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Joint Strike Fighter Technology May Have Been Compromised...Whoops!
Posted by Sean Fallon at 9:00 AM on May 2, 2008
It appears that the geniuses at the Defence Department have been asleep at the wheel of their new Joint Strike Fighter program, leading some to believe that its super valuable aviation and weapons technology may have been compromised. The crux of the problem involves the fact that the Pentagon's Defence Security Service (DSS) has had a difficult time monitoring the contractors working on the aircraft. While no specific breaches have come to light regarding the classified information, an audit has uncovered that the DSS cut corners and the DoD suffered lapses in its controls designed to evaluate and protect the sensitive information from unauthorised access.
The audit also uncovered that the most significant of these lapses involved the DoD's handling of London-based weapons maker BAE Systems. According to the report, DSS failed to collect the company's internal audits—information that is crucial to determining potential weaknesses at the plant. The DSS responded saying that they have "a thorough and fundamentally sound facility inspection process which was only marginally diminished by the failure to systematically collect, analyse, and retain BAE's required reports" and that they have "taken action to resolve this shortcoming." However, a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing revealed that the DSS has been significantly understaffed for some time. Currently, around 750 people work for DSS and a rep claimed to be short staffed by "well over a hundred" persons.
So rest easy folks. Once again, you can be secure in the knowledge that our government has everything under control. [Wired]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Poon
Posted 9:21 AM 2/5/08
Why should we worry? Recent news reports have indicated that only "thousands" of Chinese spies are currently working in the US. Not "millions". Talk about hysteria.
Poon
Munch
Posted 9:20 AM 2/5/08
@che_leo: Well played
Munch
shamoononon
Posted 9:17 AM 2/5/08
HA HA HA HA.... no comment.
shamoononon
che_leo
Posted 9:15 AM 2/5/08
open source strike fighter
che_leo
Milstar
Posted 9:38 AM 2/5/08
Still the Chinease are pretty aggressive, they got that stealth bomber in Serbia if I remember correctly.
Milstar
MONSTERGOC
Posted 11:23 AM 2/5/08
.... SORRY SPELLING....DAMMMMMM BLACKBERRY>>>> Back to the loo now
MONSTERGOC
MONSTERGOC
Posted 11:22 AM 2/5/08
The F22 raptor would toast pretty much every manufactured aircraft in the world. Ya others may have stolen stelth technology or went the easier route and dontaed to their campaign like the Vhinese did with the Clitons. End of the day on projects this large there is no fool proof way to keep corners from being cut etc. Unless you go WWII and create towns where people live and work on the same project this type of things is going to happen.
MONSTERGOC
Elitist Snob
Posted 11:11 AM 2/5/08
@MagnoliaBoy
But remember...China is NOT our adversary, according to our government.
See you all at Pearl Harbor, part duex. And this time it will be America's Epic FAIL.
Elitist Snob
MagnoliaBoy
Posted 10:53 AM 2/5/08
The great news is, once the China and Venezuelan get stealth fighters, it's ON with the Anti-grav Nuclear Energy Beam Strike Fighters they have in the basement. On like Donkey Kong.
MagnoliaBoy
Elitist Snob
Posted 10:41 AM 2/5/08
Only Joint Strike Fighter could go to China.
Elitist Snob
Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer
Posted 10:38 AM 2/5/08
Great! Australia's on the waiting list for this fiasco as well. Sounds like it's MozillaDoD.
We should have bought the F22, at least it's vaguely secret, and doesn't fall apart cos of dodgy glue like the F15.
Oh and it exists.
Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer
freelunch
Posted 10:36 AM 2/5/08
sounds like hype.
"DoD [Department of Defense] did not always employ sufficient controls to evaluate and correct potential unauthorized access to classified U.S. technology," the report observes.
so... someone had FTP access that didn't require it? Or a terminated employees account was not locked within 24 hours of termination?...
