When secrecy reaches absurd levels....One guys story
Dec 19, 2014 18:02:06 GMT -6
Nugget and bonhommearmonica like this
Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 18:02:06 GMT -6
This is an interesting story, and at the heart of it? I can actually understand the need for classification. The technology involved deals with stealth breakthroughs. Not just with aircraft, which isn't all that revolutionary anymore for knowledge...but with another area that is traditionally surrounded by so much secrecy, it stands out for it. It even has a name which partly refers to that aspect, as the Silent Service.
However, everything can be taken a wee TOO far. Even matters of secrecy to military systems. Actually, the question is a literal one here..as you'll see.
A pretty smart inventor by the sound of it. That would be about when some interesting things had to be starting to come into development for timelines.
I'll bet they were, too....and that taking things a wee too far? Oh..this is good to imagine it is in writing, in a federal case filing.
Source
You can't make some of this stuff up, really!
The real issue comes in that he claims Uncle Sammy illegally declassified some of his stuff about 10 years ago so defense contractors could benefit and without paying him his dues for the intellectual property. (Whatever he invented must be pretty impressive)
The story ultimately states he's simply trying to get a Judge to declare whether or not the material IS classified for his status in compensation for what he came up with.
It reminds me of the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper delay. I believe he eventually won his case too, but so late that he didn't live long to enjoy anything from it.
What a wacky world we live in....
However, everything can be taken a wee TOO far. Even matters of secrecy to military systems. Actually, the question is a literal one here..as you'll see.
Trunk says he made his breakthroughs in 1993, filing for patents for inventions involving aircraft and ship stealth technology, submarine stealth technology and nuclear-weapon designs.
A pretty smart inventor by the sound of it. That would be about when some interesting things had to be starting to come into development for timelines.
"Those applications describe fundamental breakthroughs in physics and material science that according to one senior Navy scientist 'are the sort of thing Nobel prizes are made of,'" the Dec. 8 complaint states.
I'll bet they were, too....and that taking things a wee too far? Oh..this is good to imagine it is in writing, in a federal case filing.
Trunk says the government has told him that his own inventions are now classified and that his knowledge of the very technology he conceived is a criminal offense.
"Mr. Trunk has been told that as a matter of law, technically he cannot even 'think about' or discuss with myself' the subject matter of the patent applications because of the lack of security clearance," the complaint states.
"The DOE [Department of Energy] General Counsel's Office has even asked (presumably in jest) whether Mr. Trunk is now required to 'shoot himself' since he is in possession of classified information without a security clearance." (Brackets added, parentheses in original.)
"Mr. Trunk has been told that as a matter of law, technically he cannot even 'think about' or discuss with myself' the subject matter of the patent applications because of the lack of security clearance," the complaint states.
"The DOE [Department of Energy] General Counsel's Office has even asked (presumably in jest) whether Mr. Trunk is now required to 'shoot himself' since he is in possession of classified information without a security clearance." (Brackets added, parentheses in original.)
You can't make some of this stuff up, really!
The real issue comes in that he claims Uncle Sammy illegally declassified some of his stuff about 10 years ago so defense contractors could benefit and without paying him his dues for the intellectual property. (Whatever he invented must be pretty impressive)
The story ultimately states he's simply trying to get a Judge to declare whether or not the material IS classified for his status in compensation for what he came up with.
It reminds me of the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper delay. I believe he eventually won his case too, but so late that he didn't live long to enjoy anything from it.
What a wacky world we live in....