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YouTube Used for Whistleblowing
fightmaster writes "A Lockheed Martin engineer with concerns about the safety and security flaws in a fleet of refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats turned to YouTube in order to publicize concerns he felt were being ignored by his employer and the government. From the article: 'The 41-year-old Lockheed Martin engineer had complained to his bosses. He had told his story to government investigators. He had called congressmen. But when no one seemed to be stepping up to correct what he saw as critical security flaws in a fleet of refurbished Coast Guard patrol boats, De Kort did just about the only thing left he could think of to get action: He made a video and posted it on YouTube.com.'"
It took me long enough to find this but here's the actual youtube video.
Does this sig remind you of Agatha Christie?
If the employer AND the government AND the congressman AND apparently no one else will listen to this boob, maybe, just maybe, his issue ain't that important and he should quit bellyaching.
Thank You slashdot editors for providing a link to the video in question.
It actually took me three tries to find it, entitled: "Homeland Security - Coast Guard Issues"
May this post be indexed by spiders, and archived for all to see as my Internet epitaph.
That's like so Web2.0! He can even toss together a mashup of the boats' locations and some Google maps and have active video links pop up when you hover your mouse over the tags.
Or he could have just sent an anonymous tip to the press who would have loved to pick up on something like this...
Was he going for first coast?
Very interesting. While I don't think all the equipment should be replaced to meet the artic temperature thing, I think that the problem should be noted, and the contractor should have to pay some reimbursement for not meeting all the terms of the contract. Some number of ships should be retrofitted, but it may be a big waste to do it with all of them
--
WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
...edit the Wikipedia entry? http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/28/18 1223
Here's the video
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
While his employers probably will administratively punish and / or fire him, because his actions may save my coastie brothers and sisters
in the long run,I tip my hat off to you. Sometimes you gotta grab life by the horns, to do the right thing.
Regards,
MBC1977,
(US Marine, College Student, and Good Guy!)
Regards,
MBC1977,
If you point the finger at someone else, there are three more pointing back at you.
In other words, the standard pointing gesture highlights the intense scrutiny the whistleblower will face.
Spend your silver bullet wisely.
I sincerely hope that follow-on work isn't hard to come by.
If YouTube had existed in time for some space-shuttle engineers, we might not have had two birds transferred to NADA.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I guess when your youboat is going to sink, you need a youtube to keep you afloat.
....of whatever NDA this guy signed?
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
Seriously, this dude has some balls, if not much sense. Tip for all you would-be whistleblowers: make sure you have the facts, the media, and God (not necessarily) overwhelmingly on your side before you start. Otherwise, you're just screwed. I hope the guy can find another job, or get a book deal. De Kort, thanks for taking one for the team.
In the article it said that he was fired shortly after he posted the video, but he knew before hand that he was going to get canned. I wonder how much of his actions reflect wanting retribution or just having nothing to lose.
Does this sig remind you of Agatha Christie?
The night manager at the Taco-Bell I work at has been taking home 2 packets of the mild sauce and 1 packet of the hot sauce home every time she works. I've tried calling the District manager, and the corporate office, but no one is doing anything. Should I put a video up of her taking them?
I abuse commas, I cannot help myself.
Once upon a time, corporate giants and goverment entities could ignore the little guys with impunity. Now, anyone with a sufficiently good story can post it and attract a large public audience.
Power to the people!
2 cents,
QueenB
HDGary secures my bank
Cue Congress opening hearings on silencing the leak instead of solving the problem...
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
See how improtant internet is for making important truth known ?
Can you conceive the fact that, had not there been channels like youtube, this scandal would left under the mat so that owners of some big contractor to the government could be able to sleep well at nights AT THE EXPENSE of security and lives ?
If you havent perceived it yet, ponder it now - if telcos get what they want, if net neutrality goes away, what is going to always happen will be what i told you.
Read radical news here
The heritage of the SAME company that have bribed government heads, bureucrats in countries tenfold around the world, including germany, to oust their competitors and sell their f104s. Their FAULTY designs.
The SAME company who caused around 150-200 air service pilots to lose their lives around the world flying their faulty f104s.
The SAME company which recently admitted their wrong doing.
The SAME company, which is at it AGAIN.
Read radical news here
OK, let me summarize what he covers (I didn't finish the last bit of the video, though).
1. Blind spot in watch cameras.
OK, thanks for pointing those out. Now we can board the boats and steal them. Yes, this is an issue, and one that should be fixable, but extra cameras will also affect the systems that digitize and monitor them, as well. Still, this system should be fixed, but it's not a major thing, and now you've just told anybody who's interested (in a bad way) how to take advantage of the flaw. Thanks.
2. FLIR Equipment not rated for -40 deg
My problem with this is, working in automotive systems, we regularly see this requirement, and it's more of a "spec" thing. Most electronics are fine in cold weather... short of devices with moving parts (hard drive, for example). Just because the FLIR is not "rated" at -40 doesn't mean it can't handle such temperatures, only that one or more components (chips, capacitors, resistors, etc...) in the system are not CERTIFIED to operate at the wide range of temperatures. Certification for this requirement is often an expensive process and often, certified and uncertified parts are identical in everything but price (or availability, more often). I think he's a little bit out there on this one.
