government. and syria is on the brink of a civil war and the country's opposition now calling for military and foreign intervention but will an intervention only create more tension and that part of the world. it's tuesday december nineteenth seven pm in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching artsy. well from dow drones to hack computers the u.s. has suffered some major technological blows recently this is the u.s. splurges on military spending and often talents being the best when it comes to advanced technology but apparently we're not it enough for other countries to take down our drone iran claims to have hijacked one of our most sophisticated spying tools that it as it was flying over the country at the drone which iran says they

intercepted was made by lockheed martin one of the world's largest defense contractors the company advertises being the best when it comes to combat and cyber threats take a look at their app. so they claim to protect national security by preventing cyber threats but somehow one of lock here lockheed's a drones ended up here in the hands of iran the country claims to have hijacked the drone by being technologically savvy hacking into its g.p.s. system and telling it to land exactly where they wanted it to and apparently they

did such a good job the aircraft appears to be in pristine condition so how can the most militarily advanced country be vulnerable to such a cyber failure let's dig deeper into this earlier tonight i was joined by ivan eland senior fellow at the independent institute i asked him how can the u.s. invest so much on drones that can be so easily taken down here's his take. well the u.s. always says it has a gold plated military and it gets an inanimate with technical fixes and gee whiz things whereas countries like iran or china that don't have as much money what they tend to do is try to focus on what the military calls asymmetrical threats in other words they don't they want to get our expensive systems and they want to find some easy way to get into them or hack into them using cyber methods or you know find some other way to neutralize them that's cheap because they don't have

a lot of money and sometimes i can be devastating like in iraq we had the roadside bomb the low tech rows. created hell out of havoc with that that's another example of asymmetric threats that the u.s. military faces in this drone was certainly an asymmetric threat being hacked like that and i'm apparently the company at lockheed martin and they knew from the beginning that these drones were had the capability of being hacked that they had their scratch that they still allowed them to fly given their ability to be hacked that as we have seen and in iran is it possible that these drones can can be can pose a danger to the u.s. well the problem with these drones is they're very good at preserving pilots lies in everything and they were also supposed to be if they got shot down you know you would have a captive pilot or a dead child or whatever which is good but we can still see there's a big ruckus especially when our high tech stealth drone goes down so there's still

a political problem when these spy planes go down whether they're man or not and the law that always be a problem for the united states and you can't have no risk and they do need to get intelligence from various countries so they're probably still keep using them even if one gets shot down what they're probably doing i think they have lockheed martin is now fixing the problem that is being paid to fix. the problem that they knew was there to begin with so although this happens a lot in american defense contracting that it's rather slipshod because there's not a whole lot of competition among the companies there are mostly monopolies and that sort of thing so you don't have the market it's not a traditionally market based business like you would see two cell phone can companies competing with each other the defense department like certain contractors and lockheed martin is the one of the biggest ones and so it gets

a little sloppy sometimes because there's no competition or not much competition on these contracts and you bring up another good point is that this company is going to have to fix these drones now that this glitch has been identified i mean is it possible that these glitches are there to keep on encouraging more military spending to upgrade this equipment and to our replace the well i don't think the company probably purposely put these glitches in there because this hurts their reputation that sort of thing but still they do get additional money in fixing them or adding to them a lot of times all identify other things they could add bells and whistles they could add so these could these weapon systems are often years behind and more expensive and there are a lot of technical glitches simply because you're. at the edge of technology and number two there's no competition as i mentioned so you do have a lot of problems in defense contractors things cost. time way behind schedule and

these glitches that do come up and another point i want to bring up this is iran that supposedly hijacked this intro and iran is not considered to be technologically savvy so you know if iran can down one of our drones presumably other countries with more sophisticated cyber hacking abilities can do the same thing oh certainly certainly and i think that's a real worry. here and i think that's what that's why this is getting so much attention because iran is known for its you know dazzling technical performance especially in nuclear weapons and that sort of thing they've been kind of ham handed in approaching that but i think you have to give the iranians more credit than a lot of people do for for what they have done and you know they haven't had much help and in fact the world is you know against them i'm not saying it's good that they're getting a nuclear weapon or even having these capabilities to down u.s. drones but i think they they do better than than most people think they do exactly

