For those that are interested, earliear this month someone mentioned Skunk
had made comments "about missiles" in a recent article. But nobody ever
posted the comments that he made. A buddy of mine found them and sent them
to me. Here is the complete article, or what was sent to me as being the
complete article.
KC in SJ
The Reliable Source can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED],
or c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20071.
By Lloyd Grove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 4, 2001; Page C03
Not only is Jeff "Skunk" Baxter a ponytailed former guitarist for
Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, he's also an expert on missile defense
who advises the Pentagon and enjoys what he calls "high-level security
access."
"I wrote a paper a long time ago and gave it to a friend, Dana
Rohrabacher," the Republican House member from California, Baxter told us.
"The next thing I know, I'm advising members of Congress and the Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization at the Pentagon."
The 52-year-old rock-and-roller, who refuses to divulge the origin of
his nickname, headlines tonight's Jazzmatazz concert at the Ronald Reagan
Building, benefiting Children's National Medical Center. "I deal with pretty
much everything from the nature of the threat to the technologies and the
BMCQ -- which is 'battle management command and control' -- to acquire,
track, identify and create a firing solution to defeat that threat. I'm
interested in both the doctrine and the theology of missile defense," he
continued. "Since I don't really have a pony in the race, I can be pretty
unbiased."
Missile-defense experts tell us that Baxter's the real thing. "Jeff is
amazingly astute when it comes to this sort of thing," said Lt. Col. Rick
Lehner, spokesman for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, the
government agency that oversees all missile defense programs. "He knows far
more than I do, and I've been in the Air Force for 21 years."
Baxter, a D.C. native, said he has never formally studied missile
defense; after dropping out of Boston University, "I decided to become a
rock star," he said. He belonged to Steely Dan from 1971 to 1974 and to the
Doobie Brothers from '74 to '80. Today, he keeps 40 guitars at his home in
Sherman Oaks, Calif., and plays with the likes of Rod Stewart, Julio
Iglesias and Barbra Streisand.
"It's a changing world, and a lot of people haven't caught up to it
yet. Somebody has to take the initiative," Baxter said, arguing that
President Bush is right to develop an ambitious missile defense system.
Using one of those arms control metaphors that make the groupies swoon,
Baxter explained: "If you're in a room with two people aiming guns at each
other, it's rather easy to keep track of who has the guns. But if the room
begins to fill up with people holding guns, you might want to consider the
possibility of wearing a bulletproof vest."
We're not sure we understand, but it has a good beat and you can dance to
it.
.
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