3. Use of non-shielded cable in "secure" communications systems.
This one is a bit ridiculous, and shows his paranoia. The cables failed "visual" - of course, because they are not shielded. He concludes that because they are not shielded, they MUST have failed the electronic test, and because they officially passed, somebody must have cheated. While Tempest-class (back in my days as a Marine) cables were shielded out the ying-yang, and there was, even back in the 80's some amazing intel gathering stuff out there (pull phone conversations from a telephone wire, 30 feet from the pole, wirelessly, for example)... we are talking about CUTTERS. ON THE SEA. Effectiveness of devices that can isolate and monitor any given cable line over more than 100 feet falls off dramatically, particularly in a signal-rich (i.e. "noisy") environment. I'm guessing the electronic test DID pass, which is why it was allowed to be built with the unshielded cable. Still, why couldn't they have provided proper shielded cable? It's not like a huge price difference, and if availability was an issue here, what about simple external mesh around the cable runs?
Like I said, I see he has concerns, but this is really the wrong way to deal with it, and puts our Coast Guards at much greater jeopardy than the things he's addressing!
When I first saw the headline I thought.. cool blow job videos on YouTube. They finally allowed the X rated stuff.
Sadly, I'm disapointed.
rv original research
Lockheed Martin is well known for crappy business practices. I had the misfortune of working with one of their products - The Defense Messaging System (DMS). They had one of those huge mega-indefinite supply contracts they milked for so many years....What a total piece of pigslop.
Many government contractors go out of their way to shaft the US government, all in the name of the dollar. I hate these unethical bastards!
More power to him.
The news is no surprise. Lockheed Martin is known to be an inferior company producing largely inferior products, excepting the engine and some other parts produced by superior British manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce PLC. If the company wants to make real advances, it should hire all British workers and make LMUK its primary headquarters. It is the only way to stop dangerous mistakes like this being made.
Personally, I realize it is a mistake to allow those in the so-called "United States" to manufacture or hold any kind of device that could be used as a weapon or in war. The consequence of allowing rogue colonists such tools were revealed to the British in 1776. That is a mistake we shall not repeat. Next time we cross the Atlantic, it shall be as Henry V took Agincourt: outnumbered but fitted with superior tools and men. Once more unto the breach, dear friends.
England Prevails
1. Blind spots.
I understand his point: because of the blind spots you need to keep guards on board, which kind of defeats the purpose of the cameras. But is it actually realistic to *not* have guards on board? I would hope not!
2. Equipment not working at -40.
Considering that these ships are intended to be used by the coast guard in the gulf of Mexico, I don't see the problem.
3. Unshielded cables.
WTF is he talking about? The only way to sniff data from an unshielded cable is if you are right next to it. It is not going to help you when the cable is on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Further, the moment data is transmitted off the ship via radar, all bets are off. Unless you encrypt it *anyone* can listen to it.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
No doubt as soon as he posted it. However, it is unlikely that Lockheed Martin will litigate, as this would be an admission that the video contains confidential information. Their official stance is that the video is BS, meaning that no confidential information was leaked. Thus he has a sort of immunity to this avenue of litigation. Lockheed Martin could never recoup the losses they would incur by admitting to these failures, especially not from one man.
It makes much more sense for them to pursue the libel avenue of silencing him. In this case, they are no worse off than if they did nothing, and have the chance to debunk the contents of this video if they are successful.
"It may be very hard for you to believe that our government and the largest defense contractor in the world [are] capable of such alarming incompetence and can make ethical compromises as glaring as what I am going to describe."
No. Not even close. I think it's quite obvious that they're capable of such alarming incompetence. Consider: Katrina. WMD/Iraq. 9/11. Diebold. No-bid contracts. Overbilling.
There's really not much more that needs to be said.
I salute this guy. The cocksuckers in Washington are our own worst enemies.
IMO, this is more evidence that Bush's "War on Terror" is nothing more than a facade designed to cover up one of history's biggest robberies. What's a suitable punishment for someone who hijacks a country of 300 million with lies, crimes and stolen elections? GWB should be drawn and quartered on the Washington Mall.
If this had occurred in Great Britain, De Kort would have been a loyal Myrmidon and refrained from causing such a scene. A British company would not have made such a mistake as Lockheed Martin's engineers. Also, the system used in the so-called "United States" is inferior. In Britain, such disloyalty would have caused De Kort's disappearance before he had a chance to release such material.
Britain will use this knowledge when it moves to take back its colonies.
De Kort is correct: his government is incompetent. The solution is obvious: Americans, subject yourselves to superior British rule.
England Prevails
This video was posted 3 weeks ago and only had a 100 odd ratings, even after appearing on slashdot. Meanwhile a regular skanky youtube teen could get thousands within a hours. Even you guys will probably move on to the next story in a few minutes. I think the government is safe.
Shouldn't the Coast Guard have paid to have the equipment certified though? I mean, we're talking about putting multiple servicepersons' lives at risk; shouldn't the equipment at least be formally tested for the very circumstances in which they're going to be used?
Unfortunately, I think he's going to be arrested for treason for the very reasons you mentioned. I thought this as soon as I saw him put up a diagram of the camera's blindspot. He's violating United States national security in a very big way. I wouldn't be surprised if he quietly disappeared.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
This just gave me an excellent idea for a remake of "Turk 182"
That made money, right?