i mean if this is true that they were able to intercept one of our drones i mean it shows that they are technologically savvy maybe more so that than people would think right well you can see these stealth aircraft they down one in the kosovo war and f. one seventeen it was a man plane and everyone was surprised that they could do it there's always some vulnerability that even these style systems have and we've seen that it's the g. global positioning system in this one i think so there may be other glitches in it too but there are vulnerabilities even with very sophisticated weapons and if the other side knows how to bring them down in this case they discovered how to do it of course you can have a real big problem on your hands ok i want to bring something else up perhaps another example of technology gone wrong or are not advanced enough this whole case of bradley manning he's accused of hacking into a computer and exposing hundreds of thousands of documents and cables and

supposedly he did this by downloading these files or transferring these files on to lady gaga c.d.'s and i mean how is it possible that with our advanced technology that something like this. hack you know a hacker can go into these computers and. get these documents of such of such important magnitude shouldn't there be protections in place for the. something like that from happening in the first place well they do have protections i think in many cases the government's excess of security and in some cases impedes the technological solutions that the private computer companies could bring in to do some of this these things so actually their security requirements are kind of focused security requirements and if they would let the. competition i think among more competition among private companies and reducing some of these restrictions and everything would probably get them better systems than they're having so i

think there is an opportunity for increased competition especially in computers you can make an argument in military aircraft that you can't get that many people that want to make it because the kind of an arcane thing but computers and that sort of thing and safeguards computer security certainly many companies do that in the private sector and i think that the the government needs to deregulate that and make it increase the competition i think they would have a lot better safeguards in the end if they had actually fewer security requirements and lastly just want to ask you after looking at these examples i mean do you think that this exemplifies the fact that there are holes in u.s. security and despite spending all this money on this technology that there we all we are that this kind of reveals some of our vulnerability as well i think every country has vulnerabilities the iranians have vulnerabilities they had that computer virus that the u.s.

and israel presumably put in there so all countries have vulnerabilities but i think the problem with the u.s. is we pay exorbitant prices for this equipment supposed to be the best in the world and you see these basic glitches and we just you know you can have a perfect system but on the other hand we're paying so much for the stuff and they have such a poor performance and defense contracting on you know being delayed else. costs are running and then these problems that come up that we just. to be twenty two aircraft which is a aircraft that goes up and down that had countless failures before they spent a lot of money that's another example of where they really you know that's why people get so disturbed about this because the u.s. is the cadillac military if you will or porsche or military even and compared to other militaries in the taxpayer expects to get through spending all this money expect to get system that work better on time and that don't cost a lot but it doesn't do that certainly raises

a lot of questions ivan thank you so much for weighing in on this that was senior fellow at the independent institute ivan eland. president obama waging a war against whistleblowers under his administration there has been more prosecutions of whistleblowers and all previous presidents combined pretrial hearings are under way for one of them wiki leaks whistleblower bradley manning the army private is regarded as a hero for releasing a video which shows a u.s. apache helicopter shooting down and killing iraqi civilians and two journalists but manning faces a slew of charges including aiding the enemy if convicted he faces a sentence of life behind bars meanwhile the leaks editor in chief julian assange is fighting his extradition amid all of this are whistleblowers being silenced in the u.s. and what is the future of whistleblowing in the federal government susan lindauer a former cia asset and a whistleblower herself join me in our studio early earlier today she told me why

she thinks the whistleblowing is being criminalized in the u.s. . they are trying to but it's going to fail because the truth is truth will out there's no way to suppress the truth the internet is so strong that even if the corporate media will not cover stories it is possible now to get information directly from the net and that is why we keep leaks is being threatened and and prosecuted persecuted so badly because they're trying to scare the internet out of telling these stories and it's not going to work we are not going to back down when i ask you because we are seeing kind of a trend the obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other president why do you think that there seems to be this increased push to crack down well i was one of the very first whistleblowers prosecuted i was the second non arab american ever indicted on the patriot act i was indicted after i approached

the offices of senator trent lott and john mccain requesting to testify on capitol hill through proper channels about what i knew about iraqi pre-war intelligence i was the chief u.s. asset covering the iraqi embassy at the united nations for about eight years and i knew every detail what i knew was that there was a comprehensive peace framework on the table that would have addressed all of the complaints of the united states and europe and would have given the united states a tremendous peace dividend with preferential contracts for rebuilding iraq after the sanctions and in all areas and cooperation with anti-terrorism. i knew that we tried to let the f.b.i. come into baghdad and tried to give financial documents on al qaeda to the united states and we wouldn't take it when i requested to testify thirty days later the f.b.i. shows up at my door with an arrest warrant subsequently i was held under indictment

