So, it seems that several military and government officials in the U.S., Britain, and other allied countries were fooled by a friend request from a fake Admiral James G. Stavridis, NATO’s most senior officer—which in reality could’ve belonged to Chinese spies, according to Canada.com.  “Neither Facebook nor NATO would disclose just how many people had fallen for the scam, but it was clear the number was significant – and so are the implications.”  Consequences… will never be the same!

Imagine yourself in the shoes of some mid-level Defense Department worker who suddenly finds a new friend request from the most powerful man in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  It would kinda be like the time that hot cheerleader in high school asked you to help her with her homework.  Of course, she was just using you to cheat on that test—and so, it seems, were the Chinese!

“The spies who ran the fake profile gained access to a treasure trove of personal details – e-mail addresses, the names of family members, and possibly even phone numbers,” the report says. “The personal information could be used by hackers to try to crack the passwords used on encrypted systems.”  Gee, don’t our top-ranking officials know that your daughter’s name is considered a weak password?  You mean, they don’t have Information Security courses at the Pentagon!?

Of course, there’s no telling that the alleged spies got away with anything more useful than the fact that Robert M. Gates “Likes” Chili’s baby back ribs, but NATO has been sure to take extra precautions in any case.  The Supreme Allied Commander now has his own official Facebook page.