Young Americans are increasingly unfit for Army service due to obesity, academic failings, and various other shortcomings.

Maj. Gen. Allen Batschelet, the US Army Recruiting Command commanding general, told a US Army Bloggers roundtable Thursday that the Army is facing significant challenges in recruiting. Part of this is due to an improving economy offering more young people career options outside of the military. 

More significantly, an increasing number of Americans are simply ineligible for Army service. As of now, Batschelet said, only three in ten Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 meet the Army's standards for service. By 2020, according to the general, "that eligibility number could be down to two in ten." 

"Obesity forms a big part of it, the disqualification. That's the growing trend,"Batschelet said. However, moral disqualifications over an increasing range of criminalized behaviors have barred many young men and women from enlisting.

Similarly, an "erosion in academic qualification of the young people we are engaging with" has left the Army grasping for eligible recruits. The problem is "reflected in declining high school graduation rates,"Batschelet, alongside the failure of an increasing number of Americans to achieve high school equivalency certificates. 

For Batschelet, the slipping educational standards of Americans is the most worrying trend for the future of the US Army. Although obesity is the leading disqualifier for people looking to enlist, tht challenge is one that "we as a society, and even as the Army, can deal with." 

In contrast, deficiencies in education will take "significantly more time to address … that's the more worrisome one for me," Batschelet said.

Reflected in the problem of education, recruits have routinely scored worse on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test, Batschelet said.

According to the Military Times, the Department of Defense has strict quotas on what percentage of enlisted can score on the ASVAB. At most only 4% of enlistees can score in the 10th to 30th percentile of the test, and no more than 40% 0f enlistees can score lower than the 50th percentile. 

SEE ALSO: These 22 charts reveal who serves in America's mlitary

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One of America's elite special operations units was back in the spotlight when a SEAL claiming to be the "trigger man" who killed Osama bin Laden in May of 2011 decided to reveal his identity on a Fox News special last month.

A recent PBS documentary, "Navy SEALs - Their Untold Story," digs into the history of their predecessors during World War II, their first official operations in the Vietnam War, and their deployment in 21st century conflicts.

Along the way, former commandos tell the stories of some of the SEALs' most incredible covert operations.

There are only around 2,000 active Navy SEALs — and they endure maybe the hardest military training anywhere in the world.

A retired SEAL explains that during the rigorous training known as "hell week,""you stay up for 120 hours ... and you get about 3 or 4 hours sleep."

Here trainees swim with their hands bound behind their backs, a feat only excellent swimmers can pull off.

On November 28, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad granted a rare interview to The Full Paris Match. 

The interview is full of deflections and rationalizations from a defiant Assad, who at one point compared his role as president to being a captain of a ship.  

"The captain doesn't think about death, or life, he thinks about saving his ship," Assad said. "My goal has never been to remain President, neither before, during, or after the crisis."

The interview is a series lines such as these. At one point, Assad claimed that his government had the almost complete support of the population and that nearly everyone who questioned his regime were terrorists — even when the uprising consisted mostly of peaceful protests. 

In a closing question, The Paris Match asked Assad how he explained the situation in Syria to his children Hafez, Zein, and Karim, who are ages 13, 11, and 9, respectively. It's a question with an undoubtedly interesting answer: Assad's children have spent some of their most formative years in the middle of perhaps the most severe conflict on earth, one in which their father's government has been responsible for chemical weapons attacks and relentless barrel-bombing of civilian targets.

That has to take a toll on a family, even at the basic level of children wondering at the meaning of the events going on around them — especially when they're so violent and criminal in nature.

But Assad's answer feels just as canned as the rest of the interview. He even tries to incorporate his children into his regime's central talking points about the conflict.

"The most difficult thing in this discussion is when you deal with children whose social consciousness has developed during this crisis," he explains, before immediately alluding to ISIS's role in the war. "There are two basic questions asked, not only in our family but in many families. The first question: how can people who believe or say they are defending God and Islam kill and murder? This is a case which is not easy to explain, and children ask whether these people know that they are wrong."

He helpfully offers his own answer to this dilemma: "There are those who know but make use of religion for private purposes, and there are ignorant people who do not know that religion is good. They think, instead, that religion means killing."

There's a second question his kids ask him, too, Assad says: "Why does the West launch an aggression against us, and why does it support terrorists and destruction? ... Have we done anything to hurt them?" Assad explains to them that "people are something, and states are something else."

Assad has generally stayed away from interviews since the start of the Syrian civil war. Before The Paris Match, Assad has not spoken to an outlet since a June 2014 interview with the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, a publication supportive of the pro-Syrian Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. 

You can read the full Assad interview here»

SEE ALSO: The world's most wanted Nazi reportedly died in Syria while living under the Assad regime's protection

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The Defense Department has indicted a civilian Navy engineer for attempting to send schematics for the US's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to an undercover FBI agent who he believed was working for Egyptian intelligence.

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad was a civilian engineer in the Nuclear Engineering and Planning Department at the Navy's shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. The 34-year-old Awwad worked at the department since February in 2014. One night in September, an Arabic-speaker called Awwad and set up a meeting the next day, where the caller explained that he was an Egyptian intelligence agent. 

According to a Justice Department press release, at that meeting, Awwad seemed eager to cooperate and claimed "it was his intention to utilize his position of trust with the US Navy to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, including but not limited to, the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier," 

Awwad allegedly set up dead-drops and a system of communication with the person he thought was an Egyptian spy. The DOJ press release said this enabled Awwad to provide his handler with "four computer-aided drawings of a US nuclear aircraft carrier downloaded from the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Information system." He allegedly provided photos of blueprints for the vessel, and even explained the best places to strike the carrier in order to sink it. Awwad allegedly brought a handgun to one of his meetings with his contact as well.

Since his contact was actually with the FBI, the sting could land Awwad as much as a 20-year prison sentence.

Awwad was born in Saudi Arabia, but had married his wife in Cairo, according to an affidavit in support of search warrants released by the Justice Department. He held a US security clearance that granted access to "classified national defense information" up to the "secret" level of classification.

The arrest comes at an unusually tense time for US-Egyptian relations, after the regime of president Abdel Fattal al-Sisi dismissed charges against Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian leader overthrown in February of 2011 after 30 years in power. The US has frozen some of its military assistance to Cairo after Sisi seized power in what many consider to be a military coup in July of 2013, when the former general removed and then imprisoned elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammad Morsi.

