Tom Reynolds / Lockheed Martin via EPA file

An undated Lockheed Martin Aeronautics handout image made available by Lockeed Martin showing F-35 AF-1 and AF-2 upon their arrival at Edwards Air Force Base,

U.S. officials on Tuesday attempted to downplay a new government report that found Chinese hackers gained access to some of the country's major weapons systems, saying the compromised information was of "lower sensitivity."

“They aren’t building an F-35 in Beijing from what they got,” a senior U.S. official told NBC News, declining to give any real specifics. 

A report prepared for the Defense Department by the Defense Science Board found that Chinese cyber spies have uncovered U.S. designs for combat aircraft and ships, as well as missile defense systems around the globe.

Designs for the advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy's Aegis ballistic missile defense, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter were among the advanced U.S. weapons listed by the report as having been hacked.

Though the report did not specify the extent of the cyber-thefts, a successful intrusion would give China information that has the potential to knock out communications and corrupt data, experts warn.

But officials said that only "lower-level info" had been compromised and that much of the research done by the Defense Science Board was completed nearly two years ago and is now dated.

“The [Defense] Department and its partners have made progress addressing some of the issues identified in the report in the intervening period, and is using the report to focus additional efforts on those not already in progress,” a Defense Department spokesman told NBC.

Since research for the report was completed, the Pentagon began an information sharing program with private defense industrial companies to limit cyber hacking.

“The Department put a lot of time and work into that program,” the spokesman said, adding that the new measures “severely limits intrusions.”

The program allows private companies to share Malware and information associated with intrusion attempts with the Defense
Department. The Pentagon then does the forensic analysis on the intrusions -- both attempted and successful -- to block the breach next time.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said that the U.S. maintains full confidence in their weapons systems & platforms.

“Suggestions that cyber intrusions have somehow led to the erosion of our capabilities or technological edge are incorrect,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images

A Chinese paramilitary officer rides a scooter in Beijing on Wednesday. Beijing dismissed an annual Pentagon report that accused it of widespread cyberspying on the U.S. government, rejecting it as an "irresponsible

BEIJING -- China on Wednesday accused the United States of sowing discord between it and its neighbors after the Pentagon said Beijing is using espionage to fuel its military modernization, branding Washington the "real hacking empire.”

The latest salvo came a day after China's foreign ministry dismissed as groundless a Pentagon report that accused China for the first time of trying to break into U.S. defense computer networks.

The Pentagon also cited progress in Beijing's effort to develop advanced-technology stealth aircraft and to build an aircraft carrier fleet to project power further offshore.

The People's Liberation Army Daily called the report a "gross interference in China's internal affairs.”

"Promoting the ‘China military threat theory’ can sow discord between China and other countries, especially its relationship with its neighboring countries, to contain China and profit from it," the newspaper said in a commentary that was carried on China's Defense Ministry website.

The United States is "trumpeting China's military threat to promote its domestic interests groups and arms dealers,” the newspaper said, adding that it expects "U.S. arms manufacturers are gearing up to start counting their money.”

The remarks in the newspaper underscore the escalating mistrust between China and the United States over hacking, now a top point of contention between Washington and Beijing.

A U.S. computer security company, Mandiant, said in February a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks that targeted the United States and stole data from more than 100 companies.

That set off a war of words between Washington and Beijing.

China has said repeatedly that it does not condone hacking and is the victim of hacking attacks -- most of which it says come from the United States.

"As we all know, the United States is the real 'hacking empire' and has an extensive espionage network," the People's Daily, a newspaper regarded as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a commentary.

"In recent years, the United States has continued to strengthen its network tools for political subversion against other countries,” the article said.

"Cyber weapons are more frightening than nuclear weapons," the People's Daily said. "To establish military hegemony on the Internet by repeatedly smearing other countries is a dangerous and wrong path to take and will ultimately end up in shooting themselves in the foot."

Related links:

Report: China snooping around Pentagon computers

'Not based in fact': China angrily denies being behind widespread US hacking

Analysis: As cyberthreat looms, here's what really matters

A U.S. Air Force refueling plane crashed Friday in Central Asia, the military said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The plane, a KC-135, crashed in northern Kyrgyzstan and was based at the U.S. military installation at Manas, near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. Its mission is to refuel combat planes on patrols over Afghanistan.

The KC-135 usually has a crew of three.

Military officials were investigating eyewitness reports that the plane was on fire before it crashed. They were also looking into the possibility that the plane blew an engine or struck a bird.