. We've got computers, we're tapping phone lines, you know that ain't allowed - Talking Heads, "Life During Wartime"
His DUTY was to INFORM his management, government, congressman, intelligence services, etc. that he had SERIOUS concerns relative to the project he was leading. Anything less is unworthy of the status of Lead Engineer
Cliff Claven
K.E.G. Party Chairman
Founding Leader of: Koncerned for Egalitarin Governance
I was listening to a story on this on NPR. Government oversight is gone in this decade. The NPR story had a few experts basically reporting on he last portion of this video, which is a laundry list of the government officials he talked to and how they all turned him away with nonsense reasons.
There is no one in government who cares right now. The signs of something very bad happening within my lifetime within my country are numerous, and they all evolve around a populace that doesn't vote, and small groups of people who do vote for people who don't really care about anyone but themselves and the businesses that give them tons of money.
It's so bad I don't even believe that this will cause enough outrage for anyone to do anything. The government is teflon-coated now, and the american voters made it so.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
In spite of modern attempt at historical revision, it is clear to honest historians that Britain won all the battles of 1776 and then left a humbled America to govern itself as punishment for disloyalty. Shortly thereafter, the country spiralled into civil war and went further downhill from there: freedom of its slaves, freedom of speech, and that snake in the grass: "democracy".
So far from England, the Green and Pleasant land, America struggles under inferior governance.
Because of their inferior education, Americans have inferior intellects. This corruption began before the country broke away from British governance. The colonists believed their British brothers had added more tax to their their tea when in fact the wise governors in England had enabled the colonists to purchase tea at a lower price than even smugglers could offer. This allowed the colonists, whose economy had suffered due to their grumblings against Britain, to purchase superior British tea without breaking superior British law.
Our superior tools, dentistry, and teas have made Britain the proud ruler of the world it is today. Our enemies crumble at our feet, as emphasized in the way we single-handedly defeated Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti and hanged, drew, and quartered him at Tyburn.
I have heard CNN and Fox News have been lapse in reporting this to Americans. No surprise, they are inferior news corporations. If you had been watching BBC News, you would know this already.
England Prevails
Yes, although I regret that you have chosen to paraphrase an inferior American television production in showing your loyalty.
The Simpsons is an inferior televised production except when shown in syndication by the BBC.
England Prevails
With the Republican government persecuting whistleblowers by stripping their protections, I expect people publishing stories of government ripoffs on YouTube to be sent to jail for "leaking".
--
make install -not war
Duly noted.
We will take back France, too. We don't like the way they have polluted the country since we handed it back to them. Too many French people for our liking.
England Prevails
> 1. Blind spots.
>
> I understand his point: because of the blind spots you need to keep guards on board,
> which kind of defeats the purpose of the cameras. But is it actually realistic to
> *not* have guards on board? I would hope not!
Even if there is no immediate intention to do so, if the potential exists then someone will mandate it as part of cost-cutting measures.
>2. Equipment not working at -40.
>
> Considering that these ships are intended to be used by the coast guard in the gulf
> of Mexico, I don't see the problem.
Even if there is no immediate intention to do so, if the potential exists then someone will mandate it as part of cost-cutting measures.
He said "We found out the FLIR system would not survive temperatures below -5". There is a vast chasm between saying "this FLIR is not rated for -5" and saying "the FLIR would not survive temperatures below -5". I'm not sure on FLIR sensitivity to cold weather, but he is implying it would then break.
Oh another point, all tactical systems that handle classified material and are not in special facilities, e.g. a SCIF, need to be protected against TEMPEST / COMSEC & all that jazz. This is common knowledge for anyone with a SIGINT background in the mil/intel arena.
Obviously a cutter is built for shallow water work. That means near to shores not way out in the Atlantic Ocean. Big Antenna on the shore, camo'd in the trees, picks up classified comms - not unrealistic.
There is no such thing as paranoia when it comes to protecting classified material.
Initially, I was considered as written by an amateur, but then I noticed that part about you being a Marine. Figures!
He's an engineer. You're not. He understands the systems being discussed. You don't. Frankly, what he says is likely correct. Whatever you say is absolutely not correct.
In case YouTube takes it down, or it (or I) disappears mysteriously.....
. flv.html
Direct Download: http://mihd.net/5.1061/Coast.Guard.Whistle.Blower
Torrent: http://www.mininova.org/tor/409841
Just as Zulus' pointy sticks were inferior to British muskets, anti-ballistic missle defense systems are inferior to Britain's defenses. The British, who invented RADAR, have since moved on to using superior detection systems.
Raytheon is another inferior company. It is no surprise such poor engineers needed bailing out of their ship. Lockheed Martin is an inferior company, but does have the capacity to design a fine bucket fitted for such a purpose. It would, however, be inferior to buckets of British manufacture.
England Prevails
If he had put his text on a regular webpage with the one pic of the boat's blind spots it would have saved bandwidth, and wouldn't put his face and voice out to be recognizable to thousands of people.
Though perhaps he used Youtube because it's the latest happenin' thing, the "new media."
I just checked a URL that came to mind, there IS a website at whistleblowers.org but there's no mention of any youtube video. Maybe next week they'll get the word. I already heard the story on the radio four hours ago:
"Whistleblower takes his case to YouTube"
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/
Tag lost or not installed.
Professional engineers usually have a legal requirement to put public safety before obligations to employers and whatnot.
http://outcampaign.org/
From the video:
"I will not share my name on this video to avoid harassment to my family".