The running of what even the affidavit describes as an FBI "false-flag operation" under an Egyptian guise suggests the US is concerned with attempted spying on Cairo's behalf — and isn't worried about the possible consequences of American government officers impersonating Egyptian intelligence. The arrest could further complicate the still-close intelligence and security relationship between the US and Egypt.

Colin Campbell contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: State Department spokesperson caught calling Egypt talking points "ridiculous"

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President Barack Obama and other top US officials released statements early Saturday morning condemning the killing of American photojournalist Luke Somers during an unsuccessful rescue attempt in Yemen.

"The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Luke Somers at the hands of Al-Qa'ida terrorists during a rescue operation conducted by U.S. forces in Yemen in partnership with the Yemeni government. On behalf of the American people, I offer my deepest condolences to Luke’s family and to his loved ones," Obama said. "Their despair and sorrow at this time are beyond words."

Obama said Somers was kidnapped in Yemen 15 months ago and an imminent threat to his life spurred US action against the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants who captured him. Another hostage was also killed and was identified as South African citizen Pierre Korkie, according to The New York Times.

"It is my highest responsibility to do everything possible to protect American citizens. As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence, and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located. And terrorists who seek to harm our citizens will feel the long arm of American justice," Obama said.

View the full statements of Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel below.

Obama:

"The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Luke Somers at the hands of Al-Qa’ida terrorists during a rescue operation conducted by U.S. forces in Yemen in partnership with the Yemeni government. On behalf of the American people, I offer my deepest condolences to Luke’s family and to his loved ones. I also offer my thoughts and prayers to the family of a non-U.S. citizen hostage who was also murdered by these terrorists during the rescue operation. Their despair and sorrow at this time are beyond words.

It is my highest responsibility to do everything possible to protect American citizens. As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence, and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located. And terrorists who seek to harm our citizens will feel the long arm of American justice.

Luke Somers was kidnapped fifteen months ago in Yemen and held hostage by Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Since his capture, the United States has been using every tool at our disposal to secure his release. Earlier this week, a video released by his terrorist captors announced that Luke would be killed within 72 hours. Other information also indicated that Luke’s life was in imminent danger. Based on this assessment, and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, I authorized a rescue attempt yesterday. I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke.

Luke was a photojournalist who sought through his images to convey the lives of Yemenis to the outside world. He came to Yemen in peace and was held against his will and threatened by a despicable terrorist organization. The callous disregard for Luke’s life is more proof of the depths of AQAP’s depravity, and further reason why the world must never cease in seeking to defeat their evil ideology.

As Commander-in-Chief, I am grateful to the U.S. forces who carried out this mission as well as the previous attempt to rescue Luke, and to the dedicated intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic professionals who supported their efforts. I also deeply appreciate the support and assistance provided by President Hadi and the Yemeni government, and reiterate our strong commitment to combating the shared threat posed by AQAP.

We remember Luke and his family, as well as the families of those Americans who are still being held captive overseas and those who have lost loved ones to the brutality of these and other terrorists. We remain determined to do our utmost to bring them home, and to hold those who have done them harm accountable."

Kerry:

"The murder of Luke Somers by his captors during a rescue operation is a reminder of the brutality of the terrorists of Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). They have again demonstrated their cruelty and their disdain for human life, freedom, and the Yemeni people whom they terrorize daily.

Earlier this week, AQAP released a video announcing that Luke would be murdered within 72 hours. Along with other information, there was a compelling indication that Luke’s life was in immediate danger, and so we recommended that the President authorize an attempt to rescue Luke. Tragically, Luke and a foreign national hostage were killed by their captors during the course of that operation.

Even in our grief, we couldn't be more proud of the brave men and women of the U.S. military who twice risked their lives in operations to try and bring Luke home safely. We also appreciate the efforts of the dedicated intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic professionals who supported these operations, and we are particularly grateful to the Yemeni government, under the leadership of President Hadi, for their critical and supportive role in trying to liberate this young American from unfathomable captivity, and for their enduring partnership in combating the scourge of AQAP.

AQAP knows how to hate, they know how to murder, and now they have robbed a family of an idealistic young photojournalist who went to Yemen to practice his calling and document the lives of ordinary Yemenis. As a parent, I know there are no words that can assuage the loss that Luke's family has suffered, or the anguish of the family of the second hostage who was killed. There's no way to wipe away their pain. But Teresa and I both pray that they can find some small solace in knowing that the United States government and all of our people grieve with them, and that there were brave Americans in uniform willing to lay down their own lives so that they had a chance to live. We also pray for the families of all the innocents who are held against their will, whose safe return we work towards every day."

Hagel:

"Yesterday, by order of the President of the United States, U.S. Special Operations Forces conducted a mission in Yemen to rescue a U.S. citizen, Luke Somers, and any other foreign nationals held hostage with him by Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists. There were compelling reasons to believe Mr. Somers' life was in imminent danger.

Both Mr. Somers and a second non-U.S. citizen hostage were murdered by the AQAP terrorists during the course of the operation. On behalf of the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, I extend our condolences, thoughts, and prayers to their families and loved ones.

Several of the AQAP terrorists holding the hostages captive were killed in the mission.

The rescue attempt took place in central Yemen and was conducted in partnership with the Government of Yemen. I thank President Hadi, the Yemeni government, and Yemen security forces for their assistance and cooperation.

Yesterday's mission is a reminder of America's unrelenting commitment to the safety of our fellow citizens - wherever they might be around the world.

I commend the troops who undertook this dangerous mission. Their service and valor are an inspiration to all of us."

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Located in a wooded area near the village of Nagyvazsony in central Hungary, the base – nicknamed "Little Moscow" by locals – was a Soviet base abandoned in 1990. The Red Army may have kept a stockpile of nuclear weapons on site.

Produced by Devan Joseph. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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In this excerpt from Clinton, Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding Of A Political Machine, Daniel Halper, a political writer and online editor at The Weekly Standard, compiles candid interviews with former Clinton administration aides, friends, and enemies to reveal the hardened relationship between Hillary Clinton and President Obama.

As Hillary, the pragmatist, had demanded before taking the job, she did have regular "one-on-ones" with the president. For Clinton this offered the visual, at least to the Washington press corps, that she was an integral player.

