Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers) from hired gun to missile defense advisor

While living in the Maritimes of Canada an annual New Media conference often brought one curious and extremely well liked individual: Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter.  As a session guitarist he was onhand for some of Steely Dan's finer moments and as a proper member of the Doobie Brothers he was a more permanent fixture in the American Rock canon. It was well known in certain circles at the time that Baxter's real sideline for many years has been as a missile defense advisor- although god knows what he might be advising on these days.

 

 Skunk talks about the transition in this article titled The Way We Live Now (New York Times 06/10/01)

Q: How does a Doobie Brother become a national adviser on missile defense?

A: It started with consulting for musical-instrument 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 a military arena would have much the same utility in a recording arena. As I read the different magazines, I started to gather information on things like the off-boresight 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.