for five years and did not i had the right to a trial i was demonized accused of. incompetence on the allegation that i had a deep religious faith which was i do believe in god but it is i have no see her papal inner michele bachmann or rick perry at all but they pretended that i was so that they could escape a trial which would have brought out these facts. and in my experience this is a long term problem the government is using secrecy to protect politicians in power they are trying to stop the american people and the world community from having accountability from the leaders and that is the a wrongful use of secrecy. people are much better capable of making better choices and decisions and guiding policy decisions if they have more information sitting on this idea of secrecy want to ask you do you think that the government now eight is

growing more secretive and do you think that the government is increasingly becoming less transparent yes the government is very frightened of the people and they are definitely pursuing their labeling things secrecy under secrecy laws that should never be considered classified at all and if i were bradley manning's defense team i would be arguing that one of the key points is that intelligence is never supposed to protect politicians from exposure of their human failings foibles mistakes embarrassments that is not what intelligence secrecy is for it is intended to protect existing operations and to stop violence if bradley manning and someone with all due respect to bradley manning supporters sometimes they go a little far when they try to give him credit for the arab spring when they do that they are in fact damning him in the eyes of the military intelligence and i would

urge them to stop it is not true. it is not accurate and it is causing him problems because if he is provoking violence then they then the military intelligence does have the right to shut him down and to prosecute him however if he is exposing war crimes by american soldiers let's be honest the iraqi people already knew that american soldiers were doing these things they're living through it their families their friends their neighbors they're all suffering these consequences every day this is a true case of blowback whereby there are consequences for american intel for american soldiers in american military operations and the american people can see that the patient of iraq was going badly but because they were kept in ignorance of the real facts they did not know why so he has not never the argument should be accurately that he did not abet the enemy he was not aiding and abetting the

enemy by providing any intelligence to them that they did not already know he was giving power to the american people so that we would understand what why the occupation had failed so badly and by making by bringing us into the full scale scope of knowledge we are then able to give better instructions to our leaders and to demand that we get out of iraq i want to ask you susan because you are a whistleblower yourself. how easy is it for someone to blow the whistle anonymously in the government if someone does know about wrongdoing and wants to report it wants to take action how can they disclose this information but at the same time protect themselves or is even possible to do that or are media outlets like wiki leaks one of the only venues to do this these days i will tell you that i believe deeply that if i had had we keep the leaks before the war we

could have stopped the iraq war i had information about the come. prince of peace framework that the public still to this day does not know about we did know about nine eleven and that's a whole nother subject we but there was a comprehensive peace framework and if i had been able to give that to wiki leaks the whole public the whole international community would have been. would have had arguments for stopping it and could have we could have we could have prevented the whole thing we need. the problem is that we are. we must have public disco disclosure in order to bring this to in order to stop bad policy move and lastly susan want to ask you amid everything that is happening the trials the extradition. what is the future of wesel blowing in the u.s. it's more imperative now than ever because of your previous question the government

is afraid of the people we're moving more toward secrecy that does not affect national security it only exists to protect the politicians from exposure and accountability to the people and if the if you can hide the facts from the people a lot of bad decisions will be protected at exactly a point where if you were exposed were public exposure and public debate and and discussion would. would shut them would shut down bad ideas. thank you thank you so much for weighing in on this that was former cia asset susan lindauer. well syria growing isolated under sanctions from the arab states the u.s. and e.u. sanctions are response to syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters this crackdown has become increasingly violent over the last two days with some one hundred fifty protesters reportedly being killed over that time span this brought the death toll up to somewhere around five thousand people since the protests began

and mart all of this happening as the assad regime prepares to allow foreign monitors from. arab league into the country to oversee the events as they happen there obliques plan calls for the removal of these syrian forces and heavy weapons from city streets as well as an open dialogue between assad's regime and opposition leaders but that might not be enough the opposition now calling for arab military intervention to protect them from government security forces the violence there is taking the toll holmes is being described as a city on the brink of civil war where some of syria's fiercest fighting has broken our two sara firth is on the ground to bring us the latest. we're here in the embattled city of homs and you can hear heavy gunfire in the background but it's really hard to share insurance as the civilian population here lives here as we called to wait a month after month to ensure this conflict. the on going file in is taking its