To Obama it was a chance for respectful listening and making sure that Hillary personally felt looped-in to the happenings at the White House. But it never seemed to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do once she left the room. 

"As secretary of state I think that her relationship with the president was cordial, but never close," says Senator John McCain, who served as the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and observed her up close.

McCain's a foreign policy hawk—one more aligned with Hillary than Obama, so it is with a tinge of regret the former Republican presidential nominee makes this observation on morning in his Senate office. 

"I don't believe that when crucial decisions were made that she was necessarily in the room ... [W]hen it came to some crucial decisions I don't think that Mr. Donilon (national security adviser to Obama) was swayed by her opinion. I'm not saying she wasn't consulted, but I think it's very well known she was not in the inner circle of decision makers on national security."

"I think she had very little interaction" with the president, says veteran State Department employee. "A lot of this was, you know, she would go to meetings of the NSC (national security council) when she was in town and called, but it was a very distant relationship."

The NSC sidelined Clinton at every turn—as it did other cabinet secretaries from Gates to his successors at the Pentagon, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel. "They would send [the defense secretary] to someplace like Botswana while they crafted North Korea policy at the White House," one former Defense Department official says. 

"Obama brought her into the administration, put her in a bubble, and ignored her," says a former high-ranking diplomat. "It turned out to be a brilliant political maneuver by Obama, making it impossible for her to challenge him, unless she left the administration, and not giving her an excuse that she could resign in protest. So she was stuck."

Once she realized she would never really be a major player in Obamaland, Hillary Clinton did what she always did: adjusted  her course. "She kept her head down on large issues," says a former Obama administration official.

"She did a nice job of tamping down any tension between her and the White House."

And she focused on her own future. With Clinton taking to the skies and traveling the world, her post at the State Department became a platform for the United States and Hillary Clinton.

Excerpted from Clinton, Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding Of A Political Machine, by Daniel Halper, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2014). Excerpted with permission by Daniel Halper and HarperCollins Publishers.

SEE ALSO: Hillary Clinton Has Always Wanted The White House For Herself

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The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) oversees roughly 70,000 operators, support units, and civilians from each of the military's sister service branches.

America's elite soldiers, work under a shroud of secrecy to carry out high-risk missions with swift precision, laser focus and firm perseverance.

Operators work in up to 80 countries with sometimes less than 48 hours notice to accomplish assignments in counterterrorism, unconventional warfare, capture and assassinations of wanted peoples, and training of foreign forces.

Working with the military's most advanced technology and weapons, the projected FY2015 budget for US Special Ops forces is approximately $9.9 billion. 

The following graphic lists the strengths of each unit and how these elite warriors combine their skills to serve the interests of global security.

SEE ALSO: 18 Things Navy SEALs Never Leave Home Without

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Russia's new military command center in the Arctic became operational Monday, as the country increasingly militarizes the polar region. 

Moscow's new Northern Command will subsume the Russian Northern Fleet and form a unified military network of ground troops, aircraft, and naval vessels in an attempt to leverage Russia's strength in the great north.

Mark Galeotti, an NYU professor specializing in global affairs and Russian and Slavic studies, has published details in the Moscow Times:

Russia's icebreaker fleet is a particular "ice-power" asset: It is the world's largest and includes the massive nuclear-powered vessel 50 Years of Victory. Beyond that, Russia is constructing a chain of 10 Arctic search-and-rescue stations that, along with its 16 deepwater ports, are intended to consolidate Russia's authority over the Northern Sea Route, which Putin has said may prove even more important than the Suez Canal in shaping global shipping flows.

Here's a look at the Northern Sea Route:

In addition to Russia's port construction blitz across the Arctic, Moscow is also drastically upgrading its other military capabilities in the region. Galeotti notes that a commando detachment is being trained specifically for the Arctic warfare, and a second Arctic-warfare brigade will be trained by 2017.

Furthermore, a year-round airbase is under construction in the New Siberian Islands Archipelago alongside an additional 13 airfields and ten air-defense radar stations. This construction will "permit the use of larger and more modern bombers," Galeotti writes. "By 2025, the Arctic waters are to be patrolled by a squadron of next-generation stealthy PAK DA bombers."

In addition to the militarization of the region, Russia has sought to expand its influence in the Arctic through diplomatic means. In October, Russia's natural resources minister said that Moscow would seek to expand its Arctic borders by 1.2 million square kilometers through the United Nations. 

Moscow has said this expansion is due to scientific research that shows its continental shelf extends further below the pole than previously contended.

By expanding its territory, Russia would be in a prime position to take advantage of both natural gas and oil reserves while positioning itself to take part in any future trade through the north as the polar icecaps melt. 

The US estimates that upwards of 15% of the earth's remaining oil, 30% of its natural gas, and 20% of its liquefied natural gas are stored in the Arctic sea bed. 

Currently, the Arctic region is divided between regions made up of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the US. However, the center of the Arctic Ocean is classified as international waters and is beyond any country's control. 

It is likely this ungoverned region that Russia is seeking to be able to leverage its authority in the most.

SEE ALSO: Militaries know that the Arctic is melting — here's how they're taking advantage

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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Two officers were injured as a California protest over police killings turned violent with protesters smashing windows and throwing rocks and bricks at police, who responded by firing tear gas, authorities said.

Several officers were struck, but there were just two reports of injury, Berkeley police spokeswoman Jenn Coats said. A Berkeley police officer received hospital treatment for a dislocated shoulder after being hit with a sandbag, while another sustained minor injuries.

Saturday night's demonstration against police killings of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York began peacefully, the latest of several in the Bay Area in recent days. But Officer Coats said that some protesters later broke away and began throwing rocks, bottles and pipes at officers.

Scores of law officers from several surrounding agencies joined Berkeley Police Department in trying to quell unrest that went on for hours, into early Sunday morning.

Around 300 to 400 protesters took to the streets last night in Berkeley, California. The majority of the group were student protesters. The plan was to march from the University of California, Berkeley campus to Oakland's Civic Center.

A small minority of the protesters, most of them masked, began smashing the windows of nearby businesses and pelting officers with rocks, bricks, and bottles. The rest of the protesters implored them to stop.

Several businesses and at least two police cars were vandalized. Two police officers suffered minor injuries, including a dislocated shoulder. 

