Iran Claims it Cracked U.S. Drone Secrets
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, what did Iran really learn from a spy aircraft it captured last year? Plus, the secret service prostitution scandal reaches into another federal agency, and the White House caves to pressure to investigate members of its own team. And proposed rules to improve airline safety might lead to a dangerous shortage of pilots. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in the SITUATION ROOM.</s>BLITZER: One of the United States's most dangerous adversaries claims its building a copy of one of America's most expected weapons. If Iran unlocks the secrets of spy drone technology, the Obama administration would have very good reason to be worried. U.S. officials, though, insist they are skeptical. Let's go to our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence. He's investigating -- Chris.</s>CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, if this war of words started from the moment almost that this drone went down back in December, but the U.S. is saying it malfunctioned and the Iranians claiming they shot it down. Now, experts say they may have exploited some of the features of this drone, but the big question is, could they build their own copy?</s>LAWRENCE (voice-over): Just four months after it paraded this captured stealth drone before the world, Iran claims it has unlocked the secrets of the classified American</s>SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, (I) CONNECTICUT: I don't have confidence at this point that they're really able to make a copy of it.</s>LAWRENCE: Aviation experts said the Iran has adopted other American technology like the hawk surfaced to air missile.</s>BILL SWEETMAN, AVIATION ANALYST: Since I have to be fired on the ground against the aircraft and I actually adapted that and putt it on that tomcat fighters.</s>LAWRENCE: Bill Sweetman says the sentinel has agreed over the engine that blocks radar waves, it special cody (ph) to absorb radar. Designing a new one goes far beyond just duplicating its smooth edges.</s>SWEETMAN: You would have to know how every little piece of that aircraft contributes to its radar signature or to its infrared images or to any way in which it can be detected.</s>LAWRENCE: At the same time it's boasting (ph) to one success, Iran is crying foul over another alleged cyber attack. The world's fourth largest oil producer says, it has detected a virus in its main oil export terminal, which handles 90 percent of its oil exports. Officials say they have been forced to disconnect the oil ministry itself, and some data has already been affected.</s>LAWRENCE (on-camera): In fact, most of the world's oil is controlled by computers, which just shows you how important technology is in modern warfare. As for the drone, a lot of experts say that when you're developing something like this, it's not just a matter of the Iranians having scientists or a certain number of scientists dedicated to it. It's the fact that when you develop a drone like this, there's a knowledge base that's built up all along the chain of development, and they say there's no sense that the Iranians have built up that sort of knowledge with the time and investment that would be needed right now -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Key words right. All right. Thanks very much for that, Chris Lawrence. So, let's dig a little bit deeper into what's going on. Joining us our national security contributor, Fran Townsend, the former Bush homeland security adviser. She's the member of the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security external advisory boards. Assuming, Fran, that the Iranians don't have the expertise to reverse engineer, shall we say, this drone, but there are plenty of other countries, maybe not plenty, but a few other countries who might be willing to cooperate with Iran in this area?</s>FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: That's right, Wolf. We know for certain that the Chinese had expressed interest to the Iranians in looking at examining the material that was the drone. And certainly if Iran cooperated with, work joint together with the Chinese or the Chinese and the Russians, they might be able to reverse engineer of the drone. That said -- I'd share the sort of skepticism you've heard about their ability to decrypt and understand what the collection capability was. That's a much more complicated problem, and I'm skeptical that given the time and the capability that would be required that the Iranians even working with others would be able to do that.</s>BLITZER: Yes. But if the Iranians decide to, if you will, sell that equipment to China, let's say, or Russia, they could probably get a lot of money for it.</s>TOWNSEND: Oh, they could absolutely get a lot of money. And, you know, the Chinese, in terms of capability in this cyber area that would be required, the Chinese have a very sophisticated level of capability and might, with time, be able to crack it. Not clear, it would be a big task, but it would be a substantial threat to the United States if they were able to do that.</s>BLITZER: What do you make of this reported cyber attack on Iranian oil exports, the major oil terminal in Iran right now?</s>TOWNSEND: You know, wolf, we have the sanctions. We're coming up on the deadline where the oil sanctions will come into effect. And so, one has to, you know, sort of question whether or not this is a targeted attack by western governments, whether that would be Israel, the United States. Others who are targeting, you know, it reminds of you of Stuntex (ph) virus that targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure. And so, I think it remains to be seen. The Iranians are claiming that it didn't have much effect. I guess, we'll see, but it does sort of look like a state sponsored attack against their oil infrastructure.</s>BLITZER: I've heard the U.S. analyst suggest to me on several occasions, you could try to get rid of Iran's nuclear program through economic, diplomatic sanctions. You could certainly try with a military operation, but probably the most effective would be what they describe is this covert operations, whether cyber warfare or assassinating Iran nuclear scientist. You've seen all these reports out there. What's your assessment?</s>TOWNSEND: It's absolutely right. I mean, there's a whole series of ways you can go about covert action. You know, a cyber attack is one of them, human intelligence which enables sort of things, trying to influence people inside the nuclear infrastructure, their propaganda, attacking their financial infrastructure. There's a whole series of things you can do covertly to try to, frankly, undermine the program and avoid an overt confrontation using the military. And I think most people would say to you, Wolf, if it can be effective and avoid a military conflict, it makes the most sense.