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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Cybersecurity

Cyber security: How safe are we?


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The month of October was designated international Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM) in several countries around the world.
Some activities took place  in Rwanda to observe this month.
CSAM is an annual campaign in which firms, institutions and countries engage the public to raise awareness on the importance of cyber security.
In the age of fast growing internet and information and communication technologies (ICTs), people, companies and countries are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to online fraud and threats.
In the month of October, many firms undertake to educate customers and employees on how to behave online and some of the best measures of staying safe on internet and on other digital platforms.
Public security

New York City terror attack highlights threat of vehicle attacks


The truck attack in New York City that left eight people dead and at least 13 injured, including the suspect, is the first successful truck attack in the United States, says CBS News senior national security analyst Fran Townsend.
Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, says the only successful vehicle attack was in Times Square earlier this year when a man mowed down multiple people.
"I think authorities have been expecting this. After the Nice attack on the promenade, New York Police Department authorities went out to 148 truck rental locations that they kept in touch with, talked to, trying to identify these types of individuals that might do a terror attack. But we don't know where he got this truck from," Townsend said.
The 29-year-old suspect in the New York City attack has residences in Tampa, Florida, and New Jersey. Authorities will be trying to put together the legal basis to go search those places, Townsend said.
Climate security

Climate change might be WORSE than we think after scientists find huge mistake in temperature estimates of Earth's ancient oceans


Climate change might be even worse than we think, according to a new study that is challenging the way we measure ocean temperatures. Pictured is Ceverville Island in AntarcticaClimate change might be even worse than we think, according to a new study that is challenging the way we measure ocean temperatures.
Scientists suggest that the method used to understand sea temperatures in the past is based on a mistake, meaning our understanding of climate change may be flawed.
The findings indicate that oceans in the past were much colder than thought, meaning that temperatures may be increasing quicker now than realised.

According to the methodology widely used by the scientific community, the temperature of the polar oceans 100 million years ago were around 15°C higher than current readings.
But in a new study, researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) are challenging this method.
Instead, they suggest that ocean temperatures may in fact have remained relatively stable throughout this period, which raises serious concerns about current levels of climate change.


Spy story

The British double agent who spied for Russia under secret service's noses and helped spark the Cold War


Kim Philby
Marshal and Snelgrove. Morecambe and Wise. Burgess and Maclean. For a generation growing up in the 1960s, the names of these infamous Russian double-agents were all as familiar and inseparable as, say, Ant and Dec.
Guy Burgess was one of the two ‘diplomats’ who mysteriously absconded to the Soviet Union in 1951. To be followed in 1963 by the ‘Third Man’, Kim Philby.
And there was a Fourth Man, and a Fifth Man. And certainly many further of Stalin’s Men (and Women) who remained unnumbered and unidentified. It was Moscow who coined the term ‘the Magnificent Five’. It was in its interests to constrain the number.
Yet Burgess remains in many ways the most intriguing, partly because of the many connections he maintained with the British establishment, and the way he hoodwinked them all. Later, everyone attempted to deny their true associations with him.
Weapons


Smart weapons get high-priority status in new Russian state arms program


Smart weapons get high-priority status in new Russian state arms program
High-precision weapons will be among the top priorities contained in the new Russian State Arms Program, along with strategic nuclear forces and intelligence support for military operations, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov has said.
The further development of nuclear weapons as a deterrent will continue to be a main objective of the program, Borisov told Russian newspaper Military-Industrial Courier in a major interview.
Our nuclear missile shield must be very reliable, so that no one entertains a slightest idea to test our strength,” he said, adding that the development of high-precision weapons will rank second in terms of importance in the program. The deputy minister expects the Russian defense industry to develop more types of such weapons in the near future.
The third key element of the program will be the development of “intelligence and information support for combat operations,” Borisov said, explaining that this includes the space group, navigation devices, and unmanned aircraft.  
Earlier this year, Borisov told reporters that the new program would include hypersonic weapons, cutting-edge drones, and weapon systems "based on new physical principles."
Personal security

