Georgetown Security Law Brief

North Korea 'fires three short-range missiles'

05/18/13:  The BBC reports North Korea has fired three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea's defence ministry said. Two missiles were fired on Saturday morning and one in the afternoon, the ministry said in a statement. Officials at the ministry said they were "monitoring the situation and remain on alert". The launches come at a time of stalemate between the two neighbours following weeks of high tension earlier this year. Saturday's missiles were fired in a north-east direction, and did not pose the same threat as the intermediate-range missiles Pyongyang was believed to have deployed along its coastline last month. It removed them from the launch site early in May, indicating a lowering of tension on the peninsula, a US official said. Such launches are routinely carried out by the Communist nation, the BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from Seoul. Tensions were high last month amid threats from North Korea to attack Japanese, South Korean and US military targets in the region and restart a mothballed nuclear reactor that produced plutonium for its weapons programme.

Gunmen assassinate Yemeni colonel

05/18/13:  Reuters reports gunmen shot dead a senior Yemeni military intelligence officer who had been targeted for assassination by al Qaeda-linked militants, a local security official said. Colonel Abdullah al-Rabaki was walking home in the city of Mukalla in Hadramawt Province late on Friday when the gunmen shot him six times with a revolver fitted with a silencer, the official said. They escaped on a motorbike. Leaflets from Islamist militants allied to al Qaeda had previously been circulated in the city on Yemen's south coast, calling for Rabaki's assassination, the official said. Tackling lawlessness in Yemen, which lies near important oil shipment routes and flanks the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, is an international priority for the United States and other Western countries. It is home to an al Qaeda wing that has planned international bomb plots. More than 60 army and security officers have been assassinated in the country's southern provinces in the past two years as government forces attempt to wrestle back control of areas seized by militants during the chaos of the Arab Spring. As well as battling an Islamist insurgency in the south, the government faces a southern separatist movement and a revolt among some tribes in the impoverished country's north.

Criticized on seizure of records, White House pushes news media shield law

05/16/13:  The New York Times reports under fire over the Justice Department’s use of a broad subpoena to obtain calling records of Associated Press reporters in connection with a leak investigation, the Obama administration sought on Wednesday to revive legislation that would provide greater protections to reporters in keeping their sources and communications confidential. President Obama’s Senate liaison, Ed Pagano, on Wednesday morning called the office of Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and asked him to reintroduce a version of a bill that he had pushed in 2009 called the Free Flow if Information Act, a White House official said. The bill would create a federal media shield law, akin to ones most states already have, giving journalists some protections from penalties for refusing to identify confidential sources in federal law enforcement proceedings, and generally enabling journalists to ask a federal judge to quash subpoenas for their phone records. Hours later, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing that covered a wide range of topics but repeatedly returned to the AP phone records. Lawmakers from both parties sought to grill him over why federal investigators secretly used a subpoena this year to obtain a broad swath of toll records — logs of calls sent and received — for several AP bureaus and reporters, without advance notice.

White House releases Benghazi emails, documents

05/16/13:  The Washington Times reports the White House released more than 100 pages of e-mails Wednesday in an effort to quiet criticism that President Obama and his aides downplayed the role of terrorism in the deadly attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya The documents detail discussions between top administration officials on developing “talking points” to describe the attack last Sept. 11 that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The CIA originally drafted those talking points, and Republican lawmakers have said the administration scrubbed the memos to remove any references to a terrorist attack. In the early days and weeks following the attack, the administration portrayed it as a mob assault fueled by protests about an anti-Islam video. But in the CIA’s original set of talking points, the first bullet point included a reference that the Benghazi attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US consulate and subsequently its annex.” It said the agency’s assessments could change “as additional information is collected and analyzed.” The second bullet point said the Benghazi assailants were “a mix of individuals from across many sections of Libyan society.”

