Is Greater Than readers may recall an essay published here a couple of weeks ago entitled ‘Getting Physicists To Invest in Caring, Not Killing: Who Takes Responsibility?’ In it, I mentioned an American-born engineer Paul Cottle, who recently quit his job upon hearing that his Canadian employer would be selling off parts of their operation to an US-American company that makes weapons. Moreover, not only did Paul quit his job, he has continued to be active in the effort to prevent the sale.

As I write from Toronto, Ontario, it is my understanding that our southern neighbours have not heard this story as widely as we did here. With the exception of a newspaper based near his hometown in West Virginia, one is hard pressed to find reporting about Paul’s brave stand in US-American press. It’s unfortunate that the media, including independent media, has seen fit to ignore this crucial moment in the struggle for the soul of science, and more importantly, the effort to end inhumane weapons building and use.

In an effort to get his story to a wider audience, I asked Paul if he would answer a few questions for a blog audience, and despite being a little under the weather, he graciously acquiesced to answering some questions via e-mail. If you would like to add your voice to the growing chorus protesting the proposed MDA-ATK venture, please consider submitting a letter like the sample on here.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: First a little background. Where did you grow up? Did you grow up in a household where social issues like war etc. were often discussed?

Paul Cottle: I grew up in a small town called Beckley in West Virginia. Social issues were not a typical topic of conversation at my house. In fact, I didn’t become keenly interested in such things until after I completed my undergraduate studies and moved to Washington, DC. Many of my friends there are well informed on such issues, and naturally politics and social issues are a common topic of conversation.

CPW: Where did you attend university? How did you decide to become an optical engineer?

PC: I received my undergraduate degree from Cornell University. I started out with a double major in Physics and Philosophy, but later switched to Mechanical Engineering. My first job was for a small NASA contractor called SigmaSpace Corp. My job there involved a large amount of mechanical design work for optical systems and that’s where I first developed an interest in optics. As a result, I started attending a masters program in optics at night and eventually earned a degree.

CPW: Tell me a bit more about MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates (MDA). What did you think its objective was? Has this changed recently?

Radarsat-2. Credit CSA.

PC: When I applied at MDA, my primary goal was to move to Vancouver. I applied to over 150 different companies, but MDA was the only one that showed any interest in me, which seemed ideal to me since they were the only company in town that had a space division. I was originally hired to work on the Sapphire program: a mission for the Canadian DND [Canadian National Defense and Forces] that is intended to monitor the orbits of other satellites. At the time I knew very little of their other programs — aside from the ones that are relatively famous such as Radarsat and Canadarm.

After the first phase of Sapphire was completed, there was an extended delay during which I worked for the Business Development segment of the Space Missions group. During this time, it became very clear to me that like most other space companies, MDA has no particular bent toward helping the military, but they were well aware that the US military is the richest market in the international space industry and they have long been anxious to gain access to that market. There are of course huge roadblocks to overcome before a foreign company can be allowed to participate in such programs due to their often classified nature and the ever-present ITAR [International Traffic In Arms Restrictions] restrictions. This was undoubtedly a big factor in their decision to eventually sell the segment to an American interest. Of course an equally important contributing factor was the ever-waning supply of projects from the CSA [Canadian Space Agency].

CPW: What company is seeking to buy shares in MDA, and why do you object to this?

PC: The company is called Alliant Techsystems, or ATK. They are not exactly buying shares in MDA, as MDA will continue to exist in Canada as a company purely devoted to their so-called Information Products. Rather, ATK is buying certain assets and facilities that belong to MDA — including the Space Missions group, the Geospatial systems group, and the Richmond, Toronto, and Montreal facilities … along with Radarsat-2 and their various satellite ground stations around the world.

I object to this sale on a number of different fronts. Here are the top three:

1) ATK manufactures weapons such as the Spider antipersonnel landmine (currently banned by the Ottawa Treaty), the M85 cluster bomb (soon to be banned by the Oslo Treaty) that indiscriminately kill civilians as well as soldiers. They are also the world’s largest producer of depleted uranium shells — a form of armor piercing ammunition that releases a cloud of toxic uranium dust into the air whenever they strike their target. They have produced over 16 million shells thus far. These shells are strongly suspected by many medical experts to be the root cause of Gulf War Syndrome as well as the escalated rates of cancer and birth defects in Iraq since the first gulf war, where they were used heavily by both the US and England.

