NPR – If Voting Machines Were Hacked, Would Anyone Know? – “As new reports emerge about Russian-backed attempts to hack state and local election systems [Link], U.S. officials are increasingly worried about how vulnerable American elections really are. While the officials say they see no evidence that any votes were tampered with, no one knows… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
GAO – DoD Actions Needed to Address Five Key Mission Challenges
Department of Defense: Actions Needed to Address Five Key Mission Challenges, GAO-17-369: Published: Jun 13, 2017. Publicly Released: Jun 13, 2017. “The Department of Defense (DOD) faces five key challenges that significantly affect the department’s ability to accomplish its mission. These include the need to (1) rebalance forces and rebuild readiness; (2) mitigate threats to cyberspace… Continue Reading
Trends in Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research & Development – A Physics Perspective
Secrecy News – Steven Aftergood: “This document… reviews the accessible literature for four research areas: source physics (understanding signal generation), signal propagation (accounting for changes through physical media), sensors (recording the signals), and signal analysis (processing the signal).” Source: Trends in Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research & Development — A Physics Perspective, Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-UR-17-21274,… Continue Reading
James Comey’s testimony to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Follow Up
Opening Statement – Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey – Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, June 8, 2017. [Bloomberg Will Livestream James Comey’s Testimony on Twitter] From Comey’s testimony this morning: “There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did… Continue Reading
Commentary by Barbara Fister – How Not To Fight Terrorism
Insider HigherEd – How Not To Fight Terrorism – Some thoughts on the role information plays in the response to recent attacks. Barbara Fister. June 5, 2017 [Snipped] “I suppose it’s inevitable, given that information-driven tech-centered global corporations dominate the list of Big Rich Companies, that information systems play a significant role in 21st century… Continue Reading
NSA contractor charged in leak of classified document on Russian hacking and US election
Washington Post – “A 25-year-old government contractor has been charged with mishandling classified information, after authorities say she gave a top-secret National Security Agency document to a news organization [See article by The Intercept]. Reality Leigh Winner was accused of gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information — the first criminal charge filed in a leak… Continue Reading
Iraq: US military admits failures to monitor over $1 billion worth of arms transfers
Amnesty International: “The US Army failed to keep tabs on more than $1 billion worth of arms and other military equipment in Iraq and Kuwait according to a now declassified Department of Defense (DoD) audit, obtained by Amnesty International following Freedom of Information requests. The government audit, from September 2016, reveals that the DoD “did… Continue Reading
DHS Privacy Office, New FOIA Subscription document library released
Via Jenny Groom – New FOIA documents now available: FEMA Frequently Requested Records – https://www.dhs.gov/publication/fema-records Presidential Transition Records – https://www.dhs.gov/publication/presidential-transition-records Countering Violent Extremism – https://www.dhs.gov/publication/countering-violent-extremism# Congressional Correspondence Logs – https://www.dhs.gov/publication/congressional-correspondence-logs Continue Reading
CRS – Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy
Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, updated May 19, 2017. [Via FAS] “The United States, partner countries, and the Afghan government are attempting to reverse recent gains made by the resilient Taliban-led insurgency since the December 2014transition to a smaller international mission consisting primarily of training and advising the Afghanistan National Defense and Security… Continue Reading
Presidential Authority to Permit Access to National Security Information
SECRECY NEWS From the FAS Project on Government Secrecy: Presidential Authority to Permit Access to National Security Information, CRS Legal Sidebar, May 17, 2017. “Don’t Be So Quick to Call Those Disclosures ‘Legal‘ by Elizabeth Goitein, Just Security, May 17, 2017 “Why Trump’s Disclosure to Russia (and Urging Comey to Drop the Flynn Investigation, and… Continue Reading
How The Intercept visualized and open-sourced a database of terrorism prosecutions since 9/11
“Last month, The Intercept published “Trial and Terror,” a database of – and series of stories about – the 796 people prosecuted for international terrorism by the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001. To accompany the database, Moiz Syed, a data journalist and designer at The Intercept, developed a visualization to convey details of the cases, including the most… Continue Reading
Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Investigations of the Executive Branch by the Executive Branch
Special Counsels, Independent Counsels, and Special Prosecutors: Investigations of the Executive Branch by the Executive Branch, CRS Legal Sidebar, May 11, 2017. “Under constitutional principles and authorities, Congress has no direct role in federal law enforcement and is limited in its ability to initiate appointments of any prosecutor for any particular matter in which there… Continue Reading
