I wish it were so. I work with military space systems and have a bunch of clearances (TS/SCI with 4 compartments), so I'm not so far out of the loop. Military systems take so long to get fielded that they're obsolete before they become operational. For example, the last big Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) upgrade was planned to take 7 years. It ended up taking 14 and cost about twice the original estimate. The computer systems were years out of date with the commercial sector. To give you an idea how out of date the technology is, a friend of mine who worked in the Mountain told me of a Japanese tour group that went through there about 5 years ago. They were given the standard tour and were grateful, but afterwards, one of the approached their guide and sheepishly asked to see "the real thing." They couldn't believe how primitive the technolgy was. It isn't scheduled for a serious upgrade for at least another 3 years.

This week, my office is rushing to finish a modernization plan and investment strategy document. It's already too late to influence the FY 2006 budget cycle, so we're shooting for the 2008 cycle. We hope our recommendations will be in place by 2014. The military routinely looks 20 years ahead to where we want to be then begin fighting for the funding to develop the technology to get us there.

There is no alien stuff in there. Without exception, you can trace the development of technology from strictly human origins. This "humans are too stupid to have developed this" idea isn't new; people have been making such claims for generations for things like the pyramids, Easter Island, and the like. Sometimes, all you have to do is read the history of how a small group of people worked for years to develop an idea. Try reading the history of the Wright Brothers as an example. The things they did to make the first real airplane are nothing short of staggering, and they did it without college educations, government funding, or help from aliens.