Commentary: Daskal and Vladeck working paper on "After the AUMF"

05/15/13: Lawfare has this post, which links to a working paper authored by our own fellow Jennifer Daskal and Professor Steve Vladeck.  The paper - which is available here - is a more comprehensive effort to explain the authors' view that proposals for an expanded, open-ended Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), from whatever quarter and with whatever caveats, are unneccessary, counterproductive, and unwise. Instead, we offer out an alternative vision for the next generation of U.S. counterterrorism policy—one in which law enforcement and intelligence-gathering capabilities, with the backstop of self-defense authorities, are the baseline. We hope that this is an approach that Congress will take seriously if and when it decides to revisit the AUMF.  As this is an early draft of the paper, Profs. Daskal and Vladeck both (1) welcome comments of all shapes and sizes (whether online or via e-mail); and (2) beg readers’ indulgence for typos or other early-draft indiscretions.

Phone records of journalists seized by US

05/14/13:  The New York Times reports federal investigators secretly seized two months of phone records for reporters and editors of The Associated Press in what the news organization said Monday was a “serious interference with A.P.’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.”  The A.P. said that the Justice Department informed it on Friday that law enforcement officials had obtained the records for more than 20 telephone lines of its offices and journalists, including their home phones and cellphones. It said the records were seized without notice sometime this year. The organization was not told the reason for the seizure. But the timing and the specific journalistic targets strongly suggested they are related to a continuing government investigation into the leaking of information a year ago about the Central Intelligence Agency’s disruption of a Yemen-based terrorist plot to bomb an airliner. The disclosures began with an Associated Press article on May 7, 2012, breaking the news of the foiled plot; the organization had held off publishing it for several days at the White House’s request because the intelligence operations were still unfolding. In an angry letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday, Gary Pruitt, the president and chief executive of The A.P., called the seizure, a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into its news gathering activities. Justice Department regulations call for subpoenas for journalists’ phone records to be undertaken as a last resort and narrowly focused, subject to the attorney general’s personal signoff. Under normal circumstances, the regulations call for notice and negotiations, giving the news organization a chance to challenge the subpoena in court.

Cyberattacks against US corporations are on the rise

05/14/13:  The New York Times reports a new wave of cyberattacks is striking American corporations, prompting warnings from federal officials, including a vague one issued last week by the Department of Homeland Security. This time, officials say, the attackers’ aim is not espionage but sabotage, and the source seems to be somewhere in the Middle East. The targets have primarily been energy companies, and the attacks appeared to be probes, looking for ways to seize control of their processing systems. The attacks are continuing, officials said. But two senior administration officials said Sunday that they were still not certain exactly where the attacks were coming from, or whether they were state-sponsored or the work of hackers or criminals. Another official said that in the new wave of attacks, “most everything we have seen is coming from the Middle East,” but he did not say whether Iran, or another country, appeared to be the source. Last week’s warning was unusual because most attacks against American companies — especially those coming from China — have been attempts to obtain confidential information, steal trade secrets and gain competitive advantage. By contrast, the new attacks seek to destroy data or to manipulate industrial machinery and take over or shut down the networks that deliver energy or run industrial processes.

CIA agent intercepted in Moscow

05/14/13:  The BBC reports an alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report. He was held overnight before being released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said. Photos have emerged of the man, said to be an employee of the US embassy, being held face down on the ground. The US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, has been summoned to the Russian foreign ministry. The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit. Named as Ryan Fogle, he is said to be third political secretary at the US embassy. There was no comment from the embassy. Russia and the US recently said they wished to step up security co-operation after the Boston Marathon bombing. While it is a sensitive time for US-Russian relations because of the crisis in Syria, the FSB's claims to have unearthed a CIA agent are unlikely to have any long-term political consequence, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow.

FBI Says Data About Probe Of Bombing Suspect Was Shared

05/10/13:  NPR reports Boston Police Chief Edward Davis told Congress on Thursday that before the Boston Marathon bombings, his department wasn't aware the FBI had questioned Tamerlan Tsarnaev in recent years about whether he had been in contact with Muslim extremists in Dagestan. As far as he knew, Davis said, the FBI did not share that information with local authorities. The chief conceded that even if his department had known, that might not have prevented the April 15 blasts at the Boston Marathon — which the now-deceased Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzohkhar, are accused of carrying out. Later on Thursday, the FBI's Boston Division released a statement from Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers in which he says the bureau's "assessment of Tamerlan Tsarnaev" was entered into a database which representatives of the Boston Police can access.

