Some of the U.S. military craft that use microchips found to be counterfeited (top to bottom)
Bettmann/Corbis; George Hall/Corbis; U.S. Navy, MC2 David Didier/AP Photo; U.S. Embassy Manila/Handout/EPA/Corbis
Posted on 10/03/2008 12:11:04 PM PDT by KingJaja
The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons. Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns.
In November 2005, a confidential Pentagon-industry program that tracks counterfeits issued an alert that "BAE Systems experienced field failures," meaning military equipment malfunctions, which the large defense contractor traced to
fake microchips. Chips are the tiny electronic circuits found in computers and other gear.
The alert from the Government-Industry Data Exchange
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Thank you President Clinton.
WWWWHHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT!
P.S. ...just pinging you all to keep you in the loop. BTW, IMO, the bailout voted on today...our illustrious trading partners called in the markers. Again, IMO.
Did I hear right that part of the bill has a dept repudiation scheme built into it?
How nice, if true.
And the really sad part about this is when a contractor requests customer supplied equipment for integration and testing they are usually denied.....
We don’t know half the story of how our national security has been compromised by allowing military material to be produced out of the US. Plus all the technology that has been transfered to nations not friendly to us.
In more sane times a lot of this would have been called treason, but now it’s just called international trade.
We had our (expensive) experience and never did business with them again.
Just so you get an idea of what I ran into: fraudulent Certificates of Analysis, Non-specified materials, unapproved processes, patent infringement, “hardened” steels that were dead soft, and finally the coup de grace: a suspiciously similar knock-off coming from China.
During the Great Leap Forward, Mao encouraged everybody to build little iron smelters in their backyards.
However, being familiar with the semiconductor fabrication process, the idea of “Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China” is pretty ludicrous.
Chip fabbing is a meticulous and very high-tech process.
It would seem things have changed. Duncan Hunter said all this a long time ago and we all knew he was right. We were and still are compromising the “Arsenal of Democracy” as well as our economic security which is essential to national security.
If he indeed was, a “protectionist”, as charged; here’s hoping America gets a few more “protectionists” in a hurry. But then, we can always “rescue” the economy by printing money and still sustain the enormous trade deficits and Wall St. trading their bad paper and suspect derivatives. Twenty years from now we will be bailing out the results of another repackaged incarnation of junk bonds. The winners in the glorified pyramid schemes are always the inventors and those few who are first in. The losers are always the last in or the taxpayers, when the government gets involved in the game.
What were you building? Had a mentor/friend comment to me back in the 90's "NEVER do business with the Chinese unless your position is ironclad."
They backed out of contracts faster than anyone.
Whew! Glad my employer wasnt listed in the article.
Ping.
Some of the U.S. military craft that use microchips found to be counterfeited (top to bottom)
Bettmann/Corbis; George Hall/Corbis; U.S. Navy, MC2 David Didier/AP Photo; U.S. Embassy Manila/Handout/EPA/Corbis
“We don’t know half the story of how our national security has been compromised by allowing military material to be produced out of the US. Plus all the technology that has been transfered to nations not friendly to us.
In more sane times a lot of this would have been called treason, but now it’s just called international trade.”
_________
“Free Trade” is what we’re told these cheap labor contracts are. Not much ‘free’ about being held hostage by our enemies and ‘leaders’! Duncan Hunter is the ONLY one who has had the courage to consistently call China what it is. A THREAT! And the only one to put forth legislation to keep our equipment made in this country. Anyone remember when they were going to make border patrol uniforms...in MEXICO?? And we will continue to pay one way or another for the ‘free traitors’ profit. At this point, we might just as well enjoy ourselves and start a betting pool....
Which will do us in first?
$850 BILLION bail outs to the fat cats....
Poison and illegal aliens from China, Mexico, where ever......
The next administration......
I saw a clip on TV earlier. The Taiwanese governing body is becoming physical over the poisoned baby formula and milk that has been forced on them by China.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=754468
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1PW8Su6EECm-m22gV1dABkLdHJQD93IAIJ80
Taiwan says melamine found in Nestle milk powders
“Melamine-contaminated milk has killed four babies and sickened more than 50,000 children in mainland China.”
“Duncan Hunter said all this a long time ago and we all knew he was right. We were and still are compromising the “Arsenal of Democracy” as well as our economic security which is essential to national security.
If he indeed was, a “protectionist”, as charged; here’s hoping America gets a few more “protectionists” in a hurry. But then, we can always “rescue” the economy by printing money and still sustain the enormous trade deficits and Wall St. trading their bad paper and suspect derivatives. Twenty years from now we will be bailing out the results of another repackaged incarnation of junk bonds. The winners in the glorified pyramid schemes are always the inventors and those few who are first in. The losers are always the last in or the taxpayers, when the government gets involved in the game.”
__________
Absolutely! I’ll say it. We need a lot more ‘protectionism’ than we’ve been getting! I’m ready to slam this country shut, unless the inept leaders we keep getting make it irrelevant, broke and in debt to the world first. I don’t think I want to know how much of USA real estate and assets are now in foreign hands...either other nations own it or their refugees are all here! It’s insane!
“Within our own borders we possess all the means of sustenance, defense, and commerce; at the same time, these advantages are so distributed among the different states of this continent as if nature had in view to proclaim to us be united among yourselves, and you will want nothing from the rest of the world.” Samuel Adams July 4, 1776, on Independence
See post 14.
I've seen and heard of a number of cases where the management of an American technology company naively think they are hitting the big time when a Chinese company offers to do a "joint venture". This inevitably falls apart, the American company does no real business in China and the Chinese company obtains the technology. The Chinese keep running this play over and over.
You're right.
Pelosi’s Politburo is Proud.
TH eChinese are commercial thieves, plain and simple.
Read these cases:
Remember
Soviet despot Nikita Khrushchev observed that America’s transition from liberty to serfdom would have to be incremental: “We can’t expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.”
"We will bury you!"
Fascinating article. Thanks.
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