A Fox News report claims President Obama has his eye on Symantec CEO John Thompson as his “leading candidate for Commerce Secretary.”

I think the president should reject Thompson — because Symantec secretly turned over computer viruses to China for at least two years during Thompson’s reign as CEO.

Washington pays Thompson’s firm a lot of money to pro­tect govern­ment com­pu­ters from the same viruses they supplied to China.

And now Obama might nomi­nate him for Secre­tary of Commerce…

Mind you, the U.S. government pays Symantec a lot of money to protect U.S. government computers from the very same computer viruses they gave to an oppressive regime that openly despises U.S. national security interests. How much more ironic can you get?

Not only did Symantec arm China with cyber-smallpox technology … they did it right under the very noses of the White House and the FBI. Symantec’s executive team actually decided “we’re going to arm China and we’re not going to arm the U.S.” And John Thompson sat at the very top of the company’s executive team that made this decision.

For at least two years during Thompson’s reign at Symantec, his people advised the White House and the FBI on global cyber-threats to U.S. national security. Symantec often flew their people into D.C. on the company’s dime so they could personally brief people like Richard Clarke. Thompson’s people stood next to White House senior staffer Richard Clarke in his famous “Y2K situation room,” ready to help out if China had dared to launch a cyber-attack.

And at the very same time, Thompson’s people also opened a pipeline to China so they could smuggle digital munitions to a country the U.S. now believes is responsible for hordes of cyber-attacks launched against federal, state, and local government networks.

For at least two years during Thompson’s reign, his company armed Beijing’s oppressive regime for a single reason: commerce. Symantec wanted to pave governmental inroads to China’s growing corporate market for PCs and software.

Does America really need a Commerce Secretary who spent two years arming China with network warfare weapons, all while keeping the White House in the dark?

“CEO Thompson” kept all of this a secret from both Clinton and Bush. What will “Secretary Thompson” keep secret from Obama?

Let’s suppose Thompson dons the mantle of Commerce. And let’s suppose China releases an über-virus that makes a shambles of our banking & commerce networks. “Team Obama” descends on the White House for an emergency cabinet meeting.

“Here’s what we know,” says the Secretary of Defense. “Beijing attacked us with a virus that has the telltale signature of a Symantec goat file. In fact, we think they built this virus based on what Symantec delivered to them on March 12, 2000 at 08:43am Pacific Time.” The Secretary of Commerce shifts nervously in his seat.

“We think China did this on purpose — used one of Symantec’s goat files,” the Secretary of Defense continues. “We think they did it just to put us in the very quandary we’re in right now.”

Obama speaks up. “I don’t get it. What quandary are we in right now?”

The Secretary of Defense coughs nervously. “Mr. President, Symantec’s delivery of viruses on March 12, 2000 included an email trail from senior management. Marketing had complained that the virus experts were deliberately trying to slow down the transfer of viruses to China. The last email comes directly from senior corporate management. The person who sent that email, told the director of virus research to give Marketing what they need so Symantec can keep their commerce moving in China … and ‘commerce’ is a direct quote from the email. The senior corporate manager warned that if the flow of viruses didn’t go up immediately, he said John Thompson would personally come down there and fire the director of virus research.”

The Secretary of Commerce blurts out “I didn’t write that email!” All eyes in the room turn toward John Thompson. “Somebody at my company must have been using my name in vain, Mr. President.”

President Obama frowns and turns back to his Defense Secretary. “Okay. I see the quandary.” He turns again to the Commerce Secretary. “John, you are excused from the rest of this meeting…”

A press release from the U.S. Air Force says “officials from the 57th Information Aggressor Squadron hosted the first-ever Information Operations Threat Analysis Working Group at the Threat Training Facility at Nellis [Air Force Base]… This event brought together experts from 31 U.S. intelligence, research and development, and operational organizations to identify and characterize current and emerging threats.”

At this point you might wonder what an ‘Information Aggressor Squadron’ does. Watch the Star Trek episode “A Taste of Armageddon,” it’ll answer all of your questions.

“Infor­ma­tion aggres­sor squad­rons” teach U.S. Air Force units how to sur­vive a cyber-duel. But what if the duel itself is your enemy’s real objec­tive? What if the enemy wants you to twitch your itchy trigger finger?

