U.S. military could be shut down by secret ‘back door’

A missile failure could result from defective products from China

WorldNetDaily

Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin,

Sources have confirmed that the U.S. Department of Defense over recent months purchased 59,000 microchips to use in Navy equipment that control everything from missiles to transponders, according to report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

But all of the chips turned out to be cheap knock-offs from China, and they ultimately were not installed, according to sources.

Besides being subject to failure, the chips also were designed with a “back door” which would have allowed the chip, and the device it controlled, to be shut down remotely at any time, sources report.

Had the flaw not been detected, the chips could have shut down U.S. warships, aircraft, advanced weapons systems and encoded transponders that distinguish friendly aircraft from hostile attackers.

The revelation is only the latest in a series of incidents that have sent off alarm bells in the Pentagon. China previously was found to have been actively pursuing placing back doors in computer equipment. Several cases have been uncovered in which Internet-capable devices have had Chinese chips in them which also provided a back door into the networks the devices were supposed to protect. The devices were attached not only to industrial and commercial networks but also to networks that were defined as part of the nation’s “critical infrastructure.”

The problem is not unique to the U.S.

A Feb. 3, 2010, G2 Bulletin article outlined how Britain’s MI5 accused cyber intelligence agents in China of attacking U.K. businesses with the goal of gaining commercial intelligence. A leaked MI5 document said undercover intelligence officers from the People’s Liberation Army and the Ministry of Public Security approached U.K. businessmen at trade fairs and exhibitions with the offers of cameras and memory sticks.

But the “gifts” were found to contain back doors that provide the Chinese with remote access to the business computers.

In February 2005 the U.S. Department of Defense issued a report titled, “High Performance Microchip Supply.” There, the Defense Science Board Task Force stated:=

    “It is clear from recent trends in the microelectronics industry that a significant migration of critical microelectronics manufacturing from the United States to other foreign countries has and will continue to occur. The rate of this technology migration is alarming because of the strategic significance this technology has on the U.S. economy and the ability of the United States to maintain a technological advantage in the Department of Defense (DoD), government, commercial and industrial sectors. Our greatest concern lies in microelectronics supplies for defense, national infrastructure and intelligence applications.”

The report goes on to state that there is increasing pressure on microchip or “integrated circuit” (IC) suppliers to outsource their manufacturing operations offshore to lower cost. The report concludes that this move is “contrary to the best interests of the Department of Defense.” The report states that these foreign chips open the possibility for backdoors or “Trojan horses” to be embedded into the microchips used for military applications.

From a security standpoint, it would be much safer for the military to use commercial off the shelf components for their applications, since the supplier would not know the ultimate purchaser. But this is not practical because of the requirements the military places on the purchasing process. The requirements are so stringent that the microchips have very few commercial applications. Many times a supplier can look at the purchase order and determine that the chips will be used for military applications.

The Defense Department report concludes that their suppliers face a major microchip supply problem that “threatens the security and integrity of classified and sensitive circuit design information … and the correct functioning of electronic systems.”

Read today’s related column from Joseph Farah: “Has America gone stark, raving bonkers?”

July 18, 2011 | 9 Comments »

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9 Comments / 9 Comments

  1. Originally Posted By Bill LevinsonIt seems to me that ANYTHING produced for the U.S. Armed Forces should be made domestically, and under strict security.

    You are coming from the era of the dodobird and the T-Ford. Americaa’s defence industry could not function one day without Foreign raw materials, and components. The old buzzards don”t seem ro realize we are living in a global economy.

  2. @Ted Belman – Essentially the personnel at the Pentagon are virulently anti-semitic. My secret sources in the highest echelons of the defence establishment inform me that the U.S. military are very two-faced in dealing with Israel. Overtly the relations are proper and cooperative,but that is purely surface. The Pentagon people hate the israelis with an unspeakable passion.

  3. US Dept of Defense full of morons. They were trying to save……………. MONEY.
    The State Dept antisemitic.
    The White House not pro Israel
    Academia against the Jews
    Oil and gas industries against the Jews

    There is a long list…
    The war against the Jews continues relentlessly in the US with the help of many Jews!

  4. Laura says:
    July 18, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    This is twisted logic. They are suspicious of Israel and Jews for security reasons but turning to our greatest enemies, China for chips and muslims for translators is acceptable.

    Hatred of Israel and Jews is more like it. Hatred is so blind.

    Unfortunately Americans are not aware of these occurring behind the seances.

    Again the truth needs to be exposed.

  5. This is entirely credible, unfortunately. It is part of the wall-to-wall insanity that has come over America. Dig deeper into the story and I suspect you will find that the Pentagon went to China to buy the chips because they don’t trust the Israelis. The CIA and FBI and probably all other intelligence agencies refuse to hire native Arabic and Farsi speaking Jewish translators, for security reasons. So all documents in Arabic and Farsi are translated by Muslims.

    This is twisted logic. They are suspicious of Israel and Jews for security reasons but turning to our greatest enemies, China for chips and muslims for translators is acceptable.

  6. email

    This is entirely credible, unfortunately. It is part of the wall-to-wall insanity that has come over America. Dig deeper into the story and I suspect you will find that the Pentagon went to China to buy the chips because they don’t trust the Israelis. The CIA and FBI and probably all other intelligence agencies refuse to hire native Arabic and Farsi speaking Jewish translators, for security reasons. So all documents in Arabic and Farsi are translated by Muslims.

    I always suspected that there was an override of the pilots’ instructions that remained in American hands, which was why the US always insists that Israeli avionics not be used. Seems obvious to me that that’s a deal breaker. I have also expressed the hope that drones that Israel supplied to Turkey contain such a back door override.

  7. email

    After the First Gulf War, I reported to a very high-level person in our government that I had become privy to a secret US Government programme (not via their volition). This programme had installed ‘Trap doors’ in all of the weapons’ technology sold to Israel, allowing these systems to be turned off, at the approach of US Air Force Jets.

    Please note the use of the word “all”.

    As a result of this, all the software in all American-sourced fighters was replaced by Israeli software.

    This is the real source of the squabble with the US over the supply of the F-35 – they demand that we do not replace their software. We have been telling them that they can cheat once, not twice.