Former Naval War College Professor and Military Adviser Admits Uploading Child Porn to Tumblr

PORTSMOUTH, RI—A 47-year-old Portsmouth man and former research professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport admitted in federal court Wednesday that he distributed child pornography using the Tumblr.com website.

U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said that Cobb, who was arrested in April of last year after an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, will be sentenced on May 19 by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr.

Cobb was arrested after police traced child porn images uploaded to Tumblr.com to an Internet address at his Portsmouth house.

Cobb’s Lilac Lane house was searched by ICAC Task Force Members, along with a member from HSI, with support from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, last March.

Cobb was not home, but investigators seized laptops and cell phones for forensic examination. The next day, Cobb’s cell phone was seized by Customs and Border Patrol agents at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Aiport as he returned to the United States from a trip to Tokyo, Japan.

Investigators discovered photos and videos of two females on a storage device and computer belonging to Cobb and ICAC members were able to identify the females as juveniles at the time the photos and videos were taken.

Col Steven G. O’Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said that HSI offices in Baltimore, Maryland and London, England, assisted with the identification.

Cobb came to the U.S. Naval War College in June of last 2014. He has served as a professor, strategist, deputy coordinator for special operations for the U.S. Special Operations Command, researcher, senior defense adviser to the Parliament of Australia and was a staff member in the United States Congress, according to his now-removed biography on the U.S. Naval War College website.

Cobb is currently free on $1 million surety bond.