From the article:
"Michael De Kort was frustrated."
Here is a direct link to the .flv file, if you want to archive it in case it mysteriously disappears from YouTube.
http://outcampaign.org/
In case YouTube takes it down, or it (or I) disappears mysteriously.....
. flv.html
Direct Download: http://mihd.net/5.1061/Coast.Guard.Whistle.Blower
Torrent: http://www.mininova.org/tor/409841
You say that out of jealousy and spite because you recognize Britain's superior nationalism. It is America's nationalism that is liken unto claptrap. British nationalism is a pure, noble thing refined by our centuries of experience. You could crush together the nationalism of 50 Americans and still fail to muster the superior nationalism that marches through my veins.
No, my poor, delusional, inferior friend. It is not my nationalism that is at fault, it is your failure to recognize and reward a country for its superiority.
England Prevails
I really don't have the inclination to search the depths of the net for specific examples, but suffice it to say that not only are Lockheed Martin products superior to British ones in all respects (which is why the Brits are buying the LM JSF instead of developing an indigenous carrierborne aircraft), but America in general posses both a technological and numerical superiority over Britain in every aspect except perhaps personal sidearms. Also, would someone explain to me what Saratoga, Trenton, Yorktown, and various other engagements were if not victories?
Last time we defeated you with a deficiency of both numbers and sidearms, this time you are OUR vassal, by your own PMs choice, so shutup about American inferiority. While I am a vocal opponent of both our idiotic president and the brain dead media in our country, pretending Britain is superior for blindly following America into the breach in a state so much weaker as to be laughable in any military comparison is utter foolishness, now shut up.
Assuming this guy is sincere, he's tried the official channels for fixing this. The official channels didn't listen. He's seriously concerned for the safety of the Coast Guard. If he believes there is a real security problem and that official channels don't care, he'd be doing the wrong thing if he just kept silent.
Search 2010 Gen Con events
He was prolly going to get fired for going over his superiors heads (to congress).
I hope he gets to keep his job but you know how that sort of stuff works out in the end.
This is the sort of BS that pops up years latter when service men and women who are serving aboard these vessels and discover the gear is faulty,blowing up or sinking.
Makes for great politics and in the end nobody is to blame and it becomes yesterdays news and all you have to show for it is dead service men.
Then we will pledge a witty saying "we will never forget" Yeah we will.
A lot these government contracts are big freaking wastes of money due to the fact that a lot of companies short change the system or by the time the contracts are approved the specifications change and it takes another 2 years to approve the changes. That means more money for the companies who's 3 year contract is extended for 10years.
Red/Black isolation and COMSEC requirements are described in Orange book.
Slashdot's name? When my compiler sees
As prior military who worked on UHF SATCOM (satellite communications systems) for a period of nearly four years as a lead programmer in the Air Force, I would tend to believe rather than disregard these statements. I have worked with forces from US Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Air Force, NATO forces, etc and in real-world scenarios, operational security is often overlooked or even covered up in order for projects to not lose funding or lose face in the eyes of upper management and project supporters high up in the government. It is also overlooked sometimes because of the BS red tape involved to implement the simplest security protocols. I pray that some of these issues have been resolved or that the shortcomings described have been negated by other means, however I doubt it. I wish you good luck in your fight and hope that in the end you are vindicated - if so, I hope you sue LM's ass off for the hell I'm sure you've been through. Thanks for standing up - let us know how we can help.
Having been in the navy for 10 years with extensive knowledge of these systems he mentions there is no wonder they canned him. Nothing at all that he speaks of in the video poses either a serious safty and or security risk.
1. The cameras, although the cameras have blind areas one would have to first get passed base, port and pier security to even attempt to gain access to the boats. The cameras are nothing more than another step in the security chain it may have a weakness that now everyone knows about but it is not the only measure of physical security....If nothing else he totally compromised any security that they did provide.
2. He speaks of the FLIR not being enviromentally suitable for the intended climate range. The FLIR is not a primary means of navigation when underway. Underway navigation is performed by multiple systems which are checked against each other. The primary means of close in navigation hazard avoidance is 24 hr manned lookouts suplimented by radar not FLIR.
3. He speaks of lack of shielded cables compromising communications. Having explicit knowledge of naval cryptographic devices I would say this is actually funny. The chance of interception is remote and even if it was it is likely that it is already in a unusable form. You have to also remember that this is the Coast Guard we are talking about their use of secure tactical communications is negligable at best.
And if not legal, they (we) have the ethical requirement to do it anyway.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
LATS PORST!
The real question is whether any of these items were brought up in one of the multitudinous specification reviews, design reviews or configuration audits that such a project goes through. One reason why no one may have cared is that this could have all been spelled out at some point and a decision made to go with the solutions he complained about.
I've seen lots of systems that didn't meet some aspect of their original requirements because the requirement got changed. I've also seen some very creative interpretation of requirements so the requirement is met. On the other hand, its also possible to meet requirements in ways that may not be obvious. Picking just on the cable shielding requirement, the "system level" requirement may have been that no useful signal be emitted beyond a given radius of the ship. Lots of people might interpret this to mean the cables have to be shielded. Bzzt; wrong answer. Its possible the locations of the cables within the hull or superstructure are sufficient to prevent signal leak. Saves a little on implementation and lots on testing for full TEMPEST compliance.