toll he added that there are neighborhoods that are being suffocated surrounded by armed groups there are many people who could not have had enough who did we do to deserve this homs is being described as a city on the brink of civil war where some of the series this is fighting has broken out. driving through the streets there are clear signs of conflict bullet holes and when they paint and he was seen slogans on walls as a heavy military presence we went able to visit some of the areas where concentrated fighting was continuing it would be empty dangerous to visit. us in other areas of the fifty day life struggles on. the backdrop of. you can see the children playing here in the homes that this is day one of the major. others conflict continues for the safety of the civilians to continue living here and this is the situation in homes right now is far more complex than simply one of

the opposition against the regime a deep seated sectarian conflicts have with their heads. from the we're beginning homes it was because the numbers. are much more than. the military funeral held yesterday gets under way for five soldiers killed by what the government says increasing the militant movement and on the same day the pool's from the opposition the harrowing accounts the civilians around the country. make serious decision to allow the arab league to send observers the more important this is naturally will want to facilitate their visits to syria. and in the same time preserve our sovereignty so really it depends on the intention do they really want to help syria or of course. with the decision by the main opposition outside the country yes and see. who is the opposition inside the country has welcomed in the

north. we hope it's going to be implemented on the ground as it states in the protocol and we remain completely against international intervention it would lead the country into destruction. with a fractious opposition and rising. with facts and information still very hard to verify even on the ground if that is a rival here in syria will be an important step but it's going to be just one of many more that we need to follow and be sure that many more lives. and to talk more about that of elements in syria was going earlier by the dr paul craig roberts a columnist and former reagan administration official letter points out this week of american involvement in training fighters in the border of turkey i asked paul if it's possible the u.s. is helping plot a civil war in the country and take

a listen. i would think that the united states is involved stirring up decision and in armenia it's a way to justify intervention on humanitarian terms they use the cover of the arab spring. as they do in libya. so. these are not. spontaneous protest and certainly in a authoritarian state like there syria you wouldn't find people in opposition able to readily supply themselves with arms with military weapons and this is not any longer just protests it is an armed. rebellion i mean it makes no sense it makes no sense for the syrians to themselves up opportunity for the country to be destroyed when i say like libya or iraq or or afghanistan and i

suspect that's what's coming to them you know many years ago the neo conservatives set out their document calling for the u.s. to overthrow the regimes and syria iraq afghanistan and libya and i think even saudi arabia and we may simply be watching this as it works its way through it when syria is syria goes around is in the target sights and lebanon and so there will be knocking all of these countries one by one while they stand there and don't unite in fact they can't unite and that's why they're so vulnerable so you think that there is much more behind us than being justification of going in there for humanitarian purposes. they stir up the uprising and that then becomes an excuse for

saving the people of course who got saved in libya. and i think i think on the whole what what what's involved here is the russians have a naval base in syria. and the americans doll are a russian naval presence in the mediterranean. and just as in linear the problem was the chinese all investments. washington doesn't wall independent all supplies for china and so there are many deep feigns going on that don't get into the news they don't get to discuss. and want to ask you about that about. why isn't the us media reporting on this of this presence of u.s. troops on the ground there this is something that is being reported in turkey and other countries and why aren't we hearing about this u.s.

troop presence here in the u.s. in the media here well there's no longer an independent media. in the united states . it's. it was monopolized it's highly concentrated it's no longer run by journalist and they're very severely censored and. the media has become a propaganda ministry sexualizing to and for the corporations and so i think that's why people turn to our t.v.'s more reporting there and that's why they turn to internet sites because they can find out things they can get from what's called a mainstream print and t.v. media in the united states why keep this a secret. or what is part of the agenda there to keep this a secret well they want them american people to see for it to support it and so it has to be presented as

a humanitarian intervention not as something that we stirred up as an excuse you see like with iraq they used nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and they concocted another argument in libya and so now there can concocting a humanitarian argument for syria that if the people know. yes then how does the government convince. the purpose attacking syria it can actually it has to keep them in the dark about it in order to achieve its goal. that was dr paul craig roberts former reagan administration official economist and columnist well that does it for now but my interview with dr roberts didn't end there he also gave me his thoughts on the downed drone anywhere on the possible consequences of this military to see the full interview or more of the

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