Whats next for her. One asked me are you going to get the times tattoo removed . Not a chance. Good afternoon to you, im Peter Alexander in washington in for Andrea Mitchell. For first time the u. S. Department of justice has filed criminal charges for cyber economic he is pea onage against another country. This was attorney general eric holder in a press conference a short time ago. We are announcing an indictment against the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army for serious Cyber Security breaches against six american victim companies. The five Chinese Military officers conspired together and with others to hack into the computers in the western pennsylvania and elsewhere in the United States. We have brought a charging indictment and it is our hope to get them to stand before an american jury and face justice. Joining me now, pete williams. The five individuals charged, members of chinas united 61398, thats the group tasked with these types of attacks. What are the specific individuals accused of doing . They are members of the chinese army and Peoples Liberation army. What they are accused of doing is in the case of all of these companies, getting into the companys Computer System through a variety of means, sometimes sending these little announcements that are called spearfishing and looks like an email and attacks software in the computer that allows people to get in. These are the companies that they said were targeted and thats one of reasons why the charges come out of pennsylvania. Three big metal companies, u. S. Steel, westinghouse and alcoa doing projects with the chinese. Then the Steel Workers union and two Companies Working on solar technology. In every case the government says these folks from the chinese army got in and stole trade secrets. How the plants were built in the case of westinghouse, what the litigation strategy was going to be, how they were going to bid, allowing Chinese Companies to undercut them on the World Markets in some cases to stay a step ahead of them and get a competitive advantage. These were advantages for the government says in several cases stateowned companies. Pete, give us a sense of what teeth, if any, this has . It completes a vow the administration has made but the question is what does happen now . Will any of these folks be prosecuted for this . Well, will they ever come to the u. S. To stand trial is a good question and what the Justice Department is saying with a straight face today, well, thats our goal. I think whats really happening here is the government is saying that every time they accuse the chinese in the past of Cyber Espionage the chinese say prove it and the u. S. Is saying, okay, heres your proof, at such and such a time and date, this person was doing this on your computers. The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the charges were made up and would damage chineseamerican cooperation and mutual trust. They are denying anything to do with this, which is what they always do and saying they caught them red handed. Does this open up the flood gates to these legal challenges against other state actors . Well, in terms of retaliation you mean . In terms of will the u. S. Pursue going after other countries in addition to china or is it specific to china because the breadth of the accusations being made against china itself . Well, the u. S. Controls the into gates here. So i guess you could say they have opened a gate and allowed a charge to go through. The question i think is, will they continue to do this against i guess youre saying other chinese hackers and they certainly raise that possibility today, peter. That seems to be what they are saying, from now on, no more mr. Nice guy. Every time we get wind of this were going to file criminal charges. Its an escalation of the war of words that is so far been played out diplomatically between the u. S. And china. Pete williams, thank you very much. Joining us here is michael lighter, former director and National Security analyst. Give us a sense, if you can, about how big a National Security threat this really is to the u. S. . Its not just about individual companies, is it about National American security . I think this is, this is a very big deal and on several fronts. Economically, this is a huge threat to National Security because it is weakening our industries. As the Justice Department said during the press conference, this is about american jobs. And thats a National Security issue. It is also about National Security because the Chinese Government are stealing very sensitive technologies in this cases, how we build Nuclear Power plants, thats not just propriety but can be sensitive. On a number of fronts, this is a really serious National Security issue with our single biggest global competitor in the coming decades. You have a report cut out by kevin mand ya, they put this out, citing thousands of attacks taking place on 140 and 141 American Companies. I trust this continues at that pace unabated right now. How does the u. S. And u. S. Government aside from actions like today stop this . Well, this really is sort of the beginning of the game still. What has been going on for several years, five or six or seven years is chinese penetration of lots of Different Companies and industries. The report highlighted that. This is the next step in trying to deter the chinese from doing this. My expectation is just like the report a year ago, this may slow