Russian woman casually walks through explosions & fire to test armor suit (VIDEO)

Russian woman casually walks through explosions & fire to test armor suit (VIDEO)
A Russian tactical equipment producer showed off its cutting-edge armor by having a woman walk across a simulated battlefield as blasts detonated under her feet and she was lashed by flames.
The amor appeared to do its job, as model Viktoria Kolesnikova, clad in battle gear from top to toe, didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned at the chaos going on around her. Instead, she simply walked on determinedly until the ‘all clear’ call was given, allowing her to take off her mask. The worst thing that happened to Kolesnikova were the few smudges of soot left on her face.
Talking to excited journalists after her fiery exploits, Kolesnikova said performing stunts such as this gives her emotions unlike anything else.
“Standing inside a fire range is an amazing feeling. It’s beautiful and really just, ‘wow,’” she said.
Kolesnikova is a professional stuntwoman, but her task on Tuesday was unlike her usual jobs, since the hazards on the range were actually dangerous. Sergey Kitov, the head of the developer team at TsNIITochMash, says the walk was a demonstration of the company’s advanced aramid fabric, treated to withstand both kinetic threats and fire.
Prediction

“When the ATMs Go Dark in America…

I have grandchildren who live here in the United States.
That’s why I came back.
You see, I began writing this on an isolated ranch I own in the Andes Mountains. It’s 9,247 ft. above sea level, and a six-hour trek in 4-wheel drive from the nearest city.
I realize that must make me sound eccentric. And I can see why.
But when you come from nothing and grow up in a farming family, you understand that life can turn from good to bad very quickly…
…that the line separating our comfortable lives from disaster is thinner than most people care to know…
…that things are not always what they seem.
That’s what brought me out to that ranch: because things in America today are not what they seem.
And I believe that you and I are about to experience a shock not seen in this country in 200 years (the last time was in the 1800s).
Crime

Mexican Organized Crime Groups Are Now Stealing Octopuses

Mexican Organized Crime Groups Are Now Stealing OctopusesMore than a dozen trailers transporting multi-ton shipments of frozen octopus have been reported stolen in Mexico in the last month, illustrating how crime groups are constantly seeking new revenue streams, even in seemingly unlikely places.
Since a devastating earthquake rocked Mexico City on Sept. 19, 14 trailers carrying multi-ton frozen octopus shipments have been robbed on federal highways leading from the Caribbean state of Yucatán to other parts of the country, El Diario de Yucatán reported.
According to the local publication, each trailer carried 25 tons of octopus, an amount worth some $3 million. It’s estimated that the total losses accumulated from the robberies have now totaled more than $40 million.
Innovations & technilogies

After Trying the Desktop of the Future, I’m Sticking with the Past


For the past few days I’ve augmented my reality at work, adding virtual displays to my office so that, while wearing a special headset, I can do things like type e-mails and read news and tweets without taking up real estate on my small laptop. I’ve brought virtual objects to my desk, too, like a little pile of logs burning in a charming, heat-free fire.
I did all this with the Meta 2 headset, a $1,495 device from Meta, a Silicon Valley startup that is one of a handful of companies trying to bring augmented reality to the mass market (its founder, Meron Gribetz, was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2016). The Meta 2, which is intended for developers, needs to be connected to a beefy computer in order to work, but it’s about half the price of Microsoft’s HoloLens device (also still aimed just at developers), has a larger field of view, and also produces very good-looking 3-D images in real environments.
Nuclear security

The North Korean Nuclear Challenge:Military Options and Issues for Congress

WMD world map.svgNorth Korea’s apparently successful July 2017 tests of its intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities, along with the possibility that North Korea (DPRK) may have successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead, have led analysts and policymakers to conclude that the window for preventing the DPRK from acquiring a nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States is closing. These events appear to have fundamentally altered U.S. perceptions of the threat the Kim Jong-un regime poses to the continental United States and the international community, and escalated the standoff on the Korean Peninsula to levels that have arguably not been seen since 1994. A key issue is whether or not the United States could manage and deter a nuclear-armed North Korea if it were to become capable of attacking targets in the U.S. homeland, and whether taking decisive military action to prevent the emergence of such a DPRK capability might be necessary. Either choice would bring with it considerable risk for the United States, its allies, regional stability, and global order. Trump Administration officials have stated that “all options are on the table,” to include the use of military force to “denuclearize,”—generally interpreted to mean eliminating nuclear weapons and related capabilities—from that area.
Health security

