Planning to Fight Insect Space Aliens

The United States is still fighting in Afghanistan and keeping a close eye on developments in Syria and Iran. But the Army may have a longer-term concern: fighting insect space aliens.

Undersecretary of the Army Joseph Westphal, speaking at a Government Executive leadership briefing in Washington Wednesday, said military leaders must be prepared for all kinds of contingencies. “You can’t anticipate what a future president will require and what kind of situations will arise,” Westphal said. “You have to be ready for any eventual situation in the future.”

Then he got imaginative. “If you look at the long term future, maybe we’ll be like Starship Troopers, fighting insects in space,” he said. “So we’ll need a whole new technology for that.”

Westphal used the example to highlight the need for investments in new science and technology. Well, whatever it takes to convince Congress to avoid sequestration...