chinese activity but its not going to stop it. They are going to go in Different Directions and other industries are very susceptible. One of the questions Companies May be asking themselves, is there the risk of retaliation on a day like this . Whats the warning you would put out to American Companies paying attention to todays headlines. Most Companies Understand there is a sigtd chinese threat to their networks. I doubt the chinese will escalate cyber activity because that does feed the department of justice beast. Theres a really serious possibility of u. S. Businesses in china. The and the businesses cited in this criminal charge tend to be in direct competition with some Chinese Industries but not doing a ton of business in china. You believe these were the Companies Involved in todays case, because this is not apples and facebooks but ones competing with china and sends a message by the names the company they chose as much as anything else. Thats right. Lots of industries, dont want to be so public about the fact the chinese have penetrated their networks and that hurts their ability to do business in china, which is an enormous market. Isnt the u. S. Doing this too, with Iranian Nuclear program, arent we doing something not dissimilar . Great question. We draw distinction. Economic espionage aimed to help our businesses versus National Security espionage designed using cyber activities to steal information about National Security. Defense spying and other things. We do the latter and know that. We dont do the former. We dont steal information from airbus to help boeing. Thats what were seeing in these charges and previously, exactly what the chinese are doing. One is cooked into the books and another one is across the line . One is part of the International Global political environment but stealing information from American Companies to advance Chinese Companies, we say that thats unfair and certainly is, against the law. Before i let you go, give us a grade. Where do we stand if this is the Progress Report moment. How do you grade the u. S. And American Companies in terms of vulnerability . I think almost every industry still at best gets about a d. Most industries are not passing. Now, this is very hard thing to do. They need the u. S. Government to deter the chinese activity but this is a very deep problem that has to be battled by private sector and government together. The first chapter of a long book ahead of us i fear. Michael, nice to visit. Nice to be here. Now to the ongoing conflict in syria. A new report paints a startling picture of the growing toll from the threeyear civil war. According to an independent human rights group, more than 160,000 people, including more than 8,000 children have been killed in the warfare. The number includes civilians, syrian soldiers and progovernment fighters and rebel groups. The United Nations is no longer updating the death toll count due to the growing challenge of verifying that information and the last tally in july counted 100,000 dead. . For 175 dollars a month . N be on at ts network yup. All five of you for 175. Our clients need a lot of attention. Theres unlimited talk and text. Were working deals all day. You get 10 gigabytes of data to share. What about expansion potential . Add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. Low dues. Great terms. Lets close. New at t mobile share value plans. Our best value plans ever for business. music defiance is in our bones. Defiance never grows old. Citracal maximum. Calcium citrate plus d. Highly soluble, easily absorbed. Who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche . The same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds would go with a merging markets. Its a masterpiece. Thanks. Clearly you are type e. You made it phil. Welcome home. Now whats our strategy with the fondue . Diversifying your portfolio . E trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. Are you type e . Sure, losing a job you love hurts, but the work i revered, journalism that holds powerful institutions and people accountable is what makes our democracy so resilient. This is the work i will remain very much a part of. That was former New York Times editor Jill Abramson addressing graduates at wake fworest, First Time Since speaking publicly since being fired last week. I think the only real news here today is your graduation from this great university. First of all, congratulations. [ applause ] im impressed that your achievements have attracted so much media attention. As well they should. Having a little fun with the attention the story has brought to that university nbcs education correspondent rehema ellis attended the Commencement Ceremonies and joins me from will ton salem and susan glasser, were going to get to you. I want to go to rehema. Already weve heard high praise for abramsons remarks today focused on this theme of resilience. What was the real takeaway . Reporter students i talked to appreciated her speech and attempting to connect with them despite the fact we are here which could take the attention away from their ceremony. I spoke to folks and asked if they thought in light of the is this an issue of sexism . Two young women didnt think so. They thought if someone is a bad manager as it is alleged, it doesnt matter if it was a woman or man and didnt matter how long they were on the job, that they should be let go. Others were saying they didnt want to weigh in