New head of CIA’s Clandestine Service is picked

05/08/13:  The New York Times reports John O. Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has replaced the acting head of the agency’s clandestine service, a woman who was at the center of the agency’s detention and interrogation program and played a central role in the destruction of interrogation videotapes, American officials said on Tuesday. In replacing her, Mr. Brennan could be signaling a shift in the agency’s focus away from over a decade of intense manhunts and paramilitary operations — and putting distance between his tenure and the CIA's detention and interrogation program. Mr. Brennan’s choice to lead the National Clandestine Service is a career undercover officer in his late 50s who has served in Pakistan and other countries. The officer was chosen after Mr. Brennan considered a small number of candidates. One of them was the female officer who had been the acting leader; another was the head of the agency’s Counterterrorism Center, who for years has managed the CIA's escalation of drone strikes in Pakistan and other countries. The man he picked served as a Marine and started at the CIA in its paramilitary branch, known as the special activities division. After several years he became what is known as a case officer, carrying out traditional espionage work in his overseas assignments. A CIA news release Tuesday said the officer would remain undercover in his new job, a rarity in that job, which involves running all CIA espionage and covert action programs. The move comes as the Obama administration is debating the future of the agency’s targeted killing operations, and as the White House is planning to shift aspects of the armed drone campaign to the Defense Department from the CIA.

FBI pushes for more online snooping powers, fines for violators

05/08/13:  The Washington Times reports the White House is likely to fulfill the FBI's request for more authority to eavesdrop online, administration and law enforcement insiders said.  The FBI has been arguing for expanded powers to monitor Internet communications, saying advances in technology have made it easier and faster for suspects to “go dark,” Newser reported. The White House is now poised to agree to these requests, The New York Times reported. On the horizon: The FBI’s ability to fine companies that don’t comply with wiretap orders. Foreign companies could be hardest hit, Newser reported. They could face fines of $25,000 per day for not giving the FBI access to communications. Technology companies — and privacy-rights activists — aren’t pleased. “We’ll look a lot more like China than America after this,” said one lawyer in the Newser report. And a spokesman for the Center for Democracy and Technology said the expanded FBI authorities “would also mean that innovators who want to avoid new and expensive mandates will take their innovations abroad and develop them there,” Newser reported.

US directly blames China’s military for cyberattacks

05/07/13:  The New York Times reports the Obama administration on Monday explicitly accused China’s military of mounting attacks on American government computer systems and defense contractors, saying one motive could be to map “military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.” While some recent estimates have more than 90 percent of cyberespionage in the United States originating in China, the accusations relayed in the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on Chinese military capabilities were remarkable in their directness. Until now the administration avoided directly accusing both the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army of using cyberweapons against the United States in a deliberate, government-developed strategy to steal intellectual property and gain strategic advantage. “In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the US government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military,” the nearly 100-page report said. The report, released Monday, described China’s primary goal as stealing industrial technology, but said many intrusions also seemed aimed at obtaining insights into American policy makers’ thinking. It warned that the same information-gathering could easily be used for “building a picture of US network defense networks, logistics, and related military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.” It was unclear why the administration chose the Pentagon report to make assertions that it has long declined to make at the White House. A White House official declined to say at what level the report was cleared. A senior defense official said “this was a thoroughly coordinated report,” but did not elaborate.