2) ATK’s CFO (John Shoyer) has clearly stated on several occasions that they will consider their acquisition of MDA to be a success only if they are able to land at least one large classified project within the first couple of years. Clearly, ATK’s intention for their new space systems group is to access the US military market long sought after by MDA. This poses a serious problem for my former colleagues at MDA and for the Canadian space industry in general. The problem for MDA’s Canadian employees is that work for these projects will only be available to American citizens who can obtain the necessary clearance. Due to ITAR restrictions originally put in place to protect American nuclear secrets, even non-classified space programs are so extremely difficult to bring across the border that when MDA was owned by Orbital Sciences, they were unable to use their own satellite technology for the program. Once ATK runs up against these obstacles, there will be nothing to stop them from dismantling their Canadian arm and moving all of the work to the US.

The problem for the Canadian Space industry is that once MDA has developed many programs and technologies over the years as a Canadian company, but once they are used for a classified American program, any technology developed by MDA will no longer be available to Canada. This includes many technologies under development as well as the recently launched Radarsat-2 satellite.

3) The issue of weaponization of space is fast becoming one of the most important in the international space community. The fact that the US recently used one of ATKs SM-3 missiles to destroy one of their spy satellites is only the most recent event in a long history of ATK support for the advancement of ballistic missile defense, anti-satellite technology, and ICBM development. All of this points toward their ultimate intention to utilize their new space systems group for development of space-borne weapons technology.

CPW: What influenced your decision to quit your job at MDA? Is it a belief that you have long held or have your ideas about technology and politics changed recently?

PC: In addition to the reasons stated above regarding why I’m against the sale in general, I was also very upset with the way MDA management actively sought to hide the nature of ATKs business and to generally misinform and frighten their employees into agreeing to accept their new positions with ATK irrespective of their personal ethics and feelings on the matter. I found this generally disgusting and it only served to harden my resolve that I could no longer work for a company that is run by people who conducted themselves in this manner — regardless of whether the sale went through or not.

This is nothing new for me. I have always felt very strongly that a company has no right to force its employees to choose between their beliefs and their livelihood.

CPW: Did you have a lot of family support regarding your choice to leave MDA? What kind of feedback did you get from your friends?

PC: All of my friends and family have been extremely supportive. In fact, I think they all have expressed a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for my decision.

CPW: Without a war in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, do you think you would have made the same choice?

PC: Absolutely. This has nothing to do with any specific war or military act by either the US or Canada. This company, and the weapons they produce are dangerous to civilians everywhere, regardless of which conflict they might be used in.

CPW: Do you hope to see more scientists conscientiously objecting to war efforts in this way?

PC: It’s always good to see people of any stripe standing up for their beliefs, whatever they are. On the other hand, I can easily understand that many people have fiscal and familial responsibilities that make such a decision far more difficult than it was for me.

CPW: In your ideal world, how would research like yours be used? What is the place of the military in that world?

PC: Ideally? As cliched as it might be, I think it would be nice if we could devote all of our research to increasing our knowledge of the universe and living sustainably with each other on this planet. Of course, this ideal is so far from our reality that it seems almost silly to even voice it. Right now, as long as we find ourselves attached to this concept of nations competing against each other for power and resources, military force is a necessary part of our human society. Be that as it may, we must be ever vigilant to ensure our military force is applied in an honourable and — to the extent that this is possible — humanitarian way. This means that the military is not beyond regulation and should not have unlimited access to weapons and tactics that are deemed unacceptable by the international community.

CPW: Are you a member of any organizations that focus on ethical science? Do you think organizations like that have a role to play?

PC: I do think organizations that focus on such matters are extremely important, however I do not belong to any such organization. Of course, I don’t really consider myself to be a scientist, either.

CPW: Besides making a statement by quitting your job, how else are you working against the deal to sell MDA?

PC: I’ve been doing everything I can to spread the word about the deal through the media and to influence the Canadian Parliament and Industry Canada to consider the best interests of their citizens above the best interests of the MDA stock holders. I’ve also been trying to find ways to help other MDA employees learn the truth about their prospective employers and possibly even to disentangle themselves from the deal as I have done. In these efforts, I have been aided by many members of the media as well as other MDA employees who prefer to remain nameless.

CPW: Are you in contact with others who have left their job or are thinking about doing so?

PC: Yes, I have been in contact with many of my former coworkers and several of them are thinking seriously about leaving the company if the deal is completed. To date, the only other employee who has left is Trevor Williams and since he quit I have not had contact with him — nor did I know him before all of this transpired.

CPW: If you can talk about it, how is the job search going? On the TV series “Medium,” the main character’s husband loses his job as an aerospace engineer, and he has a hard time finding a new job because there are so few places in Phoenix that require his skill set. Are you running into the same
 problem?

PC: I’ve never seen that show, but I can tell you that I had little trouble finding another job. I now work for a medical imaging company called Novadaq Technologies.