At one point, protesters faced a wall of more than 100 police officers in riot gear. Police warned the protesters to disperse, but it did little until police began to use more heavy-handed tactics.

Police deployed tear gas to break up the crowds.

Protesters weren't the only ones to get hit by tear gas. Several concerts had just let out near the protest area and many concert-goers were affected by the gas.

Here, a protester recovers from tear gas exposure.

Coats said several businesses on University Avenue were vandalized, including Trader Joe's, Radio Shack and a Wells Fargo Bank branch. Some squad cars were also damaged.

"A small splinter group from the original protests continues to march in Berkeley," Coats said in a statement issued around 11 p.m. PST. "Unfortunately this group has become violent and continues to throw objects, including rocks and bricks at officers."

She said officers attempting to get the crowd to depart used tear gas.

"Several dispersal orders have been given, and the crowd has ignored the orders. In response to the violence officers have utilized tear gas and smoke in an effort to disperse the crowd," she said.

Some people were still protesting in the streets early Sunday morning, police said.

Authorities did not provide further details of any injuries or arrests.

"The total number of arrests and injuries is not known at this time," Coats' statement said.Local media reports said about 300 to 400 people participated in the relatively peaceful demonstration before splinter groups broke off.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that at one point, the marchers were face-to-face with a line of about 100 police in riot gear who turned the crowd back.

The paper said that it wasn't just protesters who were hit by tear gas.

Several concerts had let out from downtown sites and concertgoers waiting to pay in a nearby garage were enveloped in a cloud of stinging gas, sending them running into elevators.

KCBS reported that police closed two Bay Area Rapid Transit commuter train stations along the protest route.

Protesters had planned to march from the University of California, Berkeley campus to Oakland's Civic Center.

Thousands of demonstrators have protested peacefully in New York and elsewhere since the announcement Wednesday that a grand jury declined to indict a white officer in the death of Eric Garner, a black man who gasped "I can't breathe!" while being placed in a chokehold as he was being arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. The decision closely followed a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury's choice not to indict a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old.

The scope of the demonstrations and the lack of violence were moving to Garner's mother and widow, they said Saturday.

"It is just so awesome to see how the crowds are out there," said Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, who added that she ended up stuck in her car after protests shut down traffic.

"I was just so proud of that crowd," Carr said. "It just warmed my heart."

Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, said she saw demonstrators from her apartment window and told her son, "Look at all the love that your father's getting."

Officers have said the outcry over the grand jury decision has left them feeling betrayed and demonized by everyone from the president and the mayor to throngs of protesters who scream at them on the street.

"Police officers feel like they are being thrown under the bus," said Patrick Lynch, president of the police union.

Garner's family members joined the Rev. Al Sharpton later Saturday as Sharpton laid a wreath at the site on Staten Island where Garner died July 17 in a confrontation that started when police tried to arrest him.

An amateur video seen by millions showed Garner gasping, "I can't breathe" during the fatal encounter.

"All we're concerned about is justice from the police," said Garner's stepfather, Benjamin Carr, who wore a T-shirt with the words, "Enough is enough."

Protests continued in New York City for a fourth day with several dozen people lying down on the floor of Grand Central Terminal and marching into stores in Times Square. There were no reports of arrests.

Protests have also been held in Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas and a number of other cities.

In Seattle, several hundred people marched downtown to police headquarters Saturday. Authorities said a group then split off from the main protest and tried to get onto a roadway. Police say some protesters threw rocks at officers who blocked them from entering it. Seven were arrested.

Sharpton announced plans this week for a march in Washington, D.C., next Saturday to protest the killings of Garner, Brown and others and to press for change at the federal level.

Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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As the head of the NYC Preppers Network, New York City firefighter Jason Charles spends his spare time thinking about what would happen in the event of a catastrophe, planning for everything from the weather-related, like a hurricane, to the more sinister, like a mass chemical attack.

It isn’t necessarily fun, but Charles believes it's incredibly important to prepare for every contingency possible. This is the type of “game” that all preppers, a subculture made famous by National Geographic’s TV show Doomsday Preppers, take part in. A game of chess, says Charles, where winning or losing means life or death.

Unlike other preppers, many of whom live in less populated areas, Charles has to contend with one major obstacle to surviving any apocalypse: living on the island of Manhattan. 

“The biggest problem is getting off this rock,” Charles told Business Insider from his Harlem apartment. “People in a town or a landlocked city can just walk out. We can’t. And you can’t swim off the island unless you are an Olympic swimmer.”

The predicament has led Charles and his fellow preppers in the NYC Preppers Network to troubleshoot potential ways of getting out of New York City, which Charles feels is paramount to surviving a disaster. Charles laid out his plan for us.

In the event of a catastrophe, Charles' first move is to grab his wife, kids, and dog, as well as their respective “bug-out bags,” a prepping term for a bag loaded with everything needed to survive for a week or more. Charles keeps these bags stocked at all times and in an accessible area in his apartment.

He would move quickly to his truck, which he parks no more than a couple of blocks from his apartment. If the streets are navigable by car, he will take them in it for as long as possible. His assumption is that he will have to leave it at some point and hike possibly tens of miles. 

“If we can take the car even five or ten blocks, we will take it. On a long haul, you want to save as much energy as you can.” In the event that the streets are congested to the point that driving is impossible, Charles will ditch the car and continue on foot. He and his wife each will carry their own bug-out bag, while their two children will sit in their double stroller and hold their own bags. The dog would carry his own bug-out bag strapped to his back.

The family will then make the hike to the West Side of Manhattan with the intention of crossing on foot over the George Washington Bridge or through the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel.

Charles has a solar and handcrank-powered radio to hear any reports over the airwaves. He also has a solar-panel charger for his cell phone, in case cell reception is still active.

If they hear reports that the bridges and tunnels are already closed, they will head to the water. Charles has two heavy-duty rafts in his pack which they will use to cross the Hudson River.

“We have two rafts that attach: one for us and one for our gear. Our goal is to get across the Hudson River at high tide,” explains Charles. 

Once they land across the river, hopefully as north as possible, Charles and his family will continue hiking as far and as fast as they can into a wilderness area, where they can set up a protected camp for the night to rest. In the following days, they will continue hiking north, with the intention of getting as far from population centers as possible. 

While Charles has thought out this plan a hundred different times, he recognizes that in the heat of the moment, it's unlikely anything will go according to plan. 