North Korea 'removes' missiles from east coast launch site

05/07/13:  The BBC reports North Korea has removed two medium-range missiles from a coastal launch site, indicating a lowering of tension on the peninsula, a US official said. Pyongyang was believed to be preparing for a launch last month, having threatened attacks in the region. The threats followed tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea in March after its third nuclear test. North Korea has been angered by wide-ranging annual US-South Korea military drills, which ended a week ago. The news that the missiles had been removed from the site on the east coast came on the eve of a summit in Washington between the US and South Korean presidents. Park Geun-hye is to hold talks with Barack Obama later on Tuesday, with the two expected to reiterate a commitment to strong ties. Ms Park, who took office in February, will also address the US Congress on Wednesday. A report from South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed senior government source, backed that up, saying Pyongyang appeared to have lifted its highest combat alert and moved the missiles, although their current location was not confirmed. The move is the most tangible sign yet that North Korea has stepped back from its threats to launch missiles, the BBC's Jane Little in Washington reports. But a senior US official from the National Security Council warned that, given the North's unpredictable behaviour, it was "premature to celebrate it as good news".

Boston Marathon suspects 'planned 4 July attack'

05/04/13:  The BBC reports the Boston Marathon bombing suspects initially planned to attack the city's 4 July Independence Day celebrations, US media have reported. But they finished making the bombs more quickly than expected at Tamerlan Tsarnaev's home, anonymous US officials are quoted as saying. It is unclear if they planned to target a specific event, but Boston hosts major 4 July festivities each year. Meanwhile, the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been claimed by family. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety confirmed a funeral home hired by his relatives picked up the remains on Thursday.

Visitors from outer space, real or not, are focus of discussion in Washington

05/04/13:  The New York Times reports six former members of Congress gathered two blocks from the White House to consider what they see as the enforced government secrecy surrounding another kind of visitor: the kind who come from a lot farther away. Every day this week, the former legislators presided over panels made up of academics and — former, of course — government and military officials, who were there to discuss their research or their own eyewitness accounts of unidentified flying objects and the extraterrestrials who presumably would have occupied them. “Something is monitoring the planet, and they are monitoring it very cautiously, because we are a very warlike planet,” said Mike Gravel, a former Democratic senator from Alaska who ran in both the Democratic and Libertarian presidential primaries in 2008. Mr. Gravel and his fellow panelists were assembled by the Paradigm Research Group, which says it is committed to ending the government’s “truth embargo” on the existence of extraterrestrial life. The lawmakers were there in hopes that their presence and political credibility would be enough to persuade Congress to take the issue seriously. Called the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, the event might have been mistaken as advocacy for government transparency, and some of the panelists had impressive résumés.

China makes waves as new force in drone warfare

05/04/13:  The Washington Times reports China is emerging as a real force in the drone warfare market, with aerospace firms developing and showcasing unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, that rival what’s produced in the United States. The Associated Press reported that Chinese firms have recently unveiled UAVs that are eerily similar to the Predator, Global Hawk and Reaper models used by the CIA and by the US Air Force. Military analysts say Chinese drone technology is still behind America’s and Israel's — but that it’s catching up quickly. The emerging drone technology represents China’s growing military intelligence. It also suggests that China is preparing a military challenge for dominance in the Asia-Pacific, a role currently filled by America. The concern is China — which said its drones can carry bombs and missiles — could take that technology and use it to intimidate neighbors, AP reported. Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines are among those who are watching.

Terror watch list grows to 875,000

05/04/13:  The Washington Times reports the number of names in a secret US database of suspected terrorists has swollen to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago, in part because of rule changes introduced after al Qaeda's failed underwear bomb plot in 2009. The new figures were released Friday by the US National Counterterrorism Center, which manages the database, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE. A senior intelligence official explained the changes to The Washington Times.  US intelligence and law enforcement agencies have software tools for sorting through the data to find what they need, the official said, “They use the database every day and get the results they desire.” As of December 2012, a factsheet from the center states, TIDE contained over 875,000 entries. Each one represents a known or suspected terrorist and includes all their known aliases and spelling variations on their name, the official said. Less than one percent, or fewer than 9,000, were Americans, including both citizens and legal permanent residents, he said, adding the center does not release exact numbers.

