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ByLolitaC.Baldor The Associated Press WASHINGTON Hackers claiming to work on behalf of Islamic State militants seized control of the Twit- ter and YouTube sites of the military's U.S. Central Com- mand on Monday. The Pen- tagon swiftly suspended the sites and said it appears that no classified material was breached. The hacker group ap- pears to be the same one that is under FBI investi- gation for hijacking the websites or Twitter feeds of media outlets in the last month, including a Mary- land television station and a New Mexico newspaper. The Central Command Twitter site was filled with threats that said "Ameri- can soldiers, we are com- ing, watch your back." Other postings appeared to list names, phone num- bers and personal email ad- dresses of military person- nel as well as PowerPoint slides and maps. Most of the material was labeled "FOUO," which means "For Official Use Only," but none of it ap- peared to be classified or sensitive information, sug- gesting the hackers did not breach classified material. One of the documents appeared to be slides de- veloped by the Massachu- setts Institute of Technol- ogy's Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center fo- cused on national security. The slides appeared to de- pict what it called "scenar- ios" for conflict with North Korea and China. "This is little more than a prank or vandalism. It's in- convenient and it's an an- noyance. But that's all it is," said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. "It in no way compromises our operations in any way shape or form." Warren said Pentagon officials are in contact with Twitter and YouTube to en- sure that military pass- words and other security for such public websites are adequate. The tweets came shortly after U.S. Central Com- mand posted its own tweets about the U.S. and partner nations continuing to at- tack Islamic State terror- ists in Iraq and Syria and one repeating a report that said France will deploy an aircraft carrier to the fight. The hackers titled the Central Command Twit- ter page "CyberCaliphate" with an underline that said "i love you isis." And the broader message referred to the ongoing airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and threatened, "We broke into your networks and per- sonal devices and know ev- erything about you. You'll see no mercy infidels. ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base." It added: "US soldiers! We're watching you!" The intrusion on the mil- itary Twitter account car- ried the same logo, Cyber- Caliphate name and photo that appeared on the Albu- querque Journal's website in late December when one of its stories was hacked. And earlier this month, it appeared that the same hackers breached the Jour- nal's Twitter account and also took over the website and Twitter feed of WBOC- TV in Salisbury, Maryland. The FBI at the time ac- knowledged it was looking into the Albuquerque case, and WBOC said it was also in contact with the agency. Some IS militant videos also were posted on the Central Command's You- Tube site, purporting to show military operations and explosions. "This is something we're obviously looking into, and something we take seri- ously," White House spokes- man Josh Earnest said. But he cautioned against com- parisons to the broader hack attack against Sony. "There's a pretty significant difference between what is a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter ac- count," he said. A senior defense official confirmed that the two ac- counts were compromised and said U.S. Central Com- mand was taking appropri- ate measures to address the matter. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about it publicly on the record. The military suspended the Central Command Twit- ter site and terminated the YouTube site. This is not the first time that U.S. govern- ment websites or other ac- counts have been hacked. It was not clear whether the site was attacked by the in- surgent group or by sympa- thizers. THREATS Key US military command's Twitter, YouTube sites hacked THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The front page of the U.S. Central Command twitter account is shown a er it was hacked. By Regina Garcia Cano The Associated Press SIOUX FALLS, S.D. A fed- eral judge on Monday declared South Dako- ta's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, but marriage licenses won't be immediately issued be- cause the ruling was put on hold pending a poten- tial appeal. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier sided in fa- vor of the six couples who filed the lawsuit in May in Sioux Falls. The lawsuit challenges a 1996 state law and a voter-approved 2006 constitutional amendment that ban gay marriage. "Plaintiffs have a fun- damental right to marry," Schreier wrote. "South Da- kota law deprives them of that right solely because they are same-sex couples and without sufficient jus- tification." Attorney General Marty Jackley on Monday said the state will appeal the case to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a conser- vative-leaning federal ap- peals court that in 2006 af- firmed Nebraska's right to ban same-sex marriages. "It remains the state's po- sition that the institution of marriage should be defined by the voters of South Da- kota and not the federal courts," Jackley said. He said he's obligated by law to defend both the state constitution and state statutes. Two other states — Ar- kansas and Missouri — have appealed similar fed- eral district court rulings to the 8th Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court again is considering whether to hear a gay marriage case, and a ruling from another appeals court could in- crease the likelihood the justices will do so. In November, the fed- eral court of appeals based in Cincinnati became the first, and so far only, appel- late court to uphold state bans on same-sex marriage. Plaintiffs from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Ten- nessee are asking the court to reverse that decision. Presently, 36 states allow same-sex couples to marry, nearly twice as many as just three months ago. The South Dakota couples' attorney, Josh Newville, said this repre- sents the last opportunity for the state's "elected offi- cials to be on the right side of history" by not appeal- ing Schreier's decision. "I would say that Attor- ney General Jackley needs to consider very seriously the amount of money that he's pouring into this law- suit on behalf of the state to keep a discriminatory law in place," Newville said. Five of the couples al- ready married in Iowa, Connecticut and Minne- sota. Nancy Rosenbrahn, of Rapid City, married her longtime partner in April in Minneapolis. "On one hand, this is like the best present ever," Rosenbrahn said of the decision Monday. "On the other hand, you go back and you say 'Well, yeah, it should be a yes' because we are no different than any- body else. There is no rea- son to say we can't get mar- ried, there is no valid rea- son to do that anymore." FEDERAL JUDGE Same-sex marriage ban vo id ed i n So ut h Da ko ta By Steve Peoples The Associated Press ATLANTA Mitt Romney and his wife reached out to former staff and supporters in key states over the week- end, making contact just hours after shocking many by signaling interest in a third run for president. The Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee told a private gathering of New York-area donors on Friday that he is again se- riously exploring running for the White House. The next day, Romney began phoning former backers in Iowa and New Hamp- shire, including Jim Mer- rill, a top Romney staffer in New Hampshire during his 2008 and 2012 cam- paigns. "We had a great conver- sation. He made it clear to me he is seriously consider- ing the race," Merrill said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. "When you get a phone call like that at close to 9 on a Saturday night, it means something." Romney also called a handful of others support- ers in the state, while his wife, Ann Romney, phoned Susan Duprey, her personal traveling companion during the 2012 campaign and the wife of New Hampshire's national committeeman, Steve Duprey. Romney's move toward the 2016 campaign comes after months on insistence that he would not seek the White House for a third time. "The reality is this, and I'll say it the same way I have for quite some time, which is, I'm not running, I'm not planning on run- ning," Romney said on Fox News in November. While Romney was the overwhelming front-runner at the beginning of the 2012 campaign, he would join a 2016 field expected to fea- ture more than a dozen Re- publicans with legitimate White House resumes, in- cluding several sitting gov- ernors and U.S. senators. With little indication that Romney was seriously con- templating a third run, many of his former staffers and donors have already moved on to other poten- tial candidates. Romney first disclosed his intentions on Friday to a group of New York- area donors that included several Bush supporters. Some later reported being shocked, even frustrated, that Romney made such an announcement during what they thought was a meeting of old friends. Several members of Rom- ney's senior staff also re- ported having no idea that such an announcement was coming. 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