The US Soldiers Leaking Nuclear Secrets | Investigators
The US Soldiers Leaking Nuclear Secrets | Investigators
US nuclear weapons are stored across Europe but their presence is neither confirmed nor denied, so Foeke Postma from Bellingcat went looking for them.
Along with Editor Maxim Edwards, they discovered that US soldiers had been leaking highly confidential locations of these nuclear weapons via flashcard apps, for years and years as well as hundreds of other secrets that were not meant to be in the public domain at all.
It has been described as “one of the most monumental security breaches” in recent years. And all of it was online and available at the click of a button.
This is the story of this unique investigation, conducted entirely through open source techniques, harnessing the power of google searching and social media stalking to expose a massive failure of the US military.
“US Soldiers Expose Nuclear Weapons Secrets Via Flashcard Apps” by Foeke Postma for Bellingcat is available to read here;
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/…
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Content
0.24 -> skill of this security breach was really
3.06 -> unprecedented Admiral Mike Mullen said
5.279 -> over the weekend that the United States
6.96 -> has never been this close to nuclear war
9.84 -> do you agree with him yeah we do there
13.799 -> are nuclear weapons in Europe they're
15.36 -> not being kept safely here in Italy and
17.699 -> they're in Germany and Netherlands and
20.64 -> Belgium the only tool that it really
22.14 -> took to discover this was a Google
23.34 -> search I came across these flashcards
26.4 -> websites the users had foolishly
29.16 -> uploaded incredibly sensitive stuff to
30.72 -> it without checking the privacy settings
32.04 -> the more I delved into the more and more
34.32 -> flashcards popped up with information
36.18 -> that seemed very very secretive to me
39.059 -> there's like one thread and you pull at
41.879 -> it and then the whole tapestry kind of
43.739 -> unravels one of the results that I came
45.84 -> across was a Facebook page by the U.S
48.6 -> service member who had posted a picture
51.3 -> of his entire Squadron showed some
55.02 -> people next to a bomb and you know the
57.12 -> the Mind races doesn't have who are
59.399 -> these people what is the bomb is it live
60.98 -> my immediate reaction was oh this
64.619 -> is something big
68.62 -> [Music]
73.88 -> I'm focusman and I'm an investigator for
77.1 -> bellingcat
79.799 -> hello my name is Maxim Edwards and I'm
82.14 -> an editor at the Lincoln this morning as
84.36 -> the Ukrainian capitals attacked again
86.1 -> NATO kicks off nuclear training
88.14 -> exercises in Europe one of the topics
90.24 -> here in the Netherlands is the American
92.88 -> nuclear weapons that are stationed here
95.7 -> the presence of U.S nuclear weapons
97.74 -> throughout Europe is a public secret but
100.86 -> everybody sort of knows that they are
102.72 -> here and that really annoys me I don't
105.9 -> confirm or deny the location of nuclear
107.88 -> weapons at specific bases they said
110.34 -> numerous times the Cold War is Over this
112.979 -> idea simply is not true the nuclear
116.28 -> weapons that exist today are immensely
118.259 -> more powerful than those that were
119.399 -> dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and
121.38 -> that makes it only more important that
123.06 -> we know what's at stake and that's why I
126.119 -> wanted to investigate this
128.899 -> one thing you do as an investigator is
131.52 -> to learn the language of the subject
133.62 -> you're investigating and so my very
135.78 -> first step was to go into a Wikipedia
138.54 -> article about the military Air Base here
142.26 -> in the Netherlands where these nuclear
143.459 -> weapons are stored and learn certain
145.62 -> terminology when I had this list of
147.66 -> terms that I knew these people were
149.58 -> using I simply went to Google and
152.28 -> combined them with volkl the name of the
155.04 -> Dutch air base and almost immediately I
157.98 -> came across these flashcards websites
162.66 -> soldiers have to learn a lot in order to
165.54 -> you know effectively do your job meaning
167.58 -> that they will also look for ways that
169.8 -> help them study so imagine you are using
173.099 -> a physical flash card right you write a
175.8 -> question on one side write the answer
177.3 -> from the other one most of these apps
179.54 -> also sync to websites because they want
183.06 -> other people to find your study material
185.7 -> they were online in the public domain
187.319 -> because they've been uploaded to these
189.84 -> flashcard apps which
191.819 -> in their default settings
194.099 -> make your flashcards public so that's
196.44 -> why they're so simple but so durable
197.94 -> because anyone can use them as a kind of
199.56 -> memory aid but very quickly it delves
202.019 -> into very specific knowledge that wasn't
204.54 -> meant to be public one of the terms was
206.459 -> Pas protective aircraft shelter which
209.34 -> protects the aircraft that carry the
211.08 -> nuclear weapons below the shelters are
213.48 -> volts ws3 weapons Security storage
217.8 -> systems this is the system that actually
220.5 -> contains the nuclear weapon itself and
223.379 -> the users had foolishly uploaded
225.48 -> incredibly sensitive stuff to it without
226.86 -> checking the privacy settings
229.02 -> [Music]
230.76 -> one of the first most interesting cards
233.4 -> that I saw was the question how many
236.34 -> volts are there at vocal and the answer
239.04 -> was 11. now this is not meant to be
241.62 -> public knowledge in the process of
243.42 -> searching for stuff he came across more
245.099 -> and more and more and more of them now
247.56 -> one of these sets for example could
249.18 -> contain up to 70 flashcards all of them
252.959 -> containing questions that were answered
254.879 -> with sensitive information what happens
257.459 -> when an alarm goes off how many people
259.5 -> show up what kind of weapons do they
261.54 -> carry I couldn't really at first believe
