On Oct 29, 7:58*am, "a425couple" wrote:
"Paul J. Adam" wrote...

In message , Dave Kearton
writes
IMHO Lt Osborn made all the right decisions under very trying
circumstances. He kept the plane aloft, long enough for all the sensitive
gear to be destroyed,

Well, the last above line is the critical question!
Did you read the original citehttp://readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/157-157/3730-the...
The Online Threat
Should we be worried about a cyber war?
by Seymour M. Hersh
Read morehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/01/101101fa_fact_hersh?cur...

and find it unconvincing?

he KEPT HIS CREW ALIVE and what was left of the plane was flown back to
the US after the Chinese were done with it.

If you think worst-case, ditching or baling out offers the Chinese a nasty
option. "We picked up nine of the crew, here they are. Mission Supervisor
Snuffy, who knows all about what the aircraft can do and what its mission
was? No, haven't found a trace of him, but we're still searching..." And
who's to know different? Once the crew lose sight of each other, there's
no way to know whether Supervisor Snuffy died during the bailout, drowned
in the ocean, is on a slow fishing boat with no comms on his way to port,
or is being forcibly persuaded to be detailed and explicit about EP-3
capabilities in a Beijing basement.

Very interesting valid point of view, thanks.

I certainly admit that I do not know what 'equipment' and
software was destroyed and what was still discoverable.
I'm also not sure how knowledgable the crew was!

For example, in WWII it was policy that nobody who
had knowledge of important secrets should ever be allowed
in areas where it might be possible to be captured.

For example, anyone who even knew that we were able
to decipher the Japanese messages (MAGIC) was not to
be in harms way *.

The crew are the real prize which could compromise the capability:

Are you really sure about that?
Knowing how to use a computer program, does not
at all mean, you know the program. *Or the equipment
that runs the program.

*
Leatherneck: Star-Crossed Translator
Story by Dick Camp
Second Lt Merle Ralph Cory was an expert cryptanalyst, who, ---- *joined the
Corps and went to war. His comprehensive knowledge of the American
code-breaking successes caused many to second-guess the decision that
allowed him to risk capture by the Japanese.
((It was no "decision", he just slipped through the cracks.))
((he had gone on a 'patrol', and was killed))
Ralph Cory should never have been ---- at Guadalcanal. It was government
policy that anyone connected with MAGIC was expressly prohibited from combat
or duty that put them in close proximity to the enemy. He slipped through
the cracks ---. 2004 Leatherneck Magazine. All rights reserved.

Anything from Seymour Hersh is unconvincing. He's had an anti-military
bent ever since the '60s.