Christian Science Monitor – Passcode
In 2011, Iran spoofed – or faked – Global Positioning System signals to send a CIA drone off course. Did it do the same to trick Navy vessels into Iranian waters?
Opinion: Were US sailors ‘spoofed’ into Iranian waters?
By Dana A. Goward Contributor January 15, 2016
As images of captured American sailors competed with those of the President Obama during the State of the Union address Tuesday, viewers across the world asked: “How could this happen?” The world’s most powerful nation with the most advanced navy had been embarrassed on the same day as the president’s speech.
After a series of other implausible explanations, the Department of Defense settled on the explanation that the crews on both boats “misnavigated.” That in the middle of their trip between Kuwait and Bahrain the two boats accidentally went more than 50 miles out of their way to venture into Iranian waters.
But were they really that poorly trained and inattentive? Is the navigation equipment in the world’s best navy that poor? And was it just a coincidence it all happened on the day of the president’s address? Or was something much more deliberate – and potentially troubling – to blame?