263.52 -> what I was reading but I mean it was in
265.38 -> black and white and it was it was
267 -> completely public you could exactly
268.56 -> figure out how many inches can you move
270.96 -> to Barb's wire before an alarm goes off
273 -> one of the most intriguing things I
275.16 -> found was the words that security guards
278.46 -> can use if they are under duress and in
281.52 -> this case it was banana pancake it was
284.699 -> really an enormous breach of security
286.199 -> that anyone who wants to do harm or get
290.04 -> onto that base this could really make a
292.62 -> use of so not only were U.S service
295.02 -> members leaking this kind of data from
296.699 -> vocal in the Netherlands they were also
298.38 -> doing this from military bases in
300.419 -> Belgium in Germany in Italy and in
303.54 -> Turkey as well
305.22 -> so much stuff is is hiding in plain
307.259 -> sight the only tool that it really took
308.88 -> to discover this was a Google search
310.199 -> coming across these cards that contain
312.18 -> information really showed me that there
315.06 -> was something here going on that I had
318.18 -> to investigate further
321.6 -> so we had the flashcards data sets but
324.3 -> we need to verify the information a lot
327.24 -> of these flashcard sets were made by
330.12 -> usernames by profiles and sometimes a
333.6 -> soldier was using his real name he found
336.18 -> that the names were those that belong to
339.68 -> serving members of U.S Personnel in some
342.539 -> cases he was able to identify the
343.8 -> division that they served in one of the
345.72 -> results that I came across was a
348 -> Facebook page by a U.S service member
350.58 -> who had posted a picture of his entire
353.82 -> Squadron that was that's probably one of
356.22 -> the most stunning things that we
357.24 -> discovered in this investigation
359.24 -> [Music]
361.58 -> showed some people next to a bomb and
364.32 -> you know the the Mind races doesn't it
366.539 -> who are these people what is the bomb is
368.28 -> it live
370.979 -> what I found chilling was it was it was
372.479 -> this individuals that were standing next
373.979 -> to a bomb and you know one of them
376.08 -> probably uploaded one of some of these
377.46 -> flashcards it was shared on an American
379.32 -> Facebook you only saw uh American
382.02 -> uniforms at first I had no reason to
384.84 -> doubt that this was just in the United
386.34 -> States but then I saw a very tiny flag
389.28 -> on a car that was standing on the left
391.38 -> side of this picture and it was the flag
393.6 -> of the Netherlands and then I thought
395.819 -> well this is this is very interesting
399 -> there's like one thread and you pull at
401.52 -> it and then the whole tapestry kind of
403.44 -> unravels and then all of a sudden this
405.06 -> is like Cascade of you know new new
407.34 -> relevant pieces of information that's
409.139 -> just coming at you and that is where
410.88 -> geolocation comes in it proves that
413.4 -> something was recorded at a certain
415.38 -> location and that is where the data
418.08 -> becomes undeniable there's only one
420.12 -> military Air Base in the Netherlands
421.5 -> which has U.S uh nuclear weapons stored
424.68 -> so I immediately went to vocal through
427.62 -> another leaked map online that you could
429.479 -> find through Google we could see that
432.36 -> the aircraft shelter that they're
433.86 -> standing in front of where they took the
435.479 -> group picture was Hangar 532 that is a
440.22 -> number that also appeared in our
442.02 -> flashcard sets that we found you could
444.24 -> see a runway in the background and there
447.06 -> are some trees and a smaller concrete
450.419 -> structure close by and finally there's
453.12 -> this yellow line that goes across the
455.099 -> floor on which this Squadron is standing
458.039 -> now all of these elements can be used to
460.199 -> pinpoint the exact anger that they are
462.36 -> standing in front of basically using
464.4 -> Google and Facebook we've uncovered all
466.68 -> of the secretive information and we
468.36 -> managed to connect it to each other when
471.12 -> we can find the data that means anyone
473.4 -> can basically find this data so I'm
476.819 -> pretty sure that this data might have
478.86 -> already ended up in adversaries hands
485.52 -> eventually you'll have to inform the
488.639 -> authorities because it is a breach of
490.319 -> security there are certain risks
492.06 -> involved but we're also journalists so
495 -> we decided to reach out to each of those
496.86 -> defense Ministries so the Dutch Ministry
498.9 -> of Defense replied saying that they saw
501.419 -> the Facebook picture and they also
502.979 -> confirmed that it wasn't supposed to be
505.199 -> taken let alone published the U.S
507.3 -> military basically reiterated that they
509.46 -> wouldn't confirm or deny
511.139 -> the presence of nuclear weapons they
512.88 -> didn't tell us not to publish clearly it
515.399 -> wasn't a good look for them when we
517.14 -> published the article it really went
519.659 -> worldwide the reaction was overwhelming
522.959 -> overwhelmingly supportive in a lot of
525.12 -> ways the Pentagon replied as well saying
528.06 -> in a press conference that they would
529.8 -> look into this issue of using flashcard
532.32 -> apps and the data that was leaked
534.6 -> through them the department of the Air
536.1 -> Force is investigating the suitability
537.899 -> of information shared via study flash
540.24 -> cards and I think as you also know it's
542.58 -> U.S policy not to neither confirm or
544.32 -> deny the presence or absence of nuclear
546.24 -> weapons at any specific location but I'm
548.519 -> sure there's information out there on
550.44 -> nuclear secrets that we don't know about
552.72 -> currently we do live in times where the
555.12 -> risk of nuclear war is elevated and that
557.94 -> makes it only more important that we
559.74 -> know what's at stake and that is why
562.44 -> this investigation and laying it bear
564.54 -> matters
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Gy5nJ6GGE