S. has relied on Russia for a lift to space every since.  The U.S. government and commercial industry partnership with United Launch Alliance, Space Force, and the Air Force is a look into the future of space flights from the U.S., ending our reliance on Russia.  Next week, Space-X plans to launch its first manned space launch from Cape Canaveral.  

  The X-37B will have numerous experiments onboard.   One experiment will seek to transform solar power into a radio-frequency sent back to Earth.   Another experiment will be to grow plants in space.  None of which sounds too mysterious, but Sunday’s launch was called “mysterious”?  Maybe because the Space Force believes that Russia has recently moved a “satellite” too close to a U.S. satellite in low earth orbit.[1]  In April, the Russians tested the PL-19 Nudol, a potential “satellite killer” that can double as an anti-ballistic missile.  The Russians also have “inspection satellites” in low earth orbit, capable of hijacking or destroying other satellites.  In January of 2020, one of the Russian “inspection satellites” came near a U.S. spy satellite and has stayed in the same orbit.[2]  Hopefully, the mystery is to put the Russian “inspection satellite” out of the U.S. orbit.  A good reason to end the United States reliance on Russia and bring back our space program.

Photo: United Launch Alliance

[1]Prater, Erin (May 6, 2020) The Gazette https://gazette.com/premium/us-military-to-launch-spacecraft-from-cape-canaveral-in-may-signaling-end-of-reliance-on/article_8235be0e-8fb9-11ea-8e4d-87b4ccf6d09d.html [2] Axe, David (April 16, 2020) The National Interest. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russia-just-tested-satellite-killer-144797

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