“I was working with my father in the field, and I heard an explosion. When I looked up at the sky I saw the fire. When it was falling, the plane split into three pieces,” Sherikbek Turusbekov, who lives nearby, told The Associated Press.

On Monday, seven people were killed when an American civilian cargo plane, a Boeing 747, crashed shortly after taking off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. It belonged to National Air Cargo, an upstate New York military contractor.

Six of those killed were from Michigan and the seventh from Kentucky, the company said. The Taliban claimed responsibility, but NATO quickly said that the claim was false and that there was no sign of insurgent activity at the time of the crash.

The United States leases the Kyrgyz installation for about $60 million a year. The contract is up in July 2014.

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Fri May 3, 2013 8:01 AM EDT

The specter of the bogus claims that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction — used to justify war —  hangs over the debate on how world leaders will respond to the possibility that Syria deployed chemical weapons.

Obama administration officials say they know they have to deal with the Iraq WMD legacy and will need definitive proof to persuade Russia, Syria’s only remaining ally in the U.N. Security Council, that Bashir Assad’s regime used deadly sarin gas against the opposition in the country’s bloody two-year civil war.

One senior U.S. defense official told reporters Thursday, "We have seen very bad movies before" — referring to previous instances where initial intelligence was proven wrong.

President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons by Assad, a "red line" that if crossed would be a "game-changer" in the U.S. response to Syrian aggression.

The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — specifically the nerve agent sarin — against its own people.

A letter from the White House to members of Congress said the assessment was based on "physiological samples" but called for a United Nations probe to corroborate it and nail down when and how they were used.

"We are continuing to do further work to establish a definitive judgment as to whether or not the red line has been crossed and to inform our decision-making about what we'll do next," a White House official said.

"All options are on the table in terms of our response," the official added.

U.S. intelligence agencies say that blood samples from two attacks last month in Aleppo tested positive for sarin.

Still, those sources say there is “no absolute proof” deadly agents were deployed by Assad's troops.

Administration sources tell NBC News they still have not been able to connect all the dots to prove who actually used the chemical weapons, whom they used them against, or when or where they were used. 

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria with his Russian counterpart in Brussels last week, but the Russians remain unpersuaded to take action against the Syrian government, and the international community is demanding hard evidence to prove Syria is using chemical agents.

The proof, however, could be difficult to obtain.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that the United Nations can't take action based on intelligence from one country, said a team of experts assembled to investigate chemical weapons in Syria remains "grounded" in Cyprus because the Assad regime has blocked it from entering the country.

The U.N. has repeatedly called on Syria to let its inspection team in.

"The fact-finding team is on standby and ready to deploy in 24-48 hours," the U.N. spokesman said. 

Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in an interview with Russian TV that the government has not and will not use chemical weapons and blamed potential evidence of their existence on "armed terrorist groups," the state news agency reported.

The chemical weapons investigation and counterclaims recall the experience in Iraq, where U.N. inspection teams were hampered in their effort to find weapons of mass destruction amid U.S. intelligence reports suggesting they were being hidden by Saddam.

It was the alleged existence of the so-called WMD the George W. Bush administration used to justify war in Iraq.

Despite a massive search by U.S. forces, no weapons of mass destruction ever turned up.

Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz.,  was swift to react to the latest reports that Syria used chemical weapons, saying, “I think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed." He said the administration should now consider a military approach in Syria he has been advocating for two years that falls short of boots on the ground.

“That is to provide a safe area for the opposition to operate and  to establish a no-fly zone and provide weapons to the people in the resistance who we trust,” McCain said.

A White House official called for a high level of scrutiny, but also caution.

"Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight," the official said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related: White House: US believes Syrian regime used chemical weapons

The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — specifically the nerve agent sarin — against its own people.

A letter from the White House to members of Congress said the assessment was based on "physiological samples" but called for a United Nations probe to corroborate it and nail down when and how they were used.

"We are continuing to do further work to establish a definitive judgement as to whether or not the red line has been crossed and to inform our decision-making about what we'll do next," a White House official said. 

"All options are on the table in terms of our response," the official added.

Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at the Capitol that the U.S. believes chemical weapons were used twice, but the letter doesn't specify that.

"Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin," the letter said.

"We do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime," it added.

"Thus far, we believe that the Assad regime maintains custody of these weapons, and has demonstrated a willingness to escalate its horrific use of violence against the Syrian people."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had not seen the evidence supporting the assessment, but added that use of chemical agents "violates every convention of war."