How health care providers can help end the overprescription of opioids

A pharmacist holds prescription painkiller Hydrocodine Bitartrate and Acetaminopohen, 7.5mg/325mg pills, made by Mallinckrodt at a local pharmacy, in Provo, Utah, U.S., April 25, 2017. REUTERS/George Frey - RC140981E7A0
By any metric, opioid-related overdoses in the United States have reached epidemic proportions. Many intertwined causes have led to this crisis, from reduced access to substance-abuse treatment, to increased unemployment spurring use of prescription opioids, to online pharmacies that illegally supply prescription opioids to patients.
But health care providers are also widely held responsible for overprescribing prescription opioids. While research testing this hypothesis is mixed, it’s clear that efforts to curb the epidemic need to involve physicians and hospitals. The adoption of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) is one such effort that holds promise, though it must be made more effective.

ARE DOCTORS TO BLAME?

It is often argued that growing advocacy for the systematic measurement of patient pain in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as pay-for-performance measurement of provider quality based on their ability to relieve patients’ pain (among other things), spurred overprescribing.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Capital punishment

I Never Knew That Abraham Lincoln Ordered The Largest MASS HANGING IN US HISTORY, Or Why He Did It

People think that Abe Lincoln was such a benevolent President. He was actually a bit of a tyrant. He attacked the Confederate States of America, who seceded from the Union due to tax and tariffs. (If you think it was over slavery, you need to find a real American history book written before 1960.)This picture is of 38 Santee Sioux Indian men that were ordered to be executed by Abraham Lincoln for treaty violations (IE: hunting off of their assigned reservation). Yes, the “Great Emancipator” as the history books so fondly referred to him as.
Authorities in Minnesota asked President Lincoln to order the immediate execution of all 303 Indian males found guilty. Lincoln was concerned with how this would play with the Europeans, whom he was afraid were about to enter the war on the side of the South. He offered the following compromise to the politicians of Minnesota: They would pare the list of those to be hung down to 38. In return, Lincoln promised to kill or remove every Indian from the state and provide Minnesota with 2 million dollars in federal funds.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Electronic surveillance

All eyes on you: what is the future of public surveillance?


Can you imagine trying to explain today’s privacy debate to your grandchildren?
I can. It’s awful. I’ll probably have to call it the 2010’s ‘Privacy Wars’ just to keep them on the rug. 2007 won’t be the year of the first iPhone for them, or the beginning of the age of the always-on-everythings that tracked grandpa and his friends around the world from space. They won’t understand what, if anything, about that was considered cause for alarm. Even when I explain what Ashley Madison was.
It will mean nothing to them that in September 2017, the daily number of daily connections to the anonymizing TOR network from the UK was somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 per day. In 2014, the estimated value of the global Virtual Private Network (VPN) market was $45 billion - expected to grow to $70 billion by 2019. And if you plot the value of the Pound against the sort-of-but-not-quite-anonymous Bitcoin, a baby economist dies.
Privacy - both the protection and breaching thereof - is big business. But are we already further along than we think? What comes after that? What will we tell our grandchildren?
Cybersecurity

Bad Rabbit used NSA “EternalRomance” exploit to spread, researchers say


Despite early reports that there was no use of National Security Agency-developed exploits in this week's crypto-ransomware outbreak, research released by Cisco Talos suggests that the ransomware worm known as "Bad Rabbit" did in fact use a stolen Equation Group exploit  revealed by Shadowbrokers to spread across victims' networks. The attackers used EternalRomance, an exploit that bypasses security over Server Message Block (SMB) file-sharing connections, enabling remote execution of instructions on Windows clients and servers. The code closely follows an open source Python implementation of a Windows exploit that used EternalRomance (and another Equation Group tool, EternalSynergy), leveraging the same methods revealed in the Shadowbrokers code release. NotPetya also leveraged this exploit.
Nuclear security

