With all the money we give the military, they can't get a good high-speed Internet connection?

Okay, it's not quite that simple. But, as Noah Shachtman writes in this short new article in Wired News, the military has a serious bandwidth shortage problem, one "that dictates where ships are sent, when drones can fly and what kind of messages sailors and soldiers can receive." You've got the Powerpoint presentations and the streaming cockpit video, but you wanna leave a bit of room open for the grunt in the field to call in reinforcements. Otherwise, that guy in the foxhole in Afghanistan could be stuck with the equivalent of a crummy AOL connection.

With his focus on defense technology issues, Shachtman has one of the most interesting beats around, especially given the direction things seem to be heading. Adding to the charm of his work, Shachtman isn't some defense policy think tank nudnick -- more grungy, Starbucksy Gen-X meets defense-tech gearhead.

With events trundling toward war, some smart media outlet is bound to snap him up before long.