TextSearch

Hastings was investigating CIA Director John Brennan when he was killed in a June 2013 car crash.

WikiLeaks revelations raise new questions about the death of journalist Michael Hastings - World Socialist Web SiteMenuSearchLatestProfileEnglishContact|About|International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)MenuSearchInternational Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)LatestProfilePerspectivesWorldGlobal class strugglePandemicArts & CultureHistoryCapitalism & InequalityAnti-ImperialismVideosPodcastMarxist Library); }Fourth InternationalSocialist Equality PartyIYSSEAbout the WSWSContactDonateWikiLeaks revelations raise new questions about the death of journalist Michael HastingsBryan Dyne9 March 2017facebook iconOne of the 8,761 internal CIA documents leaked by WikiLeaks on Tuesday reveals that the agency’s Center for Cyber Intelligence has been exploring methods to hack into vehicle systems since at least 2014. As WikiLeaks noted in its release accompanying the documents, “The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.”While the anti-secrecy organization makes no specific charges in this regard, this information raises new troubling questions about the car crash that killed journalist Michael Hastings in June of 2013.Hastings, who was 33 when he died, was the Rolling Stone reporter who wrote an article in 2010 that led to the removal of General Stanley McChrystal from his post as ranking US commanding officer in Afghanistan. Hastings perished at around 4:30 a.m. after losing control of his car and crashing into a tree while traveling at about 100 mph.At the time of his death, Hastings was investigating another major figure within the Obama administration’s military and intelligence apparatus, then-CIA Director John Brennan. At the time, police declared that there was no “foul play” involved in the accident. Before the accident, however, Hastings had informed his colleagues that he was under government surveillance. He also suspected that his own vehicle had been tampered with, having asked a neighbor to lend him a car.What the WikiLeaks documents show is that Hastings’ suspicions about his vehicle could very well have been justified. Meeting notes dated October 2014 show that the CIA has a division known as the Embedded Development Branch which lists “potential mission areas,” such as software and networking devices, as targets for hacking. One of the targets listed is “vehicle systems (e.g., VSEP),” likely referring to the embedded computer systems that play a major role in the operation of modern cars (though the acronym is not spelled out).Embedded systems are computers designed and built to solve only a few specific problems. They are not designed to take human input, but rather are a combination of hardware and software that is designed to do a specific task as a permanent part of a larger system, such as traffic lights, airplane controls or assembly lines in a factory. While in general the software of embedded systems is hard to change by design, the CIA memo indicates that gaining the ability to control many types of these  computers is one of the goals of the agency.One piece of software in embedded systems specifically mentioned by the CIA memo is the operating system QNX, which the memo states is a “big player in VSEP.” Indeed, according to QNX Software Systems Limited, the software has been deployed in more than 50 million vehicles across at least 14 different brands, more than 50 percent of the market share of modern cars.While QNX is generally advertised as an infotainment system—regulating things such as Bluetooth connectivity, GPS, and music—it has been increasingly used to operate more critical systems of the car, such as the safety and navigation systems, which include things like power steering and acceleration. Thus, if a person or an agency were able to hack a car equipped with QNX, it is possible that they could force the car to crash by disabling brakes, causing uncontrolled acceleration and depriving a driver of steering. And since recovering software commands after the hardware has caught on fire is difficult at best, such hacks would be very hard to detect.Though there is not a clear indication that the CIA developed these tools beyond the “potential” for them to exist, one tool mentioned in the memo, “Weeping Angel,” has been developed and deployed. Weeping Angel is designed to infest smart TVs and transform them into microphones that covertly record nearby conversations and send what was said back to the CIA. No doubt other tools in the list of hacks wanted by the agency have also been developed.Moreover, if the CIA has developed the ability to hack the QNX operating system, it would give it control over more than just automobiles. In January, the company announced a new version of its software that is available for tasks that involve “surgical robots, industrial controllers and high-speed trains,” raising the potential for sabotage on an international scale.Going further, it would apparently also be possible for the CIA to attack a car (or a factory, or a train) and make it seem as if another country did it. Part of the WikiLeaks revelations include a program known as “Umbrage,” which is a library of cyberattack techniques developed in other countries, including Russia. If one of these is designed to attack embedded systems, or if the CIA can make it look as if their code was developed in another country, the next time that a journalist investigating the CIA dies in a car crash, it might be claimed that it was the “Chinese” or the “Russians” who did it.Sign up for the Free Assange Newsletter Email This is required. Country (optional) Select one... Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cape Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue North Korea Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Réunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Barthelemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Svalbard and Jan Mayen Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Tahiti Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu United Kingdom United States Unknown Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe I want to receive updates. I agree that any information submitted to this form will be processed in accordance with the privacy policy and may be combined with other information. This checkbox is required Captcha Submit View 33 commentsContact usRelated TopicsFind out more about these topics:NSA spying and the 2013 revelations of Edward SnowdenUnited StatesFree Julian Assange!NSA spying and the 2013 revelations of Edward SnowdenUS Homeland Security purchased “staggering” volumes of location data to illegally track citizens and immigrantsDocuments from 2020 published by the ACLU on Monday show that the US Department of Homeland Security, during both the Trump and Biden administrations, has been purchasing large volumes of personal location data, in violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.Kevin Reed•20 July 2022Joshua Schulte convicted on all counts in second trial over 2017 leak of Vault 7 cyberwarfare trove published by WikiLeaksFormer CIA software developer Joshua Schulte was found guilty on nine charges related to a 2017 hack of a large library of spying software and computer viruses used by the intelligence agency to spy on individuals through their smartphones and smart TVs.Kevin Reed•14 July 2022US government awards $10 billion NSA cloud contract to AmazonThe awarding of the Wild and Stormy National Security Agency cloud contract demonstrates the central role played by Amazon for the US security and state apparatus.Ray Coleman•27 May 2022ICE has created a “surveillance dragnet” for accessing the personal information of all US citizensGeorgetown Law has published a report that describes in detail how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has created a surveillance infrastructure that is violating the democratic rights of American citizens without any government authorization or oversight.Kevin Reed•15 May 2022National intelligence report found FBI searched the data of Americans millions of times in 2021Kevin Reed•4 May 2022Top-level US visit to Pine Gap highlights Australia’s role in war planning against ChinaMike Head, Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Senate in Queensland•25 April 2022CIA has been secretly collecting information on US citizens for decadesKevin Reed•12 February 2022Declassified NSA oversight report shows illegal surveillance by US government continues unimpededKevin Reed•3 February 2022Danish public broadcaster reveals ongoing NSA spying on top EU officialsAlex Lantier•2 June 2021© 1998-2023 World Socialist Web Site. All rights reserved.HomeAboutContactPrivacy StatementPrivacy Settings