because they didnt know enough about it. Some others were saying that they felt that this was not a question so much of pay equity again but they appreciated that she did come here because they understood there was another commencement attempt that she turned down because it was too soon by the time she was let go and today. There was mixed comments out here and maybe it might surprise people from women and men, if someone is deemed to be a poor manager by their boss, it doesnt matter to them what sex they are, they should be let go. Peter . Rehema, you get the sense this will be the commencement address that students will remember as opposed to so many that go forgotten. I want to bring you into this conversation and ask you about a column you wrote a couple of days ago. Listen to more from abramson just moments ago. Now im talking to anyone whos been dumped you bet not gotten the job you wanted or received horrible rejection letters from grad school. You know the sting of losing or not getting something you badly want. When that happens, show what you are made of. Susan, you posted on this topic and you called your headline, i think it was editing while female, were going to put this on the screen, when i heard abramson called pushy, its with a shuder of recognition, you cant get to greatness by enabling immediate kritty. In male leaders its called having high standards and praise. What is the take away from the high profile firing and the days since were been defend baitiba within the Business Community in general . First of all, i have to say, whatever you think of the merits of the case and we dont know as your report pointed out. We dont really know. Its like a divorce, all unhappy marriages are unhappy in ways we cant get into. Its important to acknowledge we have a problem. If you look at the small, small number of Women Leaders of any organization in the United States and in particular our major American News organizations, the bottom line is we have a serious problem and i think you have to really stop step back and look at the ways in which this gender stereo typing continues to persist. My friends natalie was fired on the same day that Jill Abramson left. And both of these people i admire them and they couldnt be two more different people. If you read the news coverage, you would think they were the exact same person. Thats the kind of thing to cause people to pause and determine their own assumptions, i wish it were a question to just lean in. But these are people who leaned in and thats not the whole story. You openly worry about the impact of this story on young women, not just in journalism but business in general. What do you say to young women . I have a 1yearold daughter and a lot of people watching today are wondering what they say to their own daughters or women in that field . Well, you know, i have to tell you, when i was in college and editor of my college newspaper, if i had real itzed that this is where we would be in 2014, i would have been shocked and wouldnt have believed it. Youre not going to change the world unless you get out there and keep trying. I think Jill Abramsons speech was fairly nobling on that response. You have to be tough and have to be able to stay in the game in order to win it. Im worried there arent enough women in the pipeline in part because of these terrible examples of double standard that women still face. Over the weekend arthur salz dus berger junior responded. During her tenure, i heard repeatedly from her newsroom colleagues and women and men about a series of issues including ash trash decisionmaking and failure to consult and bring colleagues with her, inadequate communication and public mistreatment of colleagues. He also said it saddens him that the discussion is focused on gender inequality. The question is, is the point he makes a fair one . Again, its very hard for us as outsiders to pronounce judgment on this. The New York Times was happy to get the positive credit to embrace the gender narrative when it served them. Institutionally they are circling i understand that and im sympathetic to that as well. I understand that americans are very fair minded and we want individual stories to have their pride of place. What im saying is pull back from this. How is it possible that 51 of the population women should be such an incredibly abysmally small percentage of the leaders of our major news organizations. Thats the bottom line for me. Rehema, if any news was made there, it was the fact that she insisted shes not done yet. The next move is where she goes next in journalism . Reporter its a good question and one she addressed. Let me read part of her speech, she said im quoting, whats next for me . I dont know. Im in the same boat as all of you atresing the graduates and like you im scared but also excited. I get the impression and some were saying to me today that they expect they are going to hear from Jill Abramson again, not the end of her story. Thank you rehema ellis and susan glasser, speaking about jill abrams dzon, thank you very much. Secretary of state john kerry returned to his alma mater to speak to the soon to be graduates for Yale College Class day. They used the opportunity to take a comedic jab at the certain disgraced nba team owner. You are graduating today as the most diverse class in yales long history, or as they call it in the nba, donaldsterlings worst nightmare. 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