“There are so many variables to a ‘bug-out’ situation. You expect things to go from A to B, but instead they go A to Z. It’s a crappy game that you have to play. You have to be smart and resourceful,” says Charles.

To test those different variables, Charles and the NYC Preppers will frequently go on bug-out weekends in the wilderness to test their gear and survival skills, as well doing bug-out walks to test evacuation scenarios. It’s during these tests that Charles has realized a few extra wrinkles to his plan:

1. If you are traveling in a large group, break up into groups of three and space out your evacuation by thirty minutes or so. “Having twenty or thirty people traveling clumped together is dangerous. For looters or marauders, it would be like shooting crabs in a barrel,” says Charles. Instead, if one smaller group is attacked, the others a couple miles behind will be able to see it in the distance and react with a plan.

 2. Test your equipment.“People find out all the time that a backpack didn’t hold up, a sleeping bag wasn’t warm enough, or a pack was too heavy. You’ve got to test to get a feel for what you need,” says Charles.

3. Worry about crime.“We have high crime rates in New York. That rate will go up when society breaks down. All the people who thought about doing crime will start doing crime and that’s on top of the criminals already here,” says Charles.

SEE ALSO: Former CIA Director: 'Two Thirds Of The US' Could Die From An Attack On The Country's Power Grid

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December 7, 1941 began as a perfect Sunday morning for the troops serving the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Under a early morning South Pacific sun, softball teams were lining up on the beach. Pitchers warmed up their arms, while batting rosters were finalized and the wives and kids came over from seaside church services.

They did not know that for hours the Japanese naval fleet and air forces had been speeding across the ocean toward America's Pacific base. There, like a string of pearls draped across the docks and waterfront, was the majority of America's naval might.

The devastating Japanese onslaught began at 7:48 a.m., eventually killing 2,402 Americans and wounding many others, sinking four battleships and damaging many more.

The Pearl Harbor attack spurred America into World War II, leading ultimately to Allied victory over the Japanese in the East and Nazis and other Axis powers in the West. And the country promised never to forget this day of infamy.

Here are photographs from the attack and its immediate aftermath:

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, an attack planned by Admiral Isoroku Yamamotoa was carried out to demobilize the US Navy. This picture shows one of more than 180 planes used in the attack.

At 7:00 a.m., an Army radar alert operator spotted the first wave of the Japanese attack force. The officers to whom those reports were relayed did not consider them significant enough to take action. This photo shows an aerial view of Battleship Row in the opening moments of the raid. 

The Japanese aircrews were able to hit most of the American ships on Oahu shortly before 8:00 a.m. Here a Japanese plane flies over Pearl Harbor while black smoke rises from the area. 

The Japanese also took the opportunity to attack military airfields while bombing the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of these simultaneous attacks was to destroy American planes before they could defensively respond.

There were more than 90 ships anchored in the area that morning. The primary targets were the 8 battleships sitting at Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor. Here is a picture of Battleship Row during the attack.

USS West Virginia (left) pictured here next to USS Tennessee, was one of the first battleships to sink during the attack. The Japanese successfully damaged all 8 battleships. 

At about 8:10 a.m., USS Arizona explodes as the ship's forward ammunition magazine is ignited by a bomb. About half of the total number of Americans killed that day were on this ship. Here is a picture of battleship USS Arizona.

Here is another picture of USS Arizona ... 

Destroyer USS Shaw explodes during the 3-hour Japanese attack. 

There was a short lull in the attack at about 8:30 a.m. The damaged USS Nevada tried to escape down the channel toward the open sea but became a target during a second wave of 170 Japanese planes, hoping to sink her in the channel and block the narrow entrance to Pearl Harbor. The ship was grounded with 60 killed on board.

A Japanese plane dives into flames after it was hit by American naval antiaircraft fire. Fewer than 30 Japanese planes were lost in the attack. 

About 188 American planes were destroyed and another 159 were damaged. Here is a picture of some planes left on Hickam Field near Pearl Harbor. 

Sailors at the Naval Air Station in Kaneohe, Hawaii, attempt to salvage a burning PBY Catalina in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 

People in Times Square, New York buy newspapers with headlines saying, "Japs Attack US." American entered the Second World War after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Salvage work begins on destroyers USS Cassin and the USS Downes. The Japanese failed to damage any American aircraft carriers, which were surprisingly absent from the harbor. 

A Japanese torpedo plane is hoisted from the bottom of the sea. About 10 percent of Japanese planes were lost on December 7th.

USS Oklahoma, seen in this photo with one of its propellers peeking out of the water, was considered too old to be worth repairing.

A Marine holds a piece of shrapnel removed from his arm following the attack. 

This photo shows sailors participating in a memorial service for the more than 2,400 killed in the attack. 

Robert Johnson and Kamelia Angelova contributed to this report.

SEE ALSO: 'We were lucky': Pearl Harbor vet describes how he survived the infamous attack

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In this excerpt from The ISIS Solution: How Unconventional Thinking And Special Operations Can Eliminate Radical Islam, Army Ranger Jack Murphy, Navy SEAL Brandon Webb, and Recon Marine Peter Nealen, reveal the effective tactics ISIS exploits in ground warfare.

ISIS has kept its field forces light. While it has captured plenty of Syrian and Iraqi armored vehicles in recent months (many of the Iraqi vehicles US-supplied), there have been few if any reports of them actually being used in frontline combat, at least in Iraq. The given figures for targets hit once the US air strikes began in August include very little in the way of armored fighting vehicles.

While most of the images of captured US and Russian armor were from parades in Raqqa, it appears that most of such vehicles have been pulled back to ISIS havens in Syria to be used to defend against the Syrian regime and the group’s rivals in the rebellion.

There is good reason for this. Keeping forces light makes the ISIS forces maneuverable and hard to spot and hit. Keeping to up-armored Humvees and pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, heavy machine guns, or automatic grenade launchers allows them to move with greater speed.

Main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can rarely manage much more than forty-five miles per hour on the road (in fact, the Abrams, of which ISIS captured quite a few, has an engine governor that keeps it from traveling faster than that). Even up-armored Humvees, most of which are likely fairly worn out by now, can manage close to sixty miles per hour.

