A Lesson Learned From Gerald Bull

For those who do not know who he is, Gerald “Jerry” Bull was a Canadian born astrophysisist who had developed the capability to launch projectiles into the thermosphere. After working on projects funded by the US Military, Canadian Department of Defence, and McGill University, the funding he received was eventually pulled so Bull took his technology to the open market where nations such as Iraq and China wanted him to develop similar technology for them.

Bull ran his show out of the Barbados and was eventually found dead of drowning after falling overboard from his boat. Many believe his death was not an accident, but that he was killed to prevent his technology from being expanded and used by the Iraqis to launch artillery 1000s of miles without rocket propulsion. To put things into perspective, some of his tests had him launch projectiles in excess of 100 lbs over 180km into the atmosphere.

So why am I telling you about Jerry Bull? Well you see, I am an electronics technologist. When I was studying, my communications professeur was an engineer that had worked with Bull. He was the most fidgety, nervous man I had seen and rumour (amongst students) was that he had had a couple of nervous breakdowns. He took the time in one class to tell us about the danger of what we were learning and how the technologies we were learning could pose serious danger to us and to those around us, and that we should always use caution when making decisions on how to use this knowledge.

Many of us had a rough inkling of what he was talking about, but until I saw the pictures in today’s Ottawa Sun of the items seized in the terror suspect arrests in Toronto this weekend, I didn’t realize the full extent of what this professeur was trying to tell us.

There was a red Nokia cellphone wired to a circuit board sitting in a tackle box that appeared to be a jury-rigged triggering device.

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There was camouflage hunting and camping gear, a pair of Sorel boots, a soldering iron and a battery case with eight D batteries inside.

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Several large hunting knives and Exacto blades were in the bag, along with less ominous looking flashlights, a rusted BBQ gate, a 6-volt battery and a recharging unit for the walkie-talkies.

The bolded items can pretty easily be used to create a crude, yet effective, remote detonator. When it took me all of 5 seconds to piece together how the components could be used, I think I finally understood what this professeur was trying to tell us that day. The lesson was learned Professeur, the lesson was learned.