They broke into networks that direct 911 emergency response systems. They even got access to the Pentagon's National Military Command Center, the heart of America's war fighting operation. The FBI-led inquiry found that real hackers apparently based in Russia have used the Internet to download essential military technical research, including missile guidance programs, and other data from unclassified Defense Department and other government computers for more than a year. The FBI's inability to identify the covert intruders only highlights the danger in America's increasingly wired world. We know other countries that are developing information technology and are doing reconnaissance of our computer networks.
Experts say the U.S. clearly leads the way in cyber-warfare technology.
But Russia, Israel, France, England and India are also seeking to develop cyber-weapons, U.S. officials say. China is further behind but has demonstrated increasing sophistication. It takes fewer people and far less money. The U.S. was on the brink of war with North Korea during a crisis five years ago, former Defense Secretary William Perry revealed. Perry's remarks came during a Clinton administration announcement last month that it was easing long-standing economic sanctions against the communist country because another crisis over North Korea's planned missile tests had been averted by diplomacy.