Another key to ISIS’s flexibility has been its logistics. The group has captured a great deal of matériel, and fuel is no exception. Keeping to light, fast forces reduces the fuel requirements. An Abrams tank requires five hundred gallons of jet fuel to cover 265 miles.

A Toyota HiLux, by contrast, can cover about five hundred miles on one twenty-gallon tank of gasoline. Add in the considerable maintenance requirements of tracked armored vehicles, and the decision to use technicals makes even more sense.

In addition, whether planned for or not, once the air campaign began, ISIS’s light, fast operational profile enabled the group to scatter and go low profile more easily when the jets flew overhead.

The veteran fighters had plenty of experience hiding from American aircraft before 2012 and Syrian aircraft in the years since. In a country with a lot of small and midsized pickups on the roads, it is considerably easier to hide a pickup-centered force than large armored vehicles.

So the ISIS fighters are light and fast on the battlefield and can exploit weaknesses quickly once identified. In maneuver warfare, the terms are “gaps” and “surfaces.” Gaps are weak points where an enemy’s line of resistance can be penetrated; surfaces are strong points. ISIS consistently avoids surfaces and goes for gaps.

ISIS initially avoided confronting the Kurdish peshmerga after taking Mosul, preferring to launch attacks on the demoralized Iraqi Army.

While they certainly exploited the Sunni-Shi’a split and the unwillingness of Shi’a troops to fight for Sunni cities in the north, the terror campaign exemplified by the mass executions of prisoners in Mosul was also calculated to break the Iraqi soldiers’ will to resist.

With their fellow Iraqi Army soldiers having crumbled in the face of ISIS’s advance, and then seeing what happened to those who were taken alive, the effect on morale, and therefore the will to resist, was devastating.

The fact that the prisoners who were marched to their deaths did so without a single sign of defiance toward their captors cannot have done anything but further drive home the message that ISIS was invincible.

That in and of itself was a powerful weapon.

When faced with stiffer resistance, however, the ISIS fighters did not show any reluctance to fall back. The Bayji oil refinery, a major strategic asset, became a target within days of the fall of Mosul. Initial reports said that the ISIS fighters had actually seized the refinery.

However, when faced by an Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service counterattack, they faded.

The importance of the refinery has led to continuous attacks in the weeks and months since, but as long as the Iraqis defend it with any kind of tenacity, the ISIS attackers continue to fall back.

Once the drive against the Kurds began, primarily as ISIS went for Mosul Dam, their blitzkrieg-style maneuver tactics became that much more obvious. As light and fast as the ISIS forces were, they were facing equally lightly armed peshmerga.

The peshmerga, for all its reputation for ferocity, is a lightweight mountain militia, and had been under equipped for some time, due to political disputes with Baghdad (Maliki had refused to pass on at least one major arms and munitions shipment intended for the Kurdistan Regional Government and the peshmerga). 

ISIS has also consistently employed combined arms, in spite of its light, fast operational profile. Although the inventory is unknown, and changes daily depending on captures or losses, ISIS is known to have mostly truck-based mortars and towed howitzers.

It has captured several self-propelled artillery pieces, which it has shown in parades in Raqqa, but, like the tanks, they appear to be kept in safe havens in Syria rather than being employed on the front lines in Iraq.

Excerpted from The ISIS Solution: How Unconventional Thinking And Special Operations Can Eliminate Radical Islam, by, (St. Martins Press, 2014). Excerpted with permission by Brandon Webb.

About the authors:

Jack Murphy is an eight year Army Special Operations veteran who served as a Sniper and Team Leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion and as a Senior Weapons Sergeant on a Military Free Fall team in 5th Special Forces Group. 

Brandon Webb is a former US Navy SEAL with combat deployments to southwest Asia, including Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was a Course Manager for the US Navy SEAL Sniper program, arguably the most difficult sniper course in the world.  

Peter Nealen is a former Reconnaissance Marine and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an avid outdoorsman, the Marine Editor for SOFREP.com, and a history buff.

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In a report published in November 2014, South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) suggested that unification of the two Koreas could cost US$500bn over 20 years.

This is an optimistically low figure. It does not accord well with Germany's unification experience, where costs totalled around US$2trn over two decades. But it does fit the narrative promoted by the South Korean administration of unification being beneficial for the South; the president, Park Geun-hye, famously referred to unification as a "bonanza" earlier this year.

Given that North Korea is both poorer and demographically larger than East Germany, The Economist Intelligence Unit anticipates that unification costs will substantially exceed the FSC figure.

Although the FSC, a quasi-independent agency in the South Korean government, has claimed that its estimate should be viewed neither as definitive nor as a formal government position, it has sparked a new round of debate over the likely high cost of unification. The FSC figure purports to be the necessary investment to raise average annual GDP per head in the North to US$10,000. At present, North Korea's average GDP per head is around US$1,400, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK, South Korea's central bank), and so this would represent a remarkable sevenfold increase over 20 years.

Debating Korean unification costs is relatively speculative, and North Korea's extraordinary opacity only worsens the problem. By contrast, West Berlin sat right in the middle of East Germany, and so the western republic had a much greater sense of the human- and physical-capital troubles of the east. Korea has no such shared locus, and North Korea is even more secretive with information than East Germany was. It is not even clear that the Northern regime can properly estimate its own GDP; the country ceased releasing such data in 1967. The BOK, which provides the most widely used estimates, is frequently accused of guesswork in making its approximations.

The case of East Germany

It is therefore likely that when the North Korean "black box" is finally opened to outsiders, it will be worse inside than anticipated. This was the case in Germany: the west did not anticipate just how antiquated the east's infrastructure was, including telephone lines, roads and bridges. Buildings throughout East Germany even still had damage from the second world war.

Here direct comparison with East Germany is valuable. East Germany's GDP per head in 1990 was around US$10,000 for some 16m people. This number rose over the following two decades, but it is still equivalent only to about two-thirds of western GDP per head. Unemployment in eastern Germany is still triple that of the west, and there has been large-scale migration from east to west in search of jobs and better living standards. Of the US$2trn pumped into East Germany, about 65% of the total went into pension and direct transfers to individuals.

It is easy to imagine that almost all these statistics are vastly worse for North Korea. For although East Germany was a Sovietised police state, it was not the Orwellian terror that North Korea is. Infrastructure in North Korea is also notoriously poor-roads and bridges wash out in the rain, buildings collapse and agriculture is so inefficient that the country must depend on foreign food aid. East German phones, cars and televisions may have been shoddy by developed-world standards, but at least they had them. Most North Koreans outside the capital, Pyongyang, do not.

