Hats off to this guy. This has been going on for years across the board in Gov. IT. No one wants bad news like a "break in" when their contract is on the line. Usually he would have gone through the Inspector General ( who is extremely understaffed)and this would have taken months. Maybe this will bring attention to these issues... because if it was a financial institution...we would have never heard a thing.

This guy was canned because he was told by corporate management that he was a Lockheed Martian first and an American second, and he said screw that. That's one of the main things wrong with this country (and the world) today; corporate interest (or political partisan interest) always trumps the national interest. Always, always follow the money- everything else is what comes out of the south end of a bull. Good on him and good on the jury.

This is "classic" big business in action. Exactly what happens when companies - especially those dealing with defense and high technology - are taken over by lawyers and bean counters. Common sense no longer prevails, and you get idiotic statements out of company spokespeople who are more concerned with image than doing the right thing. Serves 'em right, in this case.

Just goes to show that Senior Management in Defense Contractors will put profits and reputation over the safety and security of the country they were hired to protect... I find it truly telling that when shown the evidence and given the opportunity to do the right thing they chose to try and protect themselves and not go after the true perpertrators of this crime!

This is a perfect example of how our national security is being eroded every day due to Bush's policies. He wanted to sell our ports to Dubai, has opened our roads to mexican truckers who will no doubt smuggle 10X the amount of drugs into the U.S. then before, and allows these companies to handle sensitive nuclear weapons info and they sure don't care about the American people. They only cared about not allowing this leak to get out to the public. Well, too late for that. I hope their all fired and their contracts are revolked forever.

I'd be interested in checking into possible Chinese connections with LMT. Management seemed to be awfully cavalier in its attitude toward national security. As has been said before, especially in a corporate setting, "follow the money." I'll be surprised if something doesn't turn up.

Lockheed was fined $13 million dollars by the U.S. State Department in 2000 for giving a state-owned Chinese conglomerate information about satellite motor (violations of the Arms Export Control Act).

It makes no sense to me why they would fire him. If he cooperated with the FBI, shouldn't they protect him? What happened to the Sandia National Laboratories and Lockheed people responsible for his firing? Are they being charged with anything? Their conduct is shameful and criminal. This guy should get medal.

I advise readers to check a little further into this story. It turned out to be the Chinese government that was hacking into systems...and it wasn't even remotely limited to Sandia Labs. It was rampant throughout government (mainly military) installations. Do a search for the operation titled "Titan Rain" on our side and you should come up with an article on Time. Unbelievable that it had to come to their firing the guy over something so critical to national security. Kudos to you Shawn, for having the guts to do the right thing.

It looks like espionage. So, why hasn't the FBI made arrests? Is it because China is a lender of last resort to a bankrupt USA???

A jury of the citizens have spoken on this issue, and they have sent a very clear message. Lockheed should offer this guy his job back and apologize. Reports such as this one make me worry for our safety. If this guy had found information about another 9/11, we'd all be screwed. I can't believe we are seeing stuff like this after all this country has been through. Corporations like Lockheed are milking the taxpayers for all they're worth while they are firing patriots like Carpenter behind the scenes.

I used to work at Sandia, in a group which manufactured electronic components for nuclear weapons and defense satellites. The production line was so contaminated with stray metals and human “substances” that the parts seldom met test requirements.

As a former Lockmart employee that worked in various IT roles, it doesn't come as a surprise that they canned this guy for going to the feds. They sure as hell don't want the public, stockholders or partner companies to know their network leaks information like a sieve. Hackers were breaking into our networks and stealing files on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes they were on our networks for months before anyone discovered them. God knows what they have stolen.

I was a contract manager for three years at Lockheed, and had to leave because I just couldn't live with myself anymore. Writing about it even makes me want to puke. These contracts are most profitable when they are overbudget. The "cost plus" contract structure is horrible for the American taxpayer. Since government contractors like Lockheed get a percentage of costs, there is absolutely no incentive to find the best price. The converse is true, and I've seen Lockheed execs scramble to find the most expensive subcontractors so their profits are maximized. That's where the proverbial $1000 toilet seats come from - cost plus. It is all about the money. Waving American flags, commericals with pictures of eagles and regular trumpeting how much they support the troops is just a load of bull.

God bless america and shawn carpenter. I was very proud to meet mr. carpenter. he is truly a sincere person. He did the right thing to take on Sandia and show the american people that the money grubbers and polititically correct people are the ones that we need to be watching. thank god that there are still people like shawn.tell me Who is in charge? some one has to wake up and see what is happening to our national security.

I read in a recent Computer World interview that one of Carpenter's discoveries was a stash of stolen Lockheed Martin schematics on the Mars Reconassance Orbiter hidden on a server in Korea. He informed the FBI about his discovery when his sandia managers told him to ignore it. How can they fire him when he was helping the FBI investigate stolen Lockheed information? Our enemies can potentially use technology like this in their own missles. The managers should be put in jail.

give this man a medal. he has guts and grit and took on the corrupt lockheed managers that did him wrong and won. the jury sent a decisive message when they stuck it to lockheed. he beat them even though they have more money than god. he has my vote for congress anytime.

Unbelievable. Why hasn't this story been on TV? The conduct of Sandia managers in his case is clearly criminal. These idiots are helping the terrorists, spies and others who seek to harm our country. I hope the managers involved are fired and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. God bless Mr. Carpenter for doing the right thing.

Shocked by no press? $2 Billion Tax Dollars worth of Lockheed planes (8 of the new F22's) on their way to our base in Japan lost all navigation and fuel systems when they crossed the international date line end of Feb 2007 and received limited press as well...obviously Lockmart has some friends in high media places. The $250 planes as effective as CESSNA 152's in combat had to be visually led back to Hawaii by guide dogs to receive a software patch before they could be successfully sent to a base in Okinawa. Lockmart by far has the worst IT systems in ALL of corporate America - it's PATHETIC, the complete incompetence and is actually mind boggling...elementary schools probably have better designed and secured networks and applications. Someday the truth will come out...because hopefully no place can be so poorly managed and stay on top for too long - especially as our nations defense and tax dollars ride on their behaviours...

They can't even handle the corruption at Halliburton, how can they stop these other companies too. Recently they found out China acquired technology from the Aegis and they also have been working on missiles to take out our carriers while our government has done pretty much nothing to counter it. There are just a bunch of idiots in Washington.