The Most Dangerous National Security Threat No One's Talking About

The Most Dangerous National Security Threat No One's Talking About
The phenomenon of nuclear blasts emitting Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) when they explode was first discovered/observed during the Starfish Prime event back in 1962 when a nuclear weapon was detonated 900 miles west-southwest of Hawaii. (We now know all nuclear weapons emit an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) when they explode). The EMP from the blast knocked out about 300 street lights, set off burglar alarms, and damaged a telephone company microwave link. It was realized EMP could destroy electronics.

As of now, we do not have sufficient hardware fixes to prevent such a detonation from damaging or destroying our electric grid.

We have already observed North Korea is capable of placing a warhead-sized payload into orbit, and we have observed they have detonated a 200 kiloton plus yield nuclear weapon. It is clear that they have all the components necessary to launch a major EMP attack. They have also threatened to do just that. Intent plus capacity equals threat.

North Korea, Iran, Russia and China have all assimilated EMP attack into their military creeds.
People smuggling

Investigators clamp down on suspected U.K. human smuggling ring


Smuggling
A series of coordinated overnight raids by U.K. immigration officers led to the arrest of 11 people believed to be part of a sophisticated Europe-wide human smuggling ring.
Police smashed down doors and swept through five addresses across England earlier this week. At the same time, more than a dozen arrests were made in Belgium and Bulgaria.
The operation, codenamed Halifax, revealed further evidence of the booming European human trafficking trade -- a lucrative business that puts scores of desperate people on a path to black market labour and sexual exploitation.
The number of people reported to be victims of slavery and human trafficking surged nearly 120 per cent between 2013 and 2016, according to figures released by the U.K. National Crime Agency.
“We’re targeting the organizers of a people smuggling network, and we are going to be searching for evidence and arresting subjects. That will feed into the wider pan-European investigation,” Inspector Andy Ratcliffe said before a raid in Gateshead, U.K.
Criminal investigation

REVEALED: How the CIA offered gangsters $150,000 to assassinate Fidel Castro to the horror of Robert Kennedy - but the criminals insisted on doing it for FREE


John RoselliA resurfaced document described the CIA's $150,000 offer to have Cuban leader Fidel Castro assassinated - but the mob insisted on taking the job for free.
The underworld murder-for-hire contract was detailed in a summary of a May 1962 CIA briefing for then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy. 
By then, the Kennedy White House had launched its unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and several assassination attempts against Castro had failed.
At least two efforts to kill Castro were made with CIA-supplied lethal pills and organized crime-made muscle in early 1961, according to the document.
The document was made public in 1997 and contained in an Associated Press report at that time but has resurfaced along with thousands of never-before-seen documents known as the 'JFK files' which President Trump declassified this week. 

Drug trafficking

Opioid epidemic shares chilling similarities with the past

Most U.S. drug epidemics over the past two centuries were sparked by pharmaceutical companies and physicians pushing products that gradually proved to be addictive and dangerous. In the 1800s the drug was often opium, usually sold as a liquid in products like laudanum, and given to patients for pain or trouble sleeping. Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln’s wife, took it for headaches and became addicted.
The drug was also used to get high. “Opium fiends” smoked it in opium dens like those in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Rev. Frederick Masters, a 19th century Methodist missionary, described opium dens in that city as dark, fumy basements “sepulcher-like in their silence save for the sputtering of opium pipes or the heavy breathing of their sleeping victims.”
The young nation’s drug problem grew because of morphine, a painkiller derived from opium through a chemical process that was perfected by E. Merck & Company of Germany. It made battlefield injuries more bearable for Civil War soldiers, but so many veterans got hooked that morphine addiction was sometimes called “the army disease.”
Terror threat

