by | Jan 23, 2024 | Aggregate
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Credit:Â 18th Wing Public Affairs
Commentary
The crash of a B-1 bomber on approach to Ellsworth Air Force Base was the loss of a high-value airframe, but fortunately, the even more important crew survived.
Originally, 100 B-1Bs were made during the Reagan years to supplement the aging B-52 force, which, at the time, still included D, E, F, G, and H models of the B-52. As part of arms control treaty protocols with the Soviet Union, the B-1s were âneuteredâ in the 1990s and rendered incapable of carrying nuclear ordnance.
Today, there are less than
50 of these B-1Bs still flying. Theyâre considered a higher operating cost airframe than the remaining approximately 75 B-52H models. They can carry 24 long-range missiles on rotary launchers in their three bomb bays, four more than the 20 missiles that a B-52H can carry, which can only fit one rotary launcher internally, and the other 12 missiles have to be carried on massive underwing pylons.
There are still several dozen B-1s in the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base that can be regenerated back into service if the Air Force so decides. The Air Force has reluctantly kept the B-1Bs, but its large magazine of missiles can provide a powerful deterrent in the Western Pacific. The B-1 bomber that crashed at Ellsworth Air Force Base is probably unsalvageable for service.
How do we know itâs unsalvageable?
The videos and photos from private, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras overlooking Ellsworth provide this real-time evidenceâwhich is concerning. If the American public can see this clearly on the Ellsworth airfield, itâs highly likely that a foreign adversary is already in place inside this network and taking full advantage of this intelligence.
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CCTV CamerasÂ
Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, and DJI, the Chinese consumer-grade drone company, receive great attention as the vanguard of Chinese âcivil-militaryâ fusion efforts that enable vast intelligence collection capabilities.
Often overlooked in this concern is Hikvision, a company that makes CCTV camera systems, which have been
identified as a pervasive surveillance tool inside of China to monitor and efficiently conduct repression of Uyghurs and others on a vast scale. Hikvision is considered the flagship product line for China in the CCTV market and is proffered to customers around the world.
There have been cybersecurity concerns over the vulnerabilities of the Hikvision offerings. The Department of Homeland Securityâs
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has identified this and released substantial guidance on this matter and remediation of these access points for hackers to enter into a Hikvision CCTV system. The Hikvision CCTV offerings are pervasive and ubiquitous in the critical infrastructure domain for the private sector, as well as federal, state, and local governments.
The
Department of Defense (DOD) has moved to purge its vast domain and information technology networks of Hikvision and other offerings of concern. The Ellsworth Air Force Base crash represents one new and unanticipated angle on the pursuit and removal of Hikvision from the DOD world. The CCTV system that took the pictures and video of the crash site wasnât a DOD-owned and -operated CCTV systemâit was off-base and owned by a local media outlet yet had a distinct vantage point of at least a portion of the base.
With the CISA and DOD vulnerability concerns, itâs possible that nefarious actors discreetly benefited from the same vantage point of this CCTV without the knowledge of the media outlet.
What could go wrong?
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Spy Balloons
Ellsworth Air Force Base was one of the bases the Chinese spy balloon flew over in early 2023. If the CCTV system can scan the base flight line, why fly a balloon over the base?
Diversity of source is a best practice when trying to fully profile a possible target. In October 2023, the
commanders of a bomber wing and a missile wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota were interviewed, and they gave great detail on the Chinese nuclear buildup that was specifically targeting their units and the entire American nuclear force. These two commanders described the rapid yet methodical buildup of the Chinese nuclear force.
Col. Daniel S. Hoadley, commander of the 5th Bomb Wing, said, âTheyâre taking notice of what weâre capable of doing,â referencing the Chinese military. To take ânoticeâ implies that the Chinese forces are using multiple forms of intelligence gathering to ensure that they have a complete knowledge of the American nuclear force. The various collection methods allow the different findings to be cross-checked and corroborated. The CCTV systems and the spy balloons are likely being fortified by additional forms of information gathering.
Itâs interesting to note that the
new defense minister and the new commander of the Chinese nuclear force chosen by Chinese leader Xi Jinping are both navy admirals. There has been a startling buildup of the Chinese nuclear force, so the most accurate information on American nuclear forces is likely desired, which means that the Chinese regime will leverage all possible sources of information to develop the best picture possible for its war plans.
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Citizen Actions Counter Chinese Info Collection Efforts
It should be expected that the Chinese military and intelligence services will be relentless in collecting information on American military forces, critical infrastructure, and defense industrial base. Near Ellsworth is another important strategic base, Grand Forks in North Dakota. This facility hosts long-range surveillance drones and space radars and can host bombers when necessary. In a related form of information collection, Chinese business interests sought to purchase land near this facility. In a remarkable move, local citizens and counties stepped up to block these activities.