Sarin is a man-made nerve agent that has been used in terrorist attacks in Japan and possibly during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In large doses, it can cause convulsions, paralysis and death.

The U.S. has long believed that Syria was stockpiling chemical weapons. Intelligence reports indicate that it has sarin and the nerve agent tabun along with traditional chemicals like mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide. A 2011 CIA report said Syria was also developing the potent nerve agent VX, which could render a city uninhabitable for days.

Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in an interview with Russian TV that the government has not and will not use chemical weapons and blamed potential evidence of their existence on "armed terrorist groups," the state news agency reported.

A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, Fahd Almasri, claimed Syria has launched chemical attacks in nine places and was poised to do so again at the Lebanon border and in Damascus "when Assad knows he is finished."

"Now is the moment to find a solution very quickly," Almasri told NBC News in a phone interview.

President Obama has said the verified use of chemical weapons by the regime would be a "red line" and a "game-changer" for U.S. and international military intervention in the Syrian civil war.

"Precisely because the President takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria," said the letter, which was signed by Obama's legislative director, Miguel Rodriguez.

The letter was a response to a request from a bipartisan group of senators who asked the White House for answers after the Israeli military’s top intelligence analyst cited photographs of people "foaming from the mouth” as evidence of chemical weapons use.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the development “deeply troubling.”

“While more work needs to be done to fully verify this assessment…it is becoming increasingly clear that we must step up our efforts,” Corker said.

“I should make clear, however, that it if it comes to the use of military force, before the president takes any action to commit U.S. forces to any effort in Syria or elsewhere, I expect him to fully consult with the Senate and seek an authorization for the use of military force."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the assessment could spark a dangerous reaction from Damascus.

"I am very concerned that with this public acknowledgement, President Assad may calculate he has nothing more to lose and the likelihood he will further escalate this conflict therefore increases," Feinstein said.

The White House official called for a high level of scrutiny — but also caution.

"Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight," the official said.

NBC News' Kasie Hunt, Kelly O'Donnell, Robert Windrem and Charlene Gubash contributed to this story

Slideshow: Syria uprising

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Related:

'Suffocating in the streets': Chemical weapons attack reported in Syria

Obama warns Syria's Assad not to use chemical weapons

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:56 AM EDT

Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP - Getty Images, file

Protesters demonstrate against the deployment of Osprey aircraft at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa during a Tokyo rally in November. More protests are planned over the large U.S. military presence on the island prefecture.

TOKYO -- As Japan prepares to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the nation's return to sovereignty and the end of U.S. occupation after World War II, some members of one community are getting ready to protest.

The Pentagon hopes to expand a facility in the seaside village of Henoko, Okinawa, as part of a plan to replace an existing base, and many residents aren't happy about it.

"We would like the United States to take back with them as many of these bases as they can," said Ikuo Nishikawa, an activist and native of Henoko who owns a hardware store.

Kyodo via Reuters, file

A Marine Corps Osprey aircraft flies to land at Futenma air base in crowded Ginowan, Okinawa. Some city residents are bothered by the base, but some residents of the town of Henoko, where an expansion is planned to replace it, are angry as well.

The Pentagon says 38,000 U.S. forces live in Japan, most of them in Okinawa, making up the largest American presence in the increasingly tense Pacific Rim. In addition to the 38,000 on shore, there are 11,000 service members based on ships, 5,000 civilian Defense Department workers and 43,000 family members.

Although Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier this month announced a plan to eventually return more than 2,500 acres of land to Okinawans, the last thing some islanders want to see is a larger base -- even though it would replace an existing one that is near the heart of a bigger city and thus considered by many to be a hazard.

Nishikawa, 69, said he was initially open to the idea of a new base in the village. It might have brought him more business.

But now he is worried, particularly since he started hearing people complain about noise from jets, crimes committed by servicemen and neighborhoods declining as more and more bars opened.

"I thought of it as other people's business," Nishikawa said. "It didn't occur to me how a base could destroy your living environment, how much pain it could cause.

"If you come here, this very area where we swim and catch our fish and shellfish, where we take our children to play, will be transformed into a military base. Even today, the two sides of our community are bases -- on the northern side and on the mountainside. And then with this new base, even our ocean will be occupied by a military base."

Despite the objections, Nishikawa concedes that many people in Okinawa rely on U.S. personnel and their families for their livelihoods and wouldn't think of protesting expansion of a base.