Terrorism in Europe


Terrorism is booming in Europe — even though the European Union statistics say it is not. The EU's statistics on terrorism, simply put, confuse the issue. They are a fairy-tale.
Since 9/11, in report after report, experts, ministers and public authorities have been saying the same thing: that in Europe (meaning the EU), Islamic terrorism is merely a marginal aberration. Nothing to be afraid of, and if you show too much interest in the matter you are probably on the far-right, aren't you! Do you want to persecute the Muslims and make them the Jews of today's Europe?
As experts always do when they want to shut down a debate, they turn to statistics, preferably European statistics. Since July 1, 1999 — the date of its inception — Europol (European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation) has regularly published an assessment of terrorism in the EU.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Drug trafficking

High seas: Failed drug tests see 9 nuclear sub sailors fired by Royal Navy


High seas: Failed drug tests see 9 nuclear sub sailors fired by Royal Navy
Nine sailors from one of Britain’s nuclear submarines have been thrown out of the Royal Navy after failing drug tests while on duty, according to the Ministry of Defense.
The crew were tested following reports of drug-fueled parties during a stopover in the US
“We do not tolerate drugs misuse by service personnel. Those found to have fallen short of our high standards face being discharged from service,” a Royal Navy spokesman said.
The positive tests are just the latest scandal to hit the crew of the HMS Vigilant in recent times. Earlier this month, the captain of the nuclear vessel was relieved of his command after it emerged that he is being investigated following allegations of an improper relationship with a female subordinate.
His second-in-command was also taken off HMS Vigilant after reports he had engaged in an extra-marital affair with a female engineer.
Electronic surveillance

US govt expands warrantless surveillance of Americans


US govt expands warrantless surveillance of Americans
The US government, without court or congressional review, may have broadened a legal interpretation of which citizens are subjected to physical or digital surveillance to include “homegrown violent extremists,” according to newly released documents.
A new manual permits the collection of information about Americans, citizens and green card holders, for counterintelligence purposes “when no specific connection to foreign terrorist(s) has been established,” according to training slides created last year by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).
The manual used in training presentations was obtained by Human Rights Watch (HRW) through a Freedom of Information Act request.
HRW requested the manual after leaked documents indicated that under Executive Order 12333, the US had vacuumed up the communications of potentially all telephone calls in countries including Mexico and Philippines.  
“If you are in El Paso, Texas and have called your mother in Juarez, Mexico, US intelligence agencies probably have a record of  your call,” stated HRW. “They can use this data to map social networks and share it for law enforcement purposes.”
Korea

Mattis: North Korea nuclear threat accelerating


North Korean soldiers at the border
The threat of nuclear attack from North Korea is increasing, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said during a visit to South Korea.
Mr Mattis warned it would face a "massive military response" if it used nuclear weapons.
Separately, North Korea released a South Korean fishing boat which it said had been found in North Korean waters illegally.
The crew of 10 were released on Friday evening, South Korean officials said.
It comes at a time of heightened tension in the region, with both sides running a series of military exercises.
Border security

Thermal Radar for Video Surveillance in Border and Infrastructure Security
video surveillanceThe manufacturer, Thermal Imaging Radar, has developed the continuous thermal 360° detection camera to monitor and alert security personnel when intruders have breached secured areas. The system can see and target multiple intruders from any direction in total darkness from up to 500 meters away. It is capable of detecting a single human being over an 850,000 square meter area.
According to americansecuritytoday.com, the system is equipped with GPS to give longitude and latitude of any intruders that are breaching secured areas and has a unique radar view which pinpoints the intrusion on a google map of the area.
Geospatial technology – a map of the perimeter is automatically downloaded as soon as the Thermal Radar camera is turned on. The radar screen will show the intruders as a “red dot” on the screen. Hydra, the newest innovation from Thermal Imaging Radar combines real-time 360° intrusion detection directly integrated with a starlight visual PTZ incorporating IR illumination providing powerful situational awareness.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Fiancial safety

