I'd stopped seeing Chivers' field work, and I'd wondered why. Sad to hear.

I highly recommend it to HN readers; articles where he talks about the features of armament supply chains and their political effects are fascinating. Some examples:

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/whats-inside-a-tal...

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/taliban-gun-locker...