So, anyway. Longtime readers know I insist “we can’t take ‘cyber-war’ or ‘cyber-terrorism’ seriously until certain people agree to take on the roles of Billy Mitchell, Phillip Meilinger, Edward R. Murrow, Aldrich Ames, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden. These people need to be taken seriously in their roles, too — no crackpots allowed.” See [this link] for my full take on this.

I want to add more content to my opinion for the aggressive folks at 57 IAS.

We can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until someone takes on the role of Gail Halvorsen. This person will be the “Candy Bomber” whose symbolic action catalyzes the Internet’s role in a humanitarian mission. He needs to be taken seriously, too — no crackpots allowed. And just for the record: Franklin Thomas is not this man!

We can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until someone takes on the role of Cindy Sheehan. This mother will become an activist for Internet peace after a clandestine officer kills her son for his role in a computer attack. She needs to be taken seriously, too — no crackpots allowed. And just for the record: I want Melhacker’s mother to be this woman!

We can’t take “cyber-war” or “cyber-terrorism” seriously until another city joins the ranks of Dresden, Hiroshima, and Baghdad. This high-tech metropolis will receive a full scale physical shock-and-awe bombing campaign because it coddles a group of computer terrorists. Dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent civilians will perish in the collateral damage. That city’s destruction needs to be taken seriously, too — no one-off JDAMs allowed. And just for the record: Pyong-yang and Tehran are not this city!

“Okay, Rob. How does this apply to the 57th Information Aggressor Squadron?” I’m glad you asked. They play the role of the bad guy so USAF units can learn how to survive a cyber-duel. But what if the duel itself is your enemy’s real objective? What if the enemy wants you to twitch your itchy trigger finger?

This isn’t unheard of. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted America to enter WWII against the wishes of his xenophobic populace. So he handed a 22-caliber pistol to Japan and said “shoot us.” Japan pulled out a 44 magnum and shot us. (Study the mid-1941 oil embargo to learn why the duel took place at Pearl Harbor.)

Know this: the folks in Washington have an outright fetish for cyber-attack scenarios. If I were China, I’d tell my elite People’s Army Hacking Unit to quietly annoy the Pentagon until the president authorizes the first public military invasion of the Internet.

Military generals will be so busy pro­moting their cyber prowess to the media that they might not realize at first when China launches its true objec­tive — to reclaim Taiwan by force…

When the cyber-invasion begins, I’d take a page from Charles Dunlap’s “How We Lost The High Tech War.” I’d bomb a crowded college dorm with an acquired U.S. missile so I could blame the president for going overboard to kill one annoying teenage hacker. It would catalyze Internet opinion in my favor against the U.S. cyber-warmongers.

Then I’d prop up a Cindy Sheehan. “The U.S. military killed my daughter!” she’d scream on YouTube. “She was working on a Cultural Studies degree at Shanghai University but now she’s dead! My only daughter is dead!” It would further catalyze Internet opinion in my favor against the U.S. cyber-warmongers.

Then I’d prop up a Candy Bomber. “Respected computer security expert Li Chen has released free software to protect non-U.S. computers from the threat of collateral damage…” It would do even more to catalyze Internet opinion in my favor against the U.S. cyber-warmongers. Imagine if 250 million PC users around the world switched all at once to my state-developed antivirus software!

By this point the U.S. computer press will have given terabytes of coverage to cyber-World War III. Air Force generals will get their 15 nanominutes of fame in the mainstream media, trumpeting all of the computer battlefield skills they provide to combatant commanders. “‘We’ve got information superiority at this point,’ General Robert Elder of Cyber Command explained, ‘but we’ll need information supremacy before we can settle this once & for all’…”

Cyber Command will be so busy promoting itself that they might take media scrutiny away from the missile attack. That’s when I begin my real objective. That’s when I reclaim Taiwan by force. “Okay America, you killed a hacker in our country. We’ll just take back what’s rightfully ours, and then we’ll call it even.”

Mark my words: the U.S. government’s “cyber” fetish will come back to haunt us someday. I honestly think an enemy could setback the military’s cyber expansion efforts if they wanted to do it badly enough. But hey, I’m probably thinking too many levels too deep…