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TAFT 10
10 Questions for Jeffrey Baxter ’67, Crossover Artist
Once a guitarist for the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, now an adviser to the Pentagon, the man called Skunk explains why a thumping bass is the nation’s best defense. Q: How does a Doobie Brother become a national adviser on missile defense? A:
It started with consulting for musicalinstrument companies. I would read the defense magazines to find out what the latest technologies were and try to apply them to digital recording.
Q: Really? Is there a lot of crossover? A: A data-compression algorithm that might be useful in the military arena would have much the same utility in a recording arena. As I read different magazines, I started to gather information on things like the offboresight capability of an AIM-9 missile.
Q: That wouldn’t really be too helpful in a future Doobie Brothers reunion. A:
No. However, one day I sat down and wrote a paper about converting the Aegis system, which is a defense system for American carrier battle groups, to do theater missile defense. I didn’t know what to do
with it. So I gave it to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who’s a friend of mine. Congressman Curt Weldon asked me to form a citizen’s advisory board for missile defense.
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Of course. I have been blessed to grow up in a country where I can pick up a guitar and be able to pay the rent. But I could certainly have a full-time job in the national security area and still play the guitar. A lot of people in Washington play music.
Q: I read that John Cale is a big reader of missile defense magazines, and so is one of the guys in Brian Setzer’s band. Is there a claque of gearhead musicians who talk about military hardware between gigs?
Q: Who on the Hill has chops? A: Orrin Hatch is a very good songwriter.
I think so. There’s no doubt that the techheads of the music world certainly see it as an extension of what they do.
Congressman Collin Peterson is a good guitar player and a really fine performer. Chris Cox is a fine lyricist.
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Q: Given your dual life, do you ever Q: Have you plugged in with any of have one of those Spinal Tap “Hello, Cleveland” moments when you forget which role you are performing?
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I have never showed up at a war game with a guitar or showed up at a recording session with a space-based-laser briefing book.
these guys, maybe gone through a little “Black Water”?
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Absolutely. Collin Peterson and I a couple of years ago put together a band and did a benefit for the families of the Capitol police officers who were killed. We did something together at Farm Aid a year ago.
Q: When you go to the Hill, do people ask you about missile defense or about what it was like to be in Steely Dan?
Q: What’s the nickname Skunk for? A: That’s an interesting question.
Both. It opens an interesting avenue for dialogue. Another area I’ve been thinking about is what Joseph Nye called “soft power” and the idea that the tremendous influence the United States has in the world is not only due to its military prowess but to its cultural prowess—Elvis Presley, blue jeans, Baywatch. If that’s true, then you could make the argument that artistic freedom is a national security issue.
—John Leland, ©New York Times Magazine. Reprinted with permission
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NORMA ZUNIGA
Q: Would you give up rock ’n’ roll to save the world?
If someone is more interested in trying to find the roots of how I got my nickname than they are to read information about weapons of mass destruction, it gives me a little insight into the depth of this person’s commitment to information and life in general. It’ll be in my book.
Jeff Baxter ’67 is the real thing, missile-defense experts told the Washington Post. “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.” Taft Bulletin Summer 2001
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