Sensitive Army database of US dams compromised

05/02/13:  The Washington Times reports US intelligence agencies traced a recent cyber intrusion into a sensitive infrastructure database to the Chinese government or military cyber warriors, according to US officials. The compromise of the US Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams (NID) is raising new concerns that China is preparing to conduct a future cyber attack against the national electrical power grid, including the growing percentage of electricity produced by hydroelectric dams. The database contains sensitive information on vulnerabilities of every major dam in the United States. There are around 8,100 major dams across waterways in the United States. The database categorizes US dams by the number of people that would be killed if a dam fails. They include “significant” and “high” hazard levels. Michelle Van Cleave, the former National Counterintelligence Executive, a senior counterintelligence policymaker, said the database compromise highlights the danger posed by hackers who are targeting critical U.S. infrastructure for future attacks.

DNI supports review of intelligence on alleged Marathon bomber Tsarnaev

05/01/13: CNN reports Director of National Intelligence James Clapper believes an independent review of how the government handled its investigation of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev prior to the attack is a prudent step “to ensure that nothing was missed.”  Clapper spokeswoman Shawn Turner said the DNI believes all of the agencies involved in collecting and sharing information “took all the appropriate steps,” but that the Intelligence Community inspector general, a watchdog that investigates risks, vulnerabilities, and deficiencies within sixteen intelligence-related agencies and departments across the government will lead a review.  Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with Boston police days after the April 15 bombings.  His brother Dzhokhar, also a suspect, remains in custody and has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.

DOJ asks court to shut down suit over Afghan war memoir

05/01/13: The Blog of Legal Times reports the Justice Department has renewed its effort to shut down a lawsuit in Washington over the scope of information a former US defense intelligence officer can publish in a memoir about service in the war in Afghanistan.  DOJ lawyers said in court papers filed April 26 that the government has determined that some of the details in the book, Operation Dark Heart, written by Anthony Shaffer, are classified and cannot be publicly disclosed.  “[T]here is no First Amendment right to publish classified information,” DOJ lawyer Scott Risner wrote.  Shaffer’s book, DOJ said, reveals “intelligence activities, sources and methods, as well as information about military plans and the foreign activities of the United States that … could reasonably be expected to cause serious identifiable damage to our national security.”

Panel seeks to fine tech companies for noncompliance with wiretap orders

04/30/13:  The Washington Post reports a government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Face­book and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former US officials familiar with the effort. Driven by FBI concerns that it is unable to tap the Internet communications of terrorists and other criminals, the task force’s proposal would penalize companies that failed to heed wiretap orders — court authorizations for the government to intercept suspects’ communications. But law enforcement officials say the cloak drawn on suspects’ online activities — what the FBI calls the “going dark” problem — means that critical evidence can be missed. “The importance to us is pretty clear,” Andrew Weissmann, the FBI’s general counsel, said last month at an ANA discussion on legal challenges posed by new technologies. “We don’t have the ability to go to court and say, ‘We need a court order to effectuate the intercept.’ Other countries have that. Most people assume that’s what you’re getting when you go to a court.” There is currently no way to wiretap some of these communications methods easily, and companies effectively have been able to avoid complying with court orders. While the companies argue that they have no means to facilitate the wiretap, the government, in turn, has no desire to enter into what could be a drawn-out contempt proceeding. Under the draft proposal, a court could levy a series of escalating fines on firms that fail to comply with wiretap orders. A company that does not comply with an order within a certain period would face an automatic judicial inquiry, which could lead to fines. Instead of setting rules that dictate how the wiretap capability must be built, the proposal would let companies develop the solutions as long as those solutions yielded the needed data. That flexibility was seen as inevitable by those crafting the proposal, given the range of technology companies that might receive wiretap orders. Smaller companies would be exempt from the fines. The proposal, however, is likely to encounter resistance, said industry officials and privacy advocates.