While the federal government seemed helpless to address this matter, grassroots activism helped shut down a national security threat. This should be considered a model for holistic efforts to address Beijngâs use of diverse sources and methods inside the United States to inform the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders and planners. The CCP may have found another gap and seam through the CCTV system around Ellsworth Air Force Base; therefore, it may take federal, state, local, and citizen action to show the agility and speed to outmaneuver these malign Chinese activities on American soil.
All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.
This article first appeared in Epoch Times and was reprinted with permission.
The post What Does a B-1 Bomber Crash Tell Us About CCP Monitoring of US Military Bases? appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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by | Jan 23, 2024 | Aggregate
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Guest post by Joe Hoft at JoeHoft.com
See SelectionCode to learn more about the Tina Peters story.
Remember that there were issues identified with voting machines in Colorado too.
On Friday, Jan 19th, Professor and Election Expert J. Alex Halderman stunned Judge Amy Totenbergâs Courtroom by quickly hacking into a Dominion Voting Machine with only a pen. This demonstration was live proof of the vulnerabilities identified in his now famous report.
Professor Haldermanâs report and demonstration are a powerful statement on how the National Security of our Country hangs by a thread and completely depends upon zero nefarious access to our voting equipment.
Professor Halderman showed how vulnerable our Election Equipment is to anyone with malintent. But there are other vulnerabilities that have been discovered in other audits and election cases since 2020.
Based on this work to date, it appears that vulnerabilities identified may be intentional election manipulation, such as the items identified in Mesa County, Colorado (discussed in reports 1-3 as detailed at https://tinapeters.us/reports/ â scroll to the bottom of the page to see the report links).
The career forensic experts who worked on the Mesa County reports claim that everything in these reports was a result of the Hard Drive Images made of the Mesa County, Colorado Election Management Server, before and after Dominion Voting Systems did a âsoftware upgradeâ known as âThe Trusted Buildâ. These reports have been ignored by Election Authorities.
Here are some of the takeaways from the Mesa County Reports:
1) The report concludes that the unauthorized existence of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in the operational Election Equipment allows for easy intentional vote flipping. SSMS allows direct unauthorized modification of ballot programming and votes.
2) The system is reportedly specifically programmed to automatically direct all voting system devices to other networks, including to the internet with a click of a button or plugging in a cable.
3) There are many other egregious insecurities beyond just the few above. It would take countless hours to go over them all.
4) A secondary unauthorized database exists, as described in report #3, (and it was also featured in the documentary Selectioncode), it allowed for the creation of a âsecond set of booksâ that was reportably used by nefarious actors.
5) The Mesa County Report #2 claims that 36 Wireless Devices were installed in the Election Management System (EMS), allowing for a multitude of wireless connections to be made at will at any time. This is especially troubling after it had been repeatedly declared by the Voting System providers/administrators/politicians that âVoting Machines are not Connected to the Internetâ (or any other Network), thus violating law for certification.
6) The âTrusted Buildâ reportedly deleted election records such as Access, Audit and Adjudication Log Files. This made it impossible to verify the election results. These deletions reportedly occurred long before the mandatory retention period defined by State and Federal Laws.
Professor Halderman demonstrated how simple it is to hack into Georgiaâs Dominion election systems, and his work provides support for the issues identified in the Mesa Reports 1-3.
Together as clearly shown by Professor Halderman and the three Mesa County Reports, our electronic voting systems (Poll Pads, Tabulators, Servers, ICXs etc.) are poorly designed for transparency, and security, and by no means provide assurance to every voter that their vote was counted as cast. The âI Votedâ sticker in conjunction with empty âTrust Usâ words of Election Officials is no substitute for the assurances all Americans deserve with their sacred elections.
Additionally, the new twist of Rank Choice Voting (RCV) is only a Trojan Horse to keep Electronic Voting Machines in the Election Ecosystem, because they are required to accomplish the complicated convoluted calculations required for RCV.
With 2024 Elections just around the corner, itâs of utmost importance that the issues identified in Mesa Reports 1-3 be considered by Judge Totenberg alongside Professor Haldermanâs conclusions in order to have the fairest ruling possible.
Never before has the world been at such a crossroads of Tyranny vs. Freedom. The previously hidden (but now exposed) mechanics of Electronic Voting Machine vulnerabilities profoundly usurps our Constitutional Rights for transparency and accountability with our most sacred election process.
We are precisely at the time in history where Ben Franklin prophetically said, âItâs a Republic if you can keep itâ.
The post EXCLUSIVE: In Addition to Recent Halderman âPen Hackâ in GA, Remember There Were Also Severe Voting Machine Vulnerabilities Identified in Colorado appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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