</s>BLITZER: I wrote a blog today on what President Obama announced that the U.S. holocaust memorial museum today that he was ordering the U.S. intelligence community to prepare a national intelligence estimate to fight mass atrocities and genocide. This is a major new development. What do you make of this?</s>TOWNSEND: You know, Wolf, look, we've seen -- remember -- we all remember President Clinton saying his greatest regret of his presidency was Rwanda. We've seen with President Obama, he'd took action in Libya, but has not -- has chosen not to take military interaction or military action in Syria. And so, these sort of mass attacks, these mass atrocities seem to be a growing problem. And it's often these governments acting against their own people where the rest of the world feel quite helpless to intervene in an effective way. And so, prevention is the idea. I find it a little bit ironic, however, that President Obama would make this speech having, frankly chosen not to intervene in Syria where the Assad regime continued to kill its own people.</s>BLITZER: Fran Townsend, thanks very much. President Obama also announced, though, major new sanctions today to try to stop Iran and Syria from using technology to track down decedents and then torture or slaughter them. He outlines steps to prevent mass atrocities during a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington, and he adds some tough comments about the crackdown in Syria, warning that it's, in his words, a losing bet to side with President Bashar al-Assad.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to do everything we can. And as we do, we have to remember that despite all the tanks, and all the snipers, all the torture and brutality unleashed against them, the Syrian people still brave the streets. They still demand to be heard. They still seek their dignity. The Syrian people have not given up, which is why we cannot give up, and so with allies and partners, who will keep increasing the pressure for the diplomatic effort to further isolate Assad and his regime. So those who stick with us ought to know that they are making a losing bet. And we'll keep increasing sanctions to cut off the regime from the money it needs to survive. We'll sustained a legal effort to document atrocities so killers face justice in a humanitarian effort to get relief and medicine to the Syrian people. And we'll keep working with the friends of Syria to increase support for the Syrian opposition as it grows stronger.</s>BLITZER: Let's bring in CNNs Arwa Damon. She's done a remarkable job reporting for us from inside Syria. She's in Beirut right now. Arwa, it sounds like the president is trying to send a message to those military officers around Bashar al-Assad that it's time to go against him. Is it realistic, though, to think that these top military officials, officers will turn against against the Syrian leaders?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not because of anything that U.S. President Obama is going to be saying at this stage, no, and what is becoming increasingly clear is that more than a year on into this conflict, the government of President Bashar al- Assad does seem to be remaining at least on the surface, fairly strong. We have not been seeing these mass defections, and despite all of the rhetoric coming out from the U.S. and these allies, we have not seen that having a really significant impact on the ground, and what opposition activists are saying is that if the U.S. is really serious when it comes to bringing about Democratic change inside Syria, it needs to stop talking and start acting. There's a fundamental believe amongst opposition activists whether it is justified or not, that is another question, but to believe it's still there. But if the U.S. truly wanted to bring about regime change, it, in fact, could. And so, there's a realization amongst the opposition that at the end of the day, even though they do seem to have the verbal support of government's life side (ph) of United States, at the end of the day, they are going to have to figure out this on their own and that most certainly is going to lead to a very long and bloody conflict at this stage.</s>BLITZER: And how do delay react, those who are opposing the Assad regime when they hear the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton or the secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, I interviewed both of them at NATO headquarters in Brussels last week, when they say you know what, until the United Nations Security Council passes a resolution authorizing use of force against the Assad regime, there's a limit to what the U.S. and its NATO allies can do militarily. What's the reaction to that argument?</s>DAMON: You know, Wolf, there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of bitterness, there's a lot of frustration, and a lot of the members of the opposition fail to understand why it is when it comes to Syria the U.S. is reluctant along with its allies to push through or at least try to push through the type of resolution that went about to what transpired in Libya, for example. All that being said, there is no expectation at this point in time amongst the opposition that the U.S. and it's allies are going to be some sort of white knight, charging forward an armor to save them. Again, they do realize that they are in this on their own. They are trying to figure out as best they can how they are going to prepare themselves for the fact that this is going to be a very prolonged and bloody battle. But at the same time, they are very frustrated and fail (ph) to understand why it is that the international community is failing them when it did at the end of the day, stand by regime change when it came to other nations like Egypt and Libya, for example. So, there is that realization amongst the opposition, and with that, it does come a fair amount of frustration and this true, genuine ingrained sorrow because there is the knowledge that more lives are only going to be lost the longer this drags on, Wolf</s>BLITZER: Yes. Good point. The major difference, obviously, China and Russia using their veto in the Security Council right now to block any similar kind of resolution. That's why there's no resolution authorizing the use of military force, at least, for now until China and Russia change their minds. Arwa Damon on the scene for us in Beirut, thank you. A former presidential candidate's fight to stay out of prison officially begins today. We're going to tell you what happen to John Edwards' trial on charges he used illegal campaign cash to hide his mistress. Plus, the U.S. secret service prostitution scandal keeps exploding. Even more people are under investigation right now. And people in Western Pennsylvania and Western New York, they are paying for a bizarre spring snowstorm.