SPEARHEAD furious over Hawking's "180" on alien contact

The Commander of SPEARHEAD addressed the UN Security Council on Friday in condemnation of the recent declarations of Russian tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Professor Stephen Hawking to fund "Breakthrough" a new $100 million initiative looking for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Hawking revealed his worry that any aliens advanced enough to contact earth would be “looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they could reach” in May 2010 and reported here but now seems to have done an about face at last to some extent. Hawking is still sure that “A civilisation reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.” but insists that despite the disastrous consequences: “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”

Breakthrough Listen will provide funding explicitly for the search for extraterrestrial life, scanning the million stars closes to Earth and portions of 100 neighbouring galaxies. Breakthrough Message, will host a competition in which anyone can submit ideas for potential interplanetary messages.

Lieutenant General "Stomper" Santorno who has commanded SPEARHEAD since 2012 said the new initiative was "beyond reckless" and measures should be put into place to prevent private citizens from funding "irresponsible space-projects that could invite disaster on a global scale".

Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information delivered a report on his current progress with Operation: First Strike revealed in December 2011. Originally then-Colonel Creedon had outlined the threat posed by Kepler-22b, the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life and had formulated a preemptive strike against this new potential enemy.

"There is no longer an immediate perceived threat from Kepler-22b," admitted the General. "Only because of the more imminent potential threat from Kepler 452b which NASA has warned is the most Earth-like alien planet yet discovered," he added.

NASA's Kepler telescope has spotted Kepler-452b 1,400 light-years away, and is the only planet known in its solar system. Researches said it's 60% wider than Earth, which gives it a "better than even" chance of being rocky, and likely possesses a thick atmosphere, lots of water and active volcanoes. "It would feel a lot like home, from the standpoint of the sunshine that you would experience," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

General Creedon reportedly requested $14bn in funding for Operation: First Strike II against Kepler-452b.

Go go Fightin' Joe

Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph F. "Fighting Joe" Dunford Jr. is currently fighting one of first major political battles in the upper house of the United States congress. His aim is to be confirmed by the Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [CJCOS], the highest ranking military position in the U.S. Armed Forces.

During his confirmation hearings Dunford did discuss ISIS and North Korea as threats but suggested a close eye be kept on China. As for the Middle-East, he described Iran as "the most destabilising element" in the region and "clearly a malign influence."

Dunford was explicitly asked what he thought was the primary existential against the United States and the General was quick to unequivocally respond: 

 "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." 

Dunford told committee Chairman John McCain that as it had a large nuclear arsenal, was destabilising Ukraine and a threat to NATO nations on its borders, Russia presents a significant challenge to the U.S. and that it would be "reasonable" for the United States to provide sophisticated anti-tank and artillery assistance to the Ukrainian government in response to the situation in eastern Ukraine.

The view that Russia was the greatest threat was in fact one of Mitt Romney's claims during his presidential bid in 2012 and decried by Barack Obama as outdated, but this was obviously before the Crimea annexation. While Dunford is Obama's pick as CJCOS, senior White House officials were quick to point out that General Dunford's opinions are his own and not those of the administration.