Chinese Counterfeit Parts in the DOD Supply Chain

The following is a collection of information from Mark Watson which has been compiled by Final Phase Forum member NBT Truth. This is really scary stuff – especially if you understand manufacturing, defense and also happen to be the type of person that loves Liberty.

Mr. Watson comments on the CNN article linked HERE -

In case you have not been a regular reader of Watson’s Web, I have talked before many times about ‘supply chain contamination’. While you hear little about it in the blogosphere, it is a major, major issue. I can tell you that already, unknown to most Americans some, of our weapons systems have been compromised by parts that were designed to fail and made overseas. This is both a military threat as it is a simple commercial one.

Do you remember the stories about Toyota’s having problems with their accelerators? That is what industrial supply chain contamination looks like. You get a part from a place like say… China that the manufacturer built in some remote facility. The guy who owns the factory gets a visit from the Chinese government who tells them they will not put the usual part in the shipment, but will provide these ‘special’ parts that will be sent to the customer. The buyer is totally unaware of what is happening, until people start crashing cars all over America and the buyer of the parts gets caught in a very nasty publicity and legal mess.

Pretty messed up huh? Welcome to the real world. Now translate that comparatively insignificant problem over into the defense arena and you begin to see the enormous ramifications. They can be anything from poor workmanship, to carefully designed component degradation (within a fully predictable timeline) to vulnerabilities (hidden commands inside hardware/software) that reacts to certain commands on a battlefield that only our enemies can exploit.

This is a real problem and is not just Labor Unions and others whining about manufacturing overseas. This is truly a major National Security Problem. Because if the parts for our weapons systems are not being made here, they are being made elsewhere.

We have already lost our lead in some critical defense-related industries such as semiconductors, printed circuit boards, machine tools, advanced materials and aerospace, Baugh said. The closure of the Avondale and Ingalls shipyards would cripple our ability to make ships.

Michael Wessel, a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, told the panel the situation is so bad that we no longer have the domestic capacity to produce enough ammunition to supply our troops and law enforcement. There are waiting lists to fill the police departments here at home, he said. – AFL-CIO

Well, here is a white paper that talks about just one issue, counterfeit parts in the DOD supply chain. You can find the report here:

http://markswatson.com/final_counterfeit_electronics_report.pdf

Indeed, finding number nine (in above link) says “Most DoD organizations do not have policies in place to prevent counterfeit parts from infiltrating their supply chain.” Kind of scary isn’t it? What if we had to go to war with a nation like say… China only to find out weapons systems, C3I systems were crippled once we got 100 miles off China’s shore?

According to U.S. intelligence officials, data compromised through Chinese spying included the theft of Aegis battle management technology, which is the heart of the U.S. Navy’s warships and which already has been copied in at least two Chinese warships.

Other losses attributed to Chinese military spies include secrets related to U.S. attack submarines, U.S. bombers and other aircraft and strategic missile and rocket technology. – Ruthfullyyours

Sleep tight. I hope you can, because it seems for years our Defense and Intelligence officials have been sleeping… at the wheel. Recently I had a long, long conversation with a fairly high up defense official who is very much clued in as to what is happening in our world and in Washington. Things are so bad he is seriously considering moving himself and his family out of America. He sees the treason inside the government as so great and now, unstoppable he thinks the best place to move is to the southern hemisphere….

Photo Credit : The U.S. Army

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