Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
292,404
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 288:
Line 288: + + +
→Captured equipment
===Captured equipment===
===Captured equipment===
The ultimate winner of two decades of war in Afghanistan is China. The captured aircraft and armored vehicles left behind will give China a broad window into how the U.S. military builds and uses some of its most important tools of war. Georgianna Shea, who spent years helping the Pentagon research and test new technologies, said “It’s not just a Humvee. It’s not just a vehicle that gets you from point A to point B. It’s a Humvee that’s full of radios, technologies, crypto systems, things we don’t want our adversaries getting a hold of.” Gear that has been “rendered inoperable,” as U.S. officials described the planes and vehicles left behind, can still reveal secrets. “In some cases, this equipment was fielded with the assumption we would have gates and guards to protect it. When it was developed, no one thought the Chinese would have it in their cyber lab, dissecting it, pulling it apart," Shea said. Once an attacker has physical control of a device, little can stop them from discovering its vulnerabilities—and there are always vulnerabilities, Shea said.
Of particular concern are the electronic countermeasures gear, or ECMs, used to detect improvised explosive devices. “Imagine the research and development effort that went into develop those ECM devices that were designed to counter IEDs,” said Peter Christensen, a former director of the U.S. Army’s National Cyber Range. “Now, our adversaries have them. They’re going to have the software and the hardware that goes with that system. But also develop capabilities to defeat or mitigate the effectiveness of those ECM devices.”<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/09/how-equipment-left-afghanistan-will-expose-us-secrets/185264/</ref>
==War profiteers==
==War profiteers==