US to Blame Iran Publicly For 2013 Hack of Tiny Long Island Dam

Hackers Never Had Control of Anything, Officials Insisted

A 20 foot slab of concrete on Long Island, the Bowman Avenue Dam is in the news again today, with reports that the US Justice Department intends to publicly blame Iran for the hack, and indict people they think may well have been involved.

Barely a dam, and barely a hack, officials told Congress last year that the hackers never gained control of anything in the probe of the site, and even if they’d gained full control couldn’t have done anything of serious damage with it.

Indeed, the only reason officials seemed to ever hear about it was that the White House was mistakenly informed because they thought the attack targeted the Arthur Bowman Dam in Oregon, a major site. After it was revealed to be the tiny Long Island site, no further action appears to have been taken.

Still and all, officials don’t want to waste a perfectly good chance to blame Iran for something, though as yet they’ve offered no real evidence that the “attackers” had any link with the Iranian government, let alone that this was a state-sponsored hack.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.