As the OP pointed out, meeting some of these requirements can be very expensive and I'd like to think that the people in charge actually did the right thing to lower the cost to me, the taxpayer.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
I am a "navy brat". If you don't know what that means, look it up. I also attend UCSC. If you think you know what that means, I bet you're either a graduate or using some stupid list.
I have a dream in which the military and the hippies in America come together to fight those who are interested ONLY in their own power and money.
I too feel that such speech is dangerous. But I Respect this man more than I repsect my fear.
I believe his story. It sounds very, very true to me. I am not willing to say that it "is" true. But it fits perfectly with my perception of Lockheed Martin and "the military industrial complex". If you think you know what "the military industrial complex" is, please: don't. Listen to Eisenhower's words and then think about what they mean.
Please don't kill me.
"Cornflakes are not the innocent critters they seem"- Sterling Morrison
What next, you think people will RTFA on slashdot, or want to watch subtitled anime? (personally, I prefer fansubs)
People don't want to read. They're lazy. They want you to talk to them. Listening > Reading. Like listening to audio books while they drive to work, or sit on the train.
Now, if you meant he should have posted the script AND the video, I agree.
:(){
" If the employer AND the government AND the congressman AND apparently no one else will listen to this boob, maybe, just maybe, his issue ain't that important and he should quit bellyaching.
Does this also apply to engineers of electronic voting systems?"
Who the hell says that two heads are better than one?
Don't the heads have to COMMUNICATE and SHARE THE SAME GOALS for that to be true?
Otherwise you're a schizophrenic hydra.
In my "humble opinion".
"Cornflakes are not the innocent critters they seem"- Sterling Morrison
But at least America had the foresight to STEAL all of Hitler's smartest Nazis. Good thing Werner von Braun (German scientist, Nazi, SS, US Army employee, NASA administrator and all around "salesmen of space") had the foresight to surrender to the Americans: he knew that the Russians would kill him (for using Russian slave labor), and he knew the French would kill him (for using French slave labor). But he also knew that the Americans would use him (for his brain, not his evil deeds).
And it's a good thing someone everyone that "EVERYTHING HITLER EVER DID IS EVIL".
And it's a good thing that America then used Facist scientists to get to the moon. (the US "Saturn Rocket" is a direct decendant of the Nazi "V-2". The Soviet rockets that launched the Soviet space race were also, to a fair degree, based on the Nazi --engineering--, not scientists. (it is true that many, even most US scientists were not facists -- I am not claiming otherwise).
And it's also a good thing that SOMEONE told the world that a Cold War was happening, and that the United States HAD to fight the Soviets, making von Braun's background IRRELEVANT.
I have met Linda Hunt. I have not read her book Operation Paperclip, but I hear it is quite a read. I also hear that America has NO INTEREST in reading Linda Hunt's book. I wonder why?
"Cornflakes are not the innocent critters they seem"- Sterling Morrison
I am a Program Manager for a large defense contractor. I have no first hand knowledge about the specific program and concerns described in the video. However, I can provide some insight into how and why the Coast Guard and a contractor might ethically and responsibly act in the ways described in the video.
First, most defense contracts of the type described are so called "Cost Plus" contracts. That means that the Government and the contractor share the financial risk of executing the program. The government agrees to reimburse the contractor for whatever the actuals costs of executing the program are plus a pre-negotiated profit. The government retains complete control over the contract, regularly audits the contractor's financial data to establish the actual costs, and reserves the right to modify or cancel the contract at any time.
The DoD also has standard military specifications (mil-specs), and the -40 to +140 deg. temperature range cited in the video sound like a standard mil-spec to me. Now, if you are the government and I tell you the cost of refitting ships with FLIR that operates at -40, you might decide you don't really want that feature and grant a waver on the mil-spec. Why would you do that ? Well, you might know that the ship's engines won't work at that temperature either because the fuel oil will be too viscus. Why go to added expense for one component if another critical component won't work anyway ?
The government is in complete control. When the government insists on over-specifying systems, you get the notorious $1000 hammer. The classic example was a spec that required every component of an aircraft be able to survive 72 instantaneous Gs (a very hard landing). Do you have any idea how expensive coffee pots that can survive that many Gs are ? Guess what, you paid for them. The smarter decision would be to replace a $13 coffee pot after every such "crash". I assure you that the coffee pot is a lot cheaper than the pilot's back surgery.
Similarly, blind spots in camera coverage can be inexpensively corrected, and the Coast Guard may have elected to pay a low cost small business supplier to correct the problem instead of paying a large defense contractor's rates. Again, the government has control over all of these decisions.
Finally, if the cabling passes the TEMPEST tests, then it passes. It is entirely possible that the hull of the ship makes a very effective Faraday cage, and additional shielding on the cables is a wasted expense. Again, the government may actually be saving you money.
I don't know if the accusations have merit or not. I just wanted to point out that everything accused might be true and still be both ethical and down right sensible.
lose their lives around the world flying their faulty f104s.
:(
Here's a hint: If a company is in the business of making, marketing, and selling bombs, they have 0% respect for human life.
Try and keep that in mind
You can't take the sky from me...
See the comment from a DoD Program Manager http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=195339&cid =16005044
Want to learn about your rights?