The average North Korean is vastly poorer, and less well educated, than the average East German was. There are also 7m more North Koreans than East Germans at the time of unification. North Koreans are far more brutalised by their regime and unprepared for a modern economy, much less the global economy. It is likely that South Korean transfers will have to exceed those of West Germany, and that the FSC's US$500bn estimate is several orders of magnitude too small. Some analyses have reached as high as US$5trn over two decades.

When the floodgates open

The FSC has sought to soften the blow (despite its low estimate) by suggesting that up to one-half of the resources would come from foreign sources as diverse as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the UN and Western countries. This, too, is highly unlikely. Multilateral development banks (such as the ADB and the World Bank) lend primarily to low-income countries. A unified Korea would not be a low-income country, given the South's level of development, and Germany never enjoyed such support.

Nor do these development banks, or other international organisations such as the IMF, have the enormous resources that unification would require at very short notice. Similar hopes that Japan, the US and others would provide support all depend on political convenience-such aid is not guaranteed.

Far better would be for South Korea to begin seriously preparing its citizens for the enormous cost and burden should the country have to absorb North Korea in the future. North Korea is one of the worst-administered states in the world. Bringing it to anything like modern South Korean standards without massive internal migration southwards or post-unity civil chaos is likely to cost far more than US$500bn, and most of this will fall on Southern taxpayers for decades. The sooner South Korea's government speaks plainly to this, the less blindsided and rejectionist will be public opinion when these sudden costs arise.

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Iran has been steadily developing its cyber warfare capabilities for a number of years and now poses a significant threat to government agencies and critical infrastructure companies around the world. 

This is according to a new report entitled "Operation Cleaver," which was released by US cyber security firm Cylance. The title alludes to the custom software used in Iranian hacking operations, which frequently uses the word "cleaver" in its coding.

Operation Cleaver has targeted the military, oil and gas, energy and utilities, transportation, airlines, airports, hospitals and aerospace industries, amongst others. The attacks have taken place at over 50 entities in 16 countries— only 10 of the targeted companies have been in the US. 

"We believe that if the operation is left to continue unabated, it is only a matter of time before the team impacts the world’s physical safety," Cylance said in an 87-page report on the hacking campaign released last Tuesday.

Iran has officially denied involvement in the hacking campaigns. "This is a baseless and unfounded allegation fabricated to tarnish the Iranian government image, particularly aimed at hampering current nuclear talks," said Hamid Babaei, spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations, told Reuters. 

In light of how ambitious Iran's hacking campaigns have become, the report makes a bold claim: Iran is the new China. 

But cybersecurity expert David Kennedy, founder of the security consulting firm TrustedSec, thinks that this may be an overstatement.

"Iran's cyber capabilities aren't anywhere near those of Russia, China, or the US," he told Business Insider. "But it's certainly getting there."

Iran's hacking campaigns began in earnest in 2011, in retaliation to the cyber attacks that were launched against the country's nuclear program from 2009-2012. 

"Cyber warfare doesn't require a significant number of troops or a superior set of bombs," Kennedy told Business Insider. "Iran was the first to capitalize on that."

In the event of a conflict, Kennedy says, Iran will be able to use its cyber technology to shut down core facilities around the world. "Iran is doing it now more for military readiness," Kennedy says. Ahead of talks on Iran's nuclear programme in 2015, "this definitely gives them negotiating power."

SEE ALSO: Israel Faced A Huge Wave Of Cyber Attacks During Its War With Hamas — And Iran Could Be The Reason Why

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Questions remain about what happened to most of the up to 1.77 million classified documents allegedly taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden.

And former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, who helmed the newspaper when it received a copy of the estimated 200,000 Snowden documents that are known to have been given to journalists, has no idea about the fate of the other classified files.

Abramson discussed the files during a lecture at Columbia University 's School of Journalism last week that was part of a series called "Journalism After Snowden." At the event, Abramson described Snowden as a "genuine idealist."

After she spoke, Abramson took questions and Business Insider asked her about the documents that haven't been accounted for.

"I obviously don't know," she said.

While working at two consecutive jobs in Hawaii from March 2012 to May 2013, Snowden allegedly stole about 200,000 "tier 1 and 2" documents, which mostly detailed the NSA's global surveillance apparatus and were given to American journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in June 2013.

The US government believes Snowden also took up to 1.5 million "tier 3" documents potentially detailing U.S. capabilities and NSA offensive cyber operations, the whereabouts of which are unknown.

Abramson went on to note there has been some speculation there may be another NSA leaker in addition to Snowden.

"Months have gone by and if there is a second source no one has revealed who he or she is," said Abramson.

A second leaker was introduced in "Citizenfour," a documentary by Poitras that featured her rendezvous with Snowden in Hong Kong. However, that person has identified and allegedly took documents regarding the U.S. drone program and the number of Americans on the watch list.

The missing documents in question deal with what Snowden saw as "the NSA’s aggressive cyberwarfare activity around the world," as reported by James Bamford of Wired.

In October James Risen of the Times reported that the former CIA technician said "he gave all of the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong." (ACLU lawyer and Snowden legal adviser Ben Wizner subsequently told Business Insider that the report was inaccurate.)

In May 2014, Snowden thentold NBC's Brian Williams in Moscow he "destroyed" all documents in his possession while in Hong Kong.

SEE ALSO: The New Snowden Documentary Is Utterly Fascinating — And Critically Flawed

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TIME has revealed the eight people who are still in the running for the magazine's Person of The Year issue.

Here they are:

• The Ferguson protesters, who demonstrated against the killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.
• The caregivers who are fighting the biggest Ebola outbreak in history.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took the world by surprise in March when he annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and started a protracted conflict in the country's southeast.
• Pop star Taylor Swift, who has gone to war with Spotify while making millions off a new record.
• Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma, who oversaw the largest IPO of all time. 
• Apple CEO Tim Cook, who released the iPhone 6 and announced that he is gay.
• Acting President of Iraqi Kurdistan Masoud Barzani, whose fighters have been the first level of defense against marauding ISIS militants.
• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is in hot water after star running back Ray Rice knocked out his girlfriend in an elevator and was not punished until an anonymous employee told the AP about the security tape being sent to the NFL.

