“There’re a lot of chiselers out there,” Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek sighed. Congressional angst over counterfeit parts has understandably focused on ersatz electronics, many of them from much-mistrusted China, but as head of the Defense Logistics Agency, Harnitchek has found fakes in everything from air filters to rubber tubing. “There’re folks that counterfeit those, believe it or… Keep reading →

The American military-industrial complex used to lead the world in high technology. Now it struggles to keep up with private-sector breakthroughs in computing and other commercial technologies, from iPhones to 3D printing, that any adversary can buy to use against us. Even in military-unique technologies like precision-guided missiles and electronic warfare, experts in and out of… Keep reading →

This November, the Defense Logistics Agency will require companies selling microcircuits to the military to stamp their products with an unlikely seal of authenticity: plant DNA. It’s an innovative initiative in the fight against counterfeit computer chips, which has been a major concern in the Senate, but it’s only one piece of the answer. DLA… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: For all the senatorial furor over Chinese counterfeit parts making their way into US weapons, the Pentagon is worried about something worse. Corrupt subcontractors selling knock-off products at brand-name prices is much easier to cope with than foreign governments covertly altering those components to grant themselves a back door into American systems.”The vast majority… Keep reading →

The Senate Armed Services Committee turned its spotlight last November on the problem of sup-par and counterfeit Chinese-made parts used in U.S. weapons programs, including Boeing’s new P-8A aircraft, the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and the Navy’s Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain hammered away at China’s involvement and… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: “These findings should outrage every American.” Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a tough former prosecutor but he rarely offers such sweeping condemnations as he did today when releasing the findings of a congressional sting operation designed to test whether China had changed its ways and had started… Keep reading →

UPDATED WITH PENTAGON RESPONSE Capitol Hill: Faced with a torrent of counterfeit parts that pose a serious risk to the lives of American servicemen and to the performance of sophisticated weapons, Sen. Carl Levin pledged today to push for new laws and policies to help curb the problem. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services… Keep reading →