Philosophical Session : Wincon Winds Up in Peace and Quiet

In a cold, cavernous hotel ballroom, the military contractors and U.S. Defense Department officials who had been picketed by protesters earlier in the week peacefully concluded their annual meeting Thursday with a discussion of computer software.

Members of the public willing to pay $70 each were allowed to attend the final day of the three-day gathering known as Wincon, the Winter Conference on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa. There was, however, no evidence of anyone outside the industry in attendance.

It was the only day of the convention with unclassified sessions, and that posed some problems.

Said Winston W. Royce: “I’m trying to stay very non-classified here, so you’ll have to put up with a lot of missing words. You can supply the words.”

Royce spoke at length of “Fortran,” “Cobal,” and “Ada,” computer languages.

One man labeled the speech by Royce, director of the Lockheed Software Technology Center, “probably the most philosophical of the sessions” and “not terribly useful.”

‘Clearly a Character’

“Software guys are kind of characters anyway, and this guy was clearly a character,” the man said. He said no, he didn’t want to give his name, and no, he didn’t want to say exactly who his employer is.

As Royce spoke, one man inside the hall snored and others wandered out to get ice cream bars, returning to listen and eat as they stood in the back of the hall.

There was no sign of the protesters who on Tuesday stood outside the gates of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, briefly blocking entry to the base and offering themselves for arrest in a confrontation with police and military as carefully choreographed as a minuet.

The Alliance for Survival organized the protest, which resulted in the arrests of 40 people. Similar protests have been held each year since 1983. Those arrested were cited and released on their own recognizance.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Finding the Threat,” and it included discussions on surveillance and targeting from space for anti-submarine warfare and land combat.

The meeting also included two speeches at the unclassified sessions on surveillance and targeting for “violent peace,” which they defined as stopping the flow of drugs.

‘Nagging Question of Funding’

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), whose district includes the hotel and who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, gave a luncheon speech. He noted that California defense contractors received $27 billion worth of defense contracts last year and that $2.7 billion of that went to Orange County firms.

Badham said the “nagging question of funding” weapons systems already approved by Congress will be a focus of debate on the defense budget this year.

“I salute you for what you are doing for our national interest and our country,” Badham told the weapons specialists.

Among the 65 or so people listening to Royce and two other speakers at the afternoon session was Col. Michael Milam of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.

Milam said that it was his first Wincon and that when he heard the protesters outside his hotel Monday night, before the conference opened, “I didn’t know what they were.”

He said he was told the next day that “for several years (the protesters) have taken advantage of being the opening ceremony” of the conference. He said he thought the picketing at the El Toro base and the arrests were “handled very smoothly” on both sides.

He said it was “a more conscientious form of demonstration, more principled demonstration than a raw display of emotion” such as was common during the anti-Vietnam War protests.