Free movie Terror Storm.
http://tinyurl.com/l4x7b
1. Blind spot in watch cameras.
OK, thanks for pointing those out. Now we can board the boats and steal them. Yes, this is an issue, and one that should be fixable, but extra cameras will also affect the systems that digitize and monitor them, as well. Still, this system should be fixed, but it's not a major thing, and now you've just told anybody who's interested (in a bad way) how to take advantage of the flaw. Thanks.
Dammit, I can either leave you on neutral, or put you either foe or friend... where's the "this guy believes in security through obscurity" coloured pill?
Like I said, I see he has concerns, but this is really the wrong way to deal with it, and puts our Coast Guards at much greater jeopardy than the things he's addressing!
He tried the right way, and was ignored.
If pointing it out is putting them in jeopardy, then, by golly, ignoring him was wrong, wasn't it?
You can't take the sky from me...
Just because a cable is not shielded does *NOT* mean it will radiate. If the circuit is an unbalanced circuit that is unshielded, it will radiate. If the circuit is a balanced circuit that is unshielded, it will not radiate so long as there is no imbalance on the circuit.
I can see how it could fail visual inspection and pass the actual real world test.
--fatboy
This video was posted 3 weeks ago and only had a 100 odd ratings, even after appearing on slashdot. Meanwhile a regular skanky youtube teen could get thousands within a hours. Even you guys will probably move on to the next story in a few minutes. I think the government is safe.
You're comparing apples and oranges. Just because they're both on YouTube doesn't mean that they are in competition or are being viewed by the same audience. The story has already hit Time and The Washington Post.
There are other reasons to believe that De Kort won't get Lockheed or the Coast Guard to change anything, but the number of times his video has been viewed on YouTube isn't one of them. The cat is out of the bag, and they'll have to respond to the charges now, one way or another.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
I haven't worked with anything requiring the TEMPEST spec., but having done a little work in EMC labs (specifically, testing of leakage / interference in signal lines) I can say that unshielded lines DO leak signals out by default, sometimes with enough intensity to make nearby sensitive equipment not work (meaning way more than enough to detect). It is possible that it just happened to be pretty quiet this time, but that would just be good luck--and hopefully they checked every boat, since the results won't be the same.
Not just activity originating on the boat, but anything they happen to receive (since their equipment probably decodes all the classified signals going past) will leak out unencrypted.
These aren't just random people who would be trying to listen in on the Coast Gaurd--they've got to protect their data against other countries' equivalents to the NSA. Just because we're not at war with any Central / South American country doesn't mean it would be OK for them to hear our communications, or that they won't listen.
(imispgh is apparently the guy in the video, judging by his other posts, FYI)
If you whistleblow companies on misuse of federal funds you are eligble for something like 30% of value the government paid for the contract.
He is going to get two "villas" at Güantánamo. One for him and one for his cojones. :-)
We need more men like him.
YouTube finally gets put to good use.
Gov't doesn't actually want to pay what it COSTS to make their Spec a reality.
So you underbid.
You deliver something close-ish.
Then the gov't gives you a follow on contract to pay you to make it work like they initially wanted it to but didn't want to pay for.
Any questions?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Be realistic. This guy leaks security information.
He's a terrorist and will be punished accordingly.
Privacy is terrorism.
We had a whistleblower where I work a few years back. He claimed some sort of technical problem in one of our products.
The problem was, and I was in a position to know, he was absolutely, completely wrong. But he kept up and kept up like it was a mental illness or something.
So I tend not to automatically side with the so called whistleblowers until I have better info.
Doc "Cocksucker" Ruby up to his old ideo-illogical ramblings.
Using Gitmo as a bogeyman is old, Doc. Learn a new lyric or drop dead.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to make a transcription!
This sig under construction. Please check back later.
giving the Starfighter a low-level ground attack mission was about as sensible as using Me-262s as bombers...
of topic, but damn if this isn't one of those gems that makes slashdot interesting
and to Mr Engineer - Thank You Thank You
I've worked on systems for these guys
no one cares as long as you get paid
it's insane
you promise the world
deliver 2/3rds
and 40% of that has 'issues' slated for fix in a future release
yeah right
pass go, collect 200, and the circle of life keeps turning...
you think it's easy, but you're wrong...
I used YouTube to voice a complaint against Freedom Furniture several months ago, after they sold me a "Laptop Table" that promptly destroyed my laptop. Freedom Furniture wouldn't cooperate in fixing the damage their product directly caused, so I released the video to the public.
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly0-Vbqyby8
While not even remotely original in concept, it's an effective method of getting a warning out.
Freedom Furniture Shattered My Laptop's LCD
A skeptic might think that the Lockheed Martin is right about the firing having been decided long ago. In that case, the engineer's motivation would be to get sweet revenge on his way out, and maybe some handsome compensation, if he can successfully make his dismissal look like whistleblowing related.
EVEN if this guy is wrong, it takes no effort for Lockheed to come out and say "we have shielded cables and we have the extra cameras".
But what if the guy is right about the unshielded cables and blind spots, but wrong about the risk that those deficiencies pose? Maybe, at some point Lockheed Martin did a risk vs cost calculation, and assessed that those weaknesses were actually not that important in the grand scheme of things.
Well, that was just playing Devil's Advocate. Personally, I'm still rooting for the small guy, but I can see how skeptics would spin this.
Management nixed the idea, because they never "got it" in the first place. And in this particular case, it was not management's fault for being dense, but the engineer's for choosing to do a powerpoint presentation rather than plainly saying to management: "Houston, we have a huge problem, and we need to do something about it now".