Putin’s revenge may see petro-yuan replace petrodollar


Putin’s revenge may see petro-yuan replace petrodollar
The key to the coming petro-yuan lies in Moscow. And, if the Chinese currency eventually succeeds in usurping the long-standing petrodollar, Washington will only have itself to blame.
News that China plans to launch a yuan-denominated oil futures contract by the end of this year has come as a surprise to many analysts. However, Russia experts aren’t startled in the slightest because this move has been coming since Moscow abandoned its quarter-century attempt to integrate with the West, following the 2014 Ukraine crisis. A catastrophe which the Kremlin blames on the United States and the European Union, as part of what it considers to be an attempt to reduce Russian influence in its "near abroad.”
Beijing’s scheme aims to shift trade in “black gold” from petrodollars to a proposed petro-yuan. Which benefits China by making its currency more attractive internationally and providing greater energy security. However, the biggest winners may well be in Moscow. Because any decline in the dollar’s status severely dilutes Washington’s ability to wage economic war against Russia, via sanctions.
Cybersecurity

North Korea was behind WannaCry ransomware cyber attack that disabled the NHS in May, claims UK security minister


Pyongyang has been widely blamed for the May cyber attack in security circles. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is pictured (centre) in AugustNorth Korea has been publicly blamed by the UK's Security Minister for the WannaCry cyber attack which hit the NHS.
Home Office Minister Ben Wallace said the Government believed 'quite strongly' that a foreign state was behind the ransomware attack and named North Korea.
Pyongyang has been widely blamed for the May cyber attack in security circles, and Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, has also pointed the finger at Kim Jong Un's secretive state.
Mr Wallace said: 'This attack, we believe quite strongly that it came from a foreign state. North Korea was the state that we believe was involved this worldwide attack.'
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 'we can be as sure as possible' and 'it is widely believed in the community and across a number of countries that North Korea had taken this role'.
Mr Wallace suggested the attack could have been motivated by an attempt by the economically isolated state to access foreign funds.


Nuclear security

Think positive: How to get North Korea to roll back its nuclear weapons activity


The current strategy employed by Trump—of responding to Kim’s provocative behavior with harsh, sometimes even belligerent, rhetoric—does nothing but make Kim lash out with more aggressive behavior. Kim’s worst fear is of US interference in North Korea, and he (and his father and grandfather before him) has used the threat of American imperialism as the cornerstone of his domestic propaganda. North Korean nuclear weapons are painted as an essential defense against this threat. By threatening the use of force, or even the strengthening of sanctions against Pyongyang, Trump not only restarts the cycle of interaction between the United States and North Korea, but escalates the situation tweet by tweet.
The price of military action. Critics of any strategy centered on positive inducements worry about the potential for rewarding bad behavior. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised this concern in April, saying “We will not negotiate our way back to the negotiating table with North Korea.” However, the White House must give serious thought to whether military action, which is a real possibility on the current trajectory, is a worthwhile tradeoff for not “rewarding” Pyongyang’s nuclear escalation. North Korea has seen three leaders in Pyongyang issue increasingly inflammatory threats against the United States, but that does not mean the interaction with North Korea has to culminate in a military crisis.
Weapons

Ballistic missiles: Limit them first. Then ban them.


Former Defense Secretary William Perry and several other experts have recently advocated the elimination of the United States’ nuclear-armed, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). According to Perry, this component of America’s nuclear triad is no longer necessary to deter adversaries and is inherently dangerous, fueling instability during crises and arms races with Russia and China.
While Perry proposes to eliminate only land-based ballistic missiles and retain submarine-based missiles, such a move could create powerful international momentum to negotiate new international limits or bans on certain types of ballistic missiles—with an ultimate goal of banning all nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. If a united international community were to seriously consider such a course, it could bring increased pressure on North Korea, Iran, and other nations to suspend or roll back their offensive ballistic missile programs. If they refused, the possibility of using military force against their nuclear and ballistic missile programs would gain legitimacy and support.
Information ops

Marines need lawyers, not tech for information ops

“The first is law. The first thing we need are lawyers because this really means the lexicon we have is already steeped in Congress. We have to make sure we’re talking the right language.”

