Did Chinese Steal Stealth Fighter Software?

Today's WSJ.com has a remarkable story claiming that computers used to design the next-generation F-35 stealth fighter have been broken into repeatedly for over a year, apparently from computers within Communist China. 

According to today's WSJ.com: "The Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II, is the costliest and most technically challenging weapons program the Pentagon has ever attempted. The plane, led by Lockheed Martin Corp., relies on 7.5 million lines of computer code . . .

"Computer systems involved with the program appear to have been infiltrated at least as far back as 2007, according to people familiar with the matter. Evidence of penetrations continued to be discovered at least into 2008. The intruders appear to have been interested in data about the design of the plane, its performance statistics and its electronic systems ... 

"The spies inserted technology that encrypts the data as it's being stolen; as a result, investigators can't tell exactly what data has been taken. A former Pentagon official said the military carried out a thorough cleanup.

"Investigators traced the penetrations back with a "high level of certainty" to known Chinese Internet protocol, or IP, addresses and digital fingerprints that had been used for attacks in the past, said a person briefed on the matter." 

That Chinese computer technology should be turned against the U.S. is a predictable consequence of years of selfish behavior by U.S. industry. Multinational corporations have collaborated with the Communist Chinese government in developing its domestic computer industry, actively transferring software, microprocessor and computer architecture technology developed under U.S. government contracts and with U.S. R&D incentives in return for access to Chinese markets.