Predictably, management dosed off during the boring powerpoint presentation, and only learned about the tiles when they saw the accident coverage on CNN...
I know boobs are for looking at... fondling... sucking... but I never tried listening to one. Or two.
Ignore this signature. By order.
"It's a series of tubes."
Yes, so far, YouTube, quickly followed by PornoTube. . .
Replace prefix "i-" with suffix "-Tube" , add joke memes, mix in a few lame marketing guys and typo-squatters, and our political friend is _way ahead of the curve.
This engineer should have gone to SueTube
What a cool video. Scott Adams can probably come up with a months worth of new cartoon's based on all this. Mr Adams hasn't spent enough time lambasting government clients and I think all that is about to change.
OMG, that is one funny video. Did the documentation for the table come with any warnings "DO NOT ADJUST TABLE WHILE IN USE" or something to that effect?
"These are not the boobs you are looking for."
how long until
thanks!
This kind of asymmetric journalism could throw a major wrench in the typical damage control playbook of the government and big business.
It's not only to keep the informaiton leaking out.
It's useful in keeping junk entering the system.
Want to see what happens when something really 'noisy' comes next to these cables, and for example distorts the RADAR picture? Like in a marina somewhere, dozens of extra 'pings'?
Personally I expect govt contractors do this kind of stuff five times before they even get to breakfast every day.
Time before breakfast is spent getting the children out of the cages and into the fryers. You only screw the taxpayers on a full stomach.
paintball
I agree that TEMPEST is a bit out there, but we are talking about building according to specifics. Engineers don't get to decide arbitrarily to vary from design specifics because they don't feel them necessary. Differences from design to implementation cannot be allowed to happen. The design must match the finished development. If a change away from TEMPEST specs was in order, the design should have been changed.
Otherwise, we would have buildings in California not designed to hold up during a big earthquake because some engineer from the mid-west decided to build it how he always had "back home". Car tires could shred at eighty miles per hour because some engineer only tested at 55 because that is how fast he drives. You see where I am going with this?
Click here or here.
Last I heard, they hadn't.
The original design called for no blind spots because of the number of cameras. Engineers must build to the design. Some drug smuggler or pirate enters a Coast Guard boat via a blind spot and kills a crew member: the next six months of Fox News will be about corporate greed and neglect and not following engineering specifics.
Fine, until someone needs some boats off Greenland or Antartica. They will punch up operating temperatures in a computer and say, here are some boats that will do just fine. One hundred of them ship and all Hell breaks loose because the implementation doesn't match engineering plans.
The original design called for TEMPEST compliance. The end product was not TEMPEST, and that is a problem. Whether or not you believe in the TEMPEST specifics is not up to engineering to arbitrarily ignore. Engineers must build to specs.
Click here or here.
you(tube?) fail it!!
Yeppers!!
Hm.
I'm sure some people will argue what he is doing is screwing over his company or whatever... but last night I watched this show on Discovery, about the shuttle Challenger. While I'm not sure that losing men in the coast guard would be as significant as a shuttle blowing up, either way I'm glad the guy did something about it, in order to prevent shithead managers saying "We go ahead anyway, we need this contract."
Apparently the government's response was that they've looked into his complaints repeatedly and never found anything wrong.
So, the alternatives are (a) he's wrong but obsessed or (b) the cover up is pretty big.
For his sake, I hope it's (b), but for the sake of our sailors, I hope not.
Clear, Dark Skies
The air temp might be -40 while the water temp is higher...
Clear, Dark Skies
Sounds somewhat similar to Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in Jan. 31, 2000. A maintenance guy reports all kinds of problems to the government because Alaska Airlines wanted to save money instead of properly maintaining their planes by keeping them in the air, but in the end nothing gets done and 88 people die because of it.
h t_261
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flig
What isn't listed in this Wikipedia was the guy that reported all the problems. His story is told in the National Geographic Channel's Air Crash Investigation about the crash. (it was on last night)
You slightly messed up the link HTML. The comment is here.
Hey look! They have a snazzy web form for emailing complaints directly to the contacts!
t o=8
i p/deepwater.htm
http://www.teamdeepwater.com/contacts/email/?send
It's a little hokey - change the number at the end of the url to change the contact you're emailing. This are linked from the contacts page.
Here's the official take on the project:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/sh
I'm sure it would be a shock to the project if a mob of people started calling in to complain:
http://www.icgsdeepwater.com/contacts/
CPO Jeff Murphy
Integrated Deepwater System
Deepwater Public Affairs
Office: 202-267-2649
Facsimile: 202-267-4020
Margaret Mitchell-Jones
Communications Director
Integrated Coast Guard Systems
Office: 571-218-3352
Facsimile: 571-218-3342
Jim McIngvale
Director, Sector Communications
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems
Office: 228-935-3971
Facsimile: 228-935-5766
Kenneth B. Ross
Senior Manager, Strategic Communication
Maritime Systems & Sensors, Lockheed Martin
Office: 856-722-6941
Facsimile: 856-273-5744
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
is a job requirement in Security work.
"Use of non-shielded cable in "secure" communications systems.
This one is a bit ridiculous, and shows his paranoia. "
A professional recognizes the difference between Professional Paranois and the personal affliction variety of paranoia.
Such amatuer archair diagnosis is enough branding evidence to reveal the real insecurity behind a flawed accusation.
