Pentagon plays down security breach with US drones
US army RQ-7B Shadow drones sit in a hangar at an army base near Baquba, north of Baghdad, in 2008. A day after the Pentagon acknowledged that Iraqi militants had used cheap software to intercept US drone feeds, a new report said senior military officials had dismissed that risk in 2004.
A day after the Pentagon acknowledged that Iraqi militants had used cheap software to intercept US drone feeds, a new report on Friday said senior military officials had dismissed that risk in 2004.
On Thursday, military officials sought to play down security concerns after the Wall Street Journal revealed that militants in Iraq and Afghanistan had intercepted the unencrypted downlink between US drones and ground control.
“This is an old issue that’s been addressed,” a defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
The problem had been taken care of, he said, without elaborating.