Crall alluded to operations that had been planned but never executed, authorities that “sit distant on the shelf never to be utilized because we’ve never crossed the right wickets,” adding that words matter in this field.

While other nations and adversaries have been doing this for a while, Crall noted the U.S. has been late to the party, but for good reasons.

“We have a government that values many of the amendments that we have that we hold dear and we want to make sure we’re not administering any of this against a western audience,” he said. “Those are good things, by the way. Those restrictions and rules are what makes us unique. Our adversaries don’t have any of those considerations.”
Whistleblowing

Dangerous times: Advising whistleblowers before they act

You can help your source mitigate risks by alerting them to a few basic best practices they should consider when deciding to blow the whistle:

1. Before exposing themselves to risks, they should talk to a lawyer experienced in helping whistleblowers. Part of the reason is so they can make an informed choice about taking those risks. If an employee drops out in the middle after realizing the price of dissent, wrongdoers will be stronger off. It would have been better to remain silent all along. The other reason is to prevent whistleblowing accidents through frst learning the rules of the road.

2. They should consult their loved ones before taking the risk. To a significant degree, they will be sharing the consequences. If whistleblowers make the decision alone to take on the power structure, they may well end up alone. Loss of family is far worse than loss of job, but this is pain that whistleblowers may inflict upon themselves...

Electronic warfare

NATO chief says allies concerned about Russian phone jamming




NATO allies have raised concerns about what they call Russia’s use of a kind of electronic warfare during military exercises last month that jammed some phone networks, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Oct. 26.

“At least two allies have reported about that,” Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing talks in Brussels between ambassadors from NATO and Russia. He said it highlights the need for Russia to be more transparent with war games “to make sure there are no miscalculations, misunderstandings, because these kinds of activities can have serious effects.”

Phone services in Latvia, Norway and Sweden’s Oeland islands were reported to have been shut down for a few hours during the Sept. 14-20 Zapad exercises that Russia held with Belarus. The jamming is suspected to have been launched by a Russian communications ship from the Baltic Sea.

...“Mostly likely this was jamming that was intended to disrupt their own Russian forces’ use of GPS — but jamming that had side effects for (airline) and intercontinental flights of which Russia should have seen the range.”

Drills

Putin personally launches four ballistic missiles: Kremlin

AP RUSSIA PUTIN I RUS
Russian President Vladimir Putin personally launched four ballistic missiles as part of military drills, his spokesman said Friday.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin, who is the supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s Armed Forces, took part in the military exercises Thursday, Russian news agency TASS reported.
The revelation came after the country's defense ministry said Thursday that three ballistic missiles were fired from nuclear submarines and one was launched from the northwest of the country as part of the drills.
Russian President Vladimir Putin personally launched four ballistic missiles as part of military drills, his spokesman said Friday.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin, who is the supreme commander-in-chief of Russia’s Armed Forces, took part in the military exercises Thursday, Russian news agency TASS reported.
The revelation came after the country's defense ministry said Thursday that three ballistic missiles were fired from nuclear submarines and one was launched from the northwest of the country as part of the drills.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Poll results

Fox News Poll: Changing concerns on US security

security1
The largest number of voters, 33 percent, says rogue nations like North Korea and Iran pose the biggest threat to national security. That’s nearly three times as many who felt that way in January (12 percent). At that time, a majority said the greatest threat was terrorist groups like ISIS. But the number picking terrorist groups as the greatest threat has dropped by nearly half: from 51 percent to 27 percent today.

Since January, North Korea has conducted nearly 40 missile tests or launches and fired off a long-range missile, while President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have traded insults. At the same time, Trump has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement, while major progress was made in defeating the terrorist group ISIS in Raqqa.

Opinion has also shifted on which type of attack poses the most immediate threat to the country’s security. Today, 38 percent say cyberattacks, 26 percent terrorist attacks, and 17 percent nuclear attacks. The number citing cyberattacks is up 3 points since January, and those pointing to nuclear attacks increased by 7 points. But the percentage saying terrorist attacks dropped 17 points.