It is common for audits of IT systems and processes to identify a few weaknesses - the only difference here is that it concernse defense technology (only slightly more important than poorly secured corporate secrets).
freelunch
rb67
Posted 11:37 AM 2/5/08
Shrug, not a super huge deal. The JSF is an international product meant to sale outside the US (to our allies of course). The F-22 on the other hand...
rb67
strider_mt2k
Posted 12:43 PM 2/5/08
Sonofa...
strider_mt2k
whootowl
Posted 1:00 PM 2/5/08
The Bush Admin would just as soon have the Chinese design and build these birds anyway.
whootowl
apeguero
Posted 2:51 PM 2/5/08
I only hope it's a Trojan horse and that JSF v2.0 will not have any of the problems JSF v1.0 has.
apeguero
ninjatales
Posted 3:33 PM 2/5/08
Grimsdottir: Sam. We have reason to believe that the JSF technology has been compromised and need you to investigate this matter.
Sam Fisher: Why is this news?
.
.
.
... COMING SOON ...
SPLINTER CELL
PROJECT INVISIBLE CHINA
ninjatales
frigg
Posted 9:12 PM 2/5/08
Maybe the chill approach to security protocol stems from a misunderstanding among project managers on the meaning of "Joint" in "Joint Strike Fighter"?
frigg
LoganSix
Posted 10:07 PM 2/5/08
@whootowl: As oppose to the Clinton administration that just handed over the blueprints.
Frankly, with all the over population and increased pricing of goods going on, a good plague, natural disaster, or world war is in the making. 2012 is just around the corner.
LoganSix
nephroth
Posted 11:30 PM 2/5/08
@LoganSix: You are a loon. Stop being.
nephroth
GadgetPlay
Posted 1:30 AM 3/5/08
It's nice to see so much glee and so little concern on this.
GadgetPlay
Lagunatic
Posted 1:16 AM 3/5/08
JSF... whooptie-doo. It was a multi-national cluster F#@K to begin with.
F22 will cream the JSF and is already on-deck to replace the aging F15/F16/F18 fleet.
Raptor... one jet to rule them all!
Lagunatic
whootowl
Posted 1:48 AM 3/5/08
Anyway, it will be nice to procure our jet fighters via Wal-Mart. Both Bush and Clinton will be thrilled.
whootowl
JChristopher
Posted 4:43 AM 3/5/08
Well....ummm.... mine is almost done. You know, in the garage. Wait. This isn't traceable is it?
JChristopher
Digitalwanderer
Posted 2:39 PM 3/5/08
So... reading both the Giz report and that Wired story, the problem is that they haven't seen audits from about 5 years ago?
Not that technology has been stolen, or documents or data misplaced, but that audits carried out by BAE weren't seen by the DSS? Furthermore, that BAE identified various problems, and were apparently more on the ball about security than the security services?
Digitalwanderer
Digitalwanderer
Posted 3:21 PM 3/5/08
In fact, this one has intrigued me, so a little more digging (not much, there's a link in the comments on Wired's story)
BAE's response
Here it is in full (emphasis mine):
" The DoD IG explicitly found no instances of unauthorized access to classified or export control information on the JSF program. We strongly disagree with the IG's suggestion that nonetheless,such information may have been compromised in some unidentified way by unauthorized access at BAE Systems. There is no basis whatsoever for that conclusion.
BAE Systems takes very seriously their obligation to protect classified and export controlled information and has a compliance program that reflects the highest of standards. BAE Systems has a long and proven track record of safeguarding sensitive information entrusted to it.
BAE Systems also strongly disagrees with the suggestion that we did not perform required audits and fully comply with our Special Security Agreement. That suggestion is simply false.
BAE Systems previously requested a meeting with the DoD IG to resolve what appears to us to be a misunderstanding of the underlying facts."
That's a somewhat more substantive response than the one that Giz added at the update. Reading around the various articles out there, it does seem like the headline of this article could equally have read:
"Aircraft: Joint Strike Fighter Technology May have been been compromised, but the DOD says explicitly that it hasn't been. They did admit to some problems with understaffing and not keeping copies of old paperwork, though".
Not quite as catchy, though, is it - sorry, I'm not a journalist.
Digitalwanderer
madderhatter
Posted 3:23 AM 6/5/08
The JSF is more-or-less a technological handout anyway, so others don't have to fly around in blimps or prop-jobs any longer. If another JSF user is deployed somewhere else they can rest assured there will be parts and mechanics available to fix any problems, as long as their forward operating location also uses JSFs. Big advantage - along the same lines as everyone using a standard NATO round on the battlefield.
F-22 > *
madderhatter