The Pentagon suffered a black eye yesterday when a classified report detailing Chinese hackers’ access to weapons system design information was uncovered by The Washington Post. But the Defense Department says that even though the intrusions highlight some weaknesses in its networks, its "technological edge" is still intact. Pentagon spokesman George Little stated that, "suggestions that cyber intrusions have somehow led to the erosion of our capabilities… are incorrect," reports Bloomberg. Little added that "much of the information" in the leaked science board report is "dated." Nevertheless, the department plans to act "promptly" to address vulnerabilities in its systems.

According to the original Washington Post report, a wide variety of weapons system designs had been compromised, ranging from the Black Hawk helicopter and the Navy’s littoral combat ship to ballistic missile systems, but it isn't clear how much information about the systems was actually revealed. The Pentagon didn’t comment on the specifics of the report or the intrusions, but it did stress that it needs to improve cyber defense, and intends to act quickly. Some of these improvements are already underway — earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced a massive multi-year expansion to Cyber Command, its cybersecurity force.