When Iran freed 10 American sailors it had detained last week, it kept something — the SIM cards from two satellite phones that were in the Americans’ possession.
The first report on the incident, released Monday, noted the loss. “A post-recovery inventory of the boats found that all weapons, ammunition, and communication gear are accounted for minus two SIM cards that appear to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones,†said the report from the U.S. Central Command.
The importance of that loss could be substantial, according to a former naval intelligence officer who spoke to Independent Journal.
“Those SIM cards don’t just contain the satellite links,†he said. “They also include encryption codes, and otherwise unpublished data relating to specific orders and personnel,†he added.
The former naval officer said those SIM cards should not have been allowed to fall into Iranian hands.
“My first thought is that they should’ve destroyed those SIM cards in the first place because that is considered classified information. I hope that their careers are not tarnished for it,†he said. “The first thing an officer is told is to destroy anything of intel value lest it fall into enemy hands.â€
The loss of the SIM cards, and the potential loss that could follow from exploiting information on them, calls to mind comments from Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
“We’d be stupid to think that they didn’t [gain classified information]. I’m glad that the sailors are back safe, but there’s no way [the Iranian military] just let those boats sit there, and didn’t reverse engineer, or look at and copy everything that they possibly could,†he said.
The Pentagon is still developing a final report to explain how the sailors ended up in Iranian waters, where they were captured and detained for about 18 hours.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/former-naval-officer-just-revealed-massive-detail-about-what-iran-took-from-captured-u-s-sailors/