On a larger scale, the United States and Japan see a major presence in the country as critical to the security of both, and they work closely together to maintain it. The April 5 announcement included a promise from Hagel that "the United States will consolidate our forces over time and reduce our impact on the most populated parts of Okinawa."

Nonetheless, the fact that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is in favor of the Henoko expansion makes him and his government the target for much of the anger vented by Okinawans, some of whom say Abe is simply ignoring them. 

"As someone born and raised here, it's hard to accept," Nishikawa said. "The fact that the Japanese government has pushed through this proposal, it's a mockery against the people of Okinawa."

Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, has no qualms about stating his opinion on the matter. "The people of Okinawa prefecture are greatly dissatisfied," he said during an October panel discussion in Washington. "People have been requesting to relocate the bases for 15 or 16 years … but it's not happening."

Jiji Press / AFP - Getty Images, file

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, shown speaking to reporters in October, has been vocal in his opposition of U.S. and Japanese government plans to expand a base in the seaside village of Henoko.

However, barring a sudden change of heart by the U.S., Okinawa's leaders or the central government, a fight for the future of Henoko seems certain to rage on, and U.S. forces will continue to be stationed on the island in large numbers in case real battles replace political ones.

There's not much the armed forces can do about the sensitive issue except try to foster good will on Okinawa, said Capt. Richard Ulsh, a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon.

"We do our best to reach out to the people of Okinawa and try to help them understand, one, how important that island itself is to the Asia-Pacific region and, two, how important their support is to us ... [and] the major partner that Japan really is," he said.

All the outreach in the world may not be enough to appease islanders who are angry about bases and angry at their own government.

"As someone from Okinawa, I want to remind [Tokyo] about the last big war," said Nishikawa, the hardware store owner. "In the name of national interest, in order to prevent a battle on the mainland, 200,000 Okinawans were sacrificed.

"With that in mind, why is the government continuing to hurt us still?"

Related:

2 US sailors sentenced to prison for rape of woman in Okinawa

Japan's new PM vows tighter ties with the US

Full Japan coverage from NBC News

A U.S. military pilot was killed when his F-16 fighter jet crashed while on a night flight over mountainous terrain in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.

There was no indication of enemy fire in the area at the time of the Wednesday’s crash, in the east of the country.

“While the cause of the crash is under investigation, initial reporting indicates there was no insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash,” an official with the U.S.-led international coalition, ISAF, said in a statement.

While there have been F-16 accidents and even one deadly crash recently - one crashed into the Adriatic earlier this year- such an incident is very rare in Afghanistan, where helicopters are more at risk.

Meanwhile, officials in the country’s Ghazni province said 6 people were killed, including four local police force members, by a NATO airstrike on Wednesday evening.

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) were attacked while patrolling in the village of Sulaimanzai, in the district of Deh Yak.

One of North Korea's top decision-making bodies is setting guidelines that call nuclear weapons "the nation's life" that won't be traded even for "billions of dollars,” The Associated Press reported.

The statement Sunday came after a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party attended by leader Kim Jong Un and other officials, the AP said.

It also followed a declaration on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, the latest in a string of increasingly belligerent outbursts from the isolated state.

Sunday’s statement says nuclear weapons aren't "goods for getting U.S. dollars" or a "political bargaining chip." Outside analysts have said Pyongyang raises worries over its nuclear ambitions to spur nuclear-disarmament-for-aid talks, the AP said.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

It said Pyongyang will also increase work to build up the economy. Kim has made fixing the moribund economy a focus.

On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.

Related:

Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not

North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist

PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:38 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- A nuclear-powered American attack submarine hit a fishing trawler after it passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Thursday, a Navy official said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred at 5 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET Wednesday), but the top of the submarine's periscope was shorn off and the sub was forced to use a second periscope, the official said.

The reactor on the nuclear-powered USS Jacksonville was not affected. "There was no damage to the propulsion plant systems and there is no concern regarding watertight integrity," the Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

As for the trawler, it may not have even realized it hit the submarine and did not appear to suffer any damage.

The vessel "continued on a consistent course and speed offering no indication of distress or acknowledgment of a collision," the Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

A Navy investigation is underway.

In the past, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz over its quarrel with United States about its nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. says it keeps a naval presence in the region to maintain security.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

Related stories:
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Danger zone then and now: Strait of Hormuz
Reporter's notebook: Journey to the Strait of Hormuz