Courage is doing the right thing even when you're scared shitless of the risks.
You are an excellent example of what modern patriotism is all about. You didn't have to make this sacrifice, at least from a legal standpoint, but by doing so, you may have saved the lives of Coast Guardsmen and perhaps those whom they protect.
Ironic that those who bandy about terms like 'freedom' and 'terrorism' most glibly are the ones whose incompetence and graft you are exposing.
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
The night manager ... has been taking home 2 packets of the mild sauce and 1 packet of the hot sauce... Should I put a video up of her taking them?
Absolutely! I expect everyone employed at such a fine establishment to be using the Fire sauce. As such, she is obviously not using these packets on her own food, but is clearly selling them on some sort of black market, probably to Canadians.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
As far as I know this project is already canceled. Maybe attributed to him? But it's already a done deal, it's cancelled. Now Its true that I didnt take the time to read the linked article but inside sources say cancelled.
I worked for Lockheed for about five years, and I have no difficulty believing this story. I wouldn't fly in a plane they built (unless it came from the skunk works!).
I personally Doubt your arguments for a single reasons:
You did not create an account, and you are not holding yourself Personally Responsible for your words.
"Cornflakes are not the innocent critters they seem"- Sterling Morrison
His responsibilities, credentials and argument already counter your arguments.
His responsibilities on the team: (taken from the transcription in a thread above) "My responsibilities on this effort were to ensure the designs we created fulfilled requirements, and to complete the installation and delivery of the first boat. During my tenure on this project, several critical safety and security problems arose."
So he was quite clearly _the_ guy to bring the attention to anywhere the system didn't meet specs.
As to your points:
Regarding your conclusion - This is the wrong way of dealing with it - how? The man has gone to the highest levels of authority he has access to - including the DHS. Even on inquiries from the DHS, the CG prefers to keep a lid on it. How is exposing this nonsensical incompetence to the general public the wrong way of going about it? (Before you object: These things have guns and all - they're not terribly involved in the war on terror as of today (besides surely homeland coastal patrolling). Also, among the things he mentions, none seem to be beyond immediate temporary remedy or avoidance (apart from, perhaps, the communications issues).
But you know what? Why should we listen to your half-cocked guesswork based on not hearing the man to conclusion? Why should we think that your extensive experience in the automotive industry and your days in the Marines combined with your lack of attention span and no presented particular knowledge of the case influence our thinking at all.
And why should anyone listen to me - Anonymous Coward?
Ours are not the interesting facts and opinions here. Look to TFA.
We had a problem at the intersection we live at. People were getting into accidents. Yet the City thought the best thing to do was to take away our parking in front of our house even though those of us near the intersection knew the problem was (a) speeders on Grove St and (b) people not stopping at the stop sign on Vale. I videotaped several hours of video and condensed one of the tapes to 6.5 mins of video to show the people not stopping at the stop sign. The result was a meeting with the City and it also turned out that the crash data statistics showed that all but one accident happened during business hours on weekdays when we were not parked out front of our house. Without the video I never would have had my chance to discuss the issue with the City and also would have lost our on street parking. http://www.alexandre.polozoff.com/ has a link to the video.
I am pretty much against all kind of military things. I am not a nutjob and I do know that we need it.
My point is that if we had more people like this engineer the world would be a better place (and have less wars, for example). Thank You!
There's no question he raises a valid point. Several valid points. Ok, many valid points.
But this is not the way to communicate an issue of National Security.
Goodness, this is just as bad (hypothetically) as some yahoo stumbling on a gaping hole in Windows that no one has found yet and running to NBC to be the first one on the news as discovering it. A responsible person knows that some other bright yahoo will figure out what they figured out just because it was broadcast. But that fact that the majority of Internet-connected desktops can be compromised now doesn't really matter, because "I found it first, and I want the whole world to know!"
Maybe I missed it but I didn't hear him having called any Senators. They just love to have a flavor of the month to beat their chest about. Better yet, I didn't hear him calling any Senators who used to be in the Coast Guard.
I do see him, however, INTERNATIONALLY BROADCASTING that you can sneak up on a Coast Guard vessel. Great; now there's more exposure to our Boys and Girls in Orange and Blue while patrolling our southeastern waters.
Seems to me he's one of the dumbest smart people in the world.
==>dim strStatus = "DONE."<==
There is no one in government who cares right now. The signs of something very bad happening within my lifetime within my country are numerous, and they all evolve around a populace that doesn't vote, and small groups of people who do vote for people who don't really care about anyone but themselves and the businesses that give them tons of money.
/.)
And you just hit the nail on the head. *sigh* Well, I suppose that will make it all the easier for us that do actually give a shit about our country and our way of life to stand up and do something when the overbloated, overhyped, and overPAID, seat warmers in Congress, and in State Legislature, IMPLODE. Believe me... there are enough of us out here that believe bad things are going to happen soon if things continue on the way they are, and making contingency plans for those reasons. Including infrastructure and data protections.
So you younguns... you just keep on voting for Big Brother and American Idol and continue to watch 230 years of hard work, belief, and faith in the greater good that freedom brings go right on down the shitter. Just make sure you spend all your money on rims and iPods and help make fat the corporate giants that keep buying off the very people you protest to hate. (this is clearly rhetorical, as most of them would NOT be reading
Sorry man... the Internet pooped on me.