Pope Francis won last year.

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The US once appeared hesitant to brand the coalition effort against ISIS, only revealing the name of the operation nearly two months after bombing began.

But Operation Inherent Resolve is now in its fourth month, and policymakers seem to realize that they need to put a public face on a campaign that isn't going to be over any time soon.

First, the coalition established a Joint Task Force with its own logo, which can be seen at right. The Task Force was set up by US Central Command to coordinate efforts against ISIS, and is "comprised of US military forces and personnel from more than 30 countries," according to a December 8 press release. It had its first "coalition integration conference" during the first week of December.

In an email to Business Insider, a Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson explained that the logo was "designed by one of the CJTF OIR public affairs staff members."

"The swords and olive branch indicate the dual nature of the Coalition - the defeat of ISIL and the restoration of stability to the region," the spokesperson wrote. "The 7 leaves of the olive branch represent the seven peoples of Iraq: (Sunni, Shia, Kurd, Turkoman, Assyrian, Yazidi, Armenian).

"The colors used are a reflection of military assets - brown and green for land components; blue for air and naval. The 3 stars indicate the Command, while the color gold represents the quality of excellence performed by the command in the nation's defense."

Military iconography is rife with images of an olive wreath enclosing swords — the Israel Defense Forces and the Lebanese and Australian military all use version of the image, as does the US's Judge Advocate General Corps. The pair of scimitars in the insignia also brings to mind the logo of Saudi Arabia's interior ministry. 

Saudi Arabia is part of the anti-ISIS coalition and has aided in operations in Iraq. It's possible that the inclusion of an iconic Middle Eastern weapon was meant to highlight the role of the Arab members of the coalition, which also include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Jordan (officers of the US Marine Corps also carry a curved blade called a Mameluke Sword that resembles a scimitar, and is based on a weapon presented to a Marine lieutenant by a North African leader in 1805). 

Meanwhile, a Twitter profile claiming to be "the official Twitter account of the international coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve" appeared on December 8th, not long after the Task Force was officially announced. While the account has not yet been verified, its second tweet contained a bureaucratic clarification, noting that the Task Force will now handle public affairs related to the mission, and not the Tampa-based US Central Command.

Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve replaces USCENTCOM as public affairs release authority. #Iraq#Syria

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 5, 2014

The US-led campaign has been responsible for 1,200 airstrikes against ISIS and various Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria. It includes 1500 US military advisers assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in the fight against the group, with plans to increase the number to 3,100.

Most the recently, the coalition has focused airstrikes around Raqqa, Syria, the capital of ISIS's self-proclaimed "caliphate," after air support helped the border city of Kobane hold out against a prolonged siege from the jihadist group. 

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As cybercrime becomes increasingly damaging, the FBI has kept a list of "Cyber's Most Wanted." 

Comprised of the most damaging cyber criminals in the world, the wanted list includes five officers from China's People's Liberation Army and ten individuals for whom the FBI is offering cash rewards. 

The individuals are wanted for their roles in defrauding US citizens, companies, and government entities of money and sensitive economic information. With one major exception, these criminals were mostly motivated by greed, using the internet as a means to rip people off and steal valuable information.

The FBI's compilation of a most-wanted list came in response to the increasing sophistication of cyber-crime. In November, hackers believed to be linked to North Korea carried out one of the most debilitating attacks ever against Sony Pictures Entertainment. This hack resulted in the theft of over a terabyte of data from the company. 

Chinese People's Liberation Army Hackers

Reward: Unlisted

A grand jury has indicted five members of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) on 31 criminal counts. The PLA hackers are wanted for conspiring to commit computer fraud, theft of trade secrets, damaging computers through the transmission of code and commands, economic espionage, and other counts. 

The five PLA hackers were all officers in the China's Third Department of the General Staff Department of the PLA. The hackers targeted companies that were either participating in joint ventures with Chinese companies or were pursuing legal action with, or against, state-owned businesses in China. 

The five hackers were the first foreign government officials to ever be specifically targeted by the US for cyber crime. 

Shaileshkumar P. Jain

Reward: $20,000

Shaileshkumar P. Jain is a US citizen with ties to Swedish alleged cyber-criminal Bjorn Daniel Sundin (see next slide). Jain created an international cybercrime scheme in which users from over 60 countries purchased more than one million fraudulent software products. Jain and his co-conspirators also deceived victims through browser hijacking and multiple bogus error messages. 

Jain is wanted for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and computer fraud. 

Bjorn Daniel Sundin

Reward: $20,000

Bjorn Daniel Sundin is a Swedish cyber criminal with ties to Ukraine and a co-conspirator alongside Shaileshkumar P. Jain. Together, Sundin helped scam internet users across 60 countries, getting them to spend more than $100 million on fraudulent software that installed malware on users' machines. 

Sundin is wanted for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, and computer fraud. 

North Korea has officially denied that it was behind the Sony hacks. But in a statement published in state media, the country ambiguously hinted that a group sympathetic to Pyongyang may have carried out the attacks.

Rob York, writing for NK News, cites a report issued by the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that denied the country was behind the Sony hacks.

According to KCNA, any claims that Pyongyang targeted Sony as revenge for the soon-to-be released film The Interview, in which Seth Rogen and James Franco play talk show hosts enlisted by the CIA to travel to North Korea and assassinate Kim Jong-Un, was a "wild rumor" spread by the "south [sic] Korean puppet authorities." 

However, the report went on to suggest that groups sympathetic to North Korea may have acted independently and carried out the attack. 

“The hacking into the SONY Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK in response to its appeal,” the KCNA report stated. “What matters here is that the US set the DPRK as the target of the investigation, far from reflecting on its wrongdoings and being (ashamed) of being taken unawares."

The report also contained a further warning to the US that Washington "should also know that there are a great number of supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK all over the world as well as the ‘champions of peace’ who attacked the SONY Pictures." 

This statement is seemingly in line with a theory from Sony and security consultants that the hack was carried out by third parties working in China on Pyongyang's behalf. The company is "exploring the possibility" of North Korean involvement, according to Re/Code.

The size and scope of the Sony hack are unprecedented for an attack on a major US company. Hackers downed Sony's system and released upwards of 11 terabytes of internal company data. 

SEE ALSO: The Sony hack is a watershed if North Korea was involved

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