 

Obama vows "vigorous investigation" into Syria chemical weapons allegations

04/28/13: The Space War blog reports President Obama on Friday promised a “vigorous investigation” into reports Syrian forces fired chemical weapons and renewed his warning that proof of their use would be a “game-changer.”  Obama delivered the warning during talks at the White House with King Abdullah II of Jordan, as he faced rising political pressure for a military intervention in the vicious Syrian civil war.  He told reporters that US authorities had “some evidence that chemical weapons have been used on the population in Syria, these are preliminary assessments, they’re based on our intelligence-gathering.”  The President said Washington would pursue a “very vigorous investigation and would work with its partners towards a definitive answer on the chemical weapons issues as soon as possible.

North Korea is expected to indict an American

04/27/13:  The New York Times reports an American tour operator is facing indictment in North Korea on charges that he tried to overthrow the government there, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. The announcement could complicate Washington’s difficult diplomatic balancing act as it tries to hold a tough line with North Korea over its nuclear program while avoiding any confrontations that could lead to an armed conflict. The tour operator, Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American from Washington State, traveled with a group of businessmen in November from Yanji, China, to the North Korean special economic zone of Rason, where he was arrested. The news report on Saturday said that the North had already finished its investigation and that Mr. Bae had admitted his guilt to charges that could draw the death penalty. North Korea, a police state, has often used the plight of detained Americans as a bargaining chip in its dealings with Washington. Some were freed only after former American presidents traveled to the North. Mr. Bae is the sixth American detained by North Korea since 2009, but he is facing the gravest charges. In January, Bill Richardson, a former American ambassador to the United Nations, tried to see Mr. Bae during a private trip to the North, but he said he was rebuffed by the government.

Venezuela says US citizen plotted unrest

04/26/13:  The New York Times reports an American citizen has been arrested by Venezuelan authorities who said Thursday that he had been taken into custody because he was involved in a plot to destabilize the country after the recent presidential election. Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez identified the man as Timothy Hallett, 35, and said he had been trained as a spy and was connected to what Mr. Rodríguez called right-wing groups seeking to provoke violence. “The mission was to bring us to a civil war,” Mr. Rodríguez said, according to the government news agency, AVN. Officials with the United States Embassy in Caracas said they could not discuss the case because of privacy issues. Mr. Hallett had been in Caracas working on a film, The Associated Press reported. It said his father, Emmet Hallett, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., had urged his son to leave the country because of the political situation. Mr. Hallett was arrested by the intelligence police on Wednesday at the Caracas airport as he was about to leave the country, according to a statement from the Venezuelan government, which said that a search of an apartment where he had stayed found videos and photographs. Mr. Rodríguez said that Mr. Hallett had become close to a group of students involved in protests of the election results and that he had received money from nongovernmental groups and passed it on to the students.

US: Intelligence points to small-scale use of sarin in Syria

04/25/13:  CNN reports the United States has evidence that the chemical weapon sarin has been used in Syria on a small scale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. But numerous questions remain about the origins of the chemicals and what impact their apparent use could have on the ongoing Syrian civil war and international involvement in it. When asked if the intelligence community's conclusion pushed the situation across President Barack Obama's "red line" that could potentially trigger more USinvolvement in the Syrian civil war, Hagel said US officials are still assessing the situation and need all the facts. In a letter to lawmakers, the White House cautioned that given "the stakes involved and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient. Only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision making." The letter, sent to US Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain, said that intelligence analysts have concluded "with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin." Hagel said that US officials have not been able to confirm the origins of the sarin, but that they believe it originated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has been battling a rebellion for more than two years. The announcement comes a few days after an Israeli intelligence official said Damascus was using weapons banned under international law against its own people in the country's civil war. Syria has said rebels have used chemical weapons.

Suspected Iran link in Canadian rail plot puzzles terror experts

04/25/13:  CNN reports the Canadian announcement on Monday that they had thwarted a plot to attack a rail link between Canada and the United States has puzzled some terrorism experts, because Iranian authorities are widely seen as hostile to al Qaeda. Iran has denied the conspiracy could have been plotted from its territory. Canadian officials say they did not think the alleged conspirators were "state-sponsored" but suspect al Qaeda elements in Iran had provided two men in Canada with direction, guidance and information. As CNN National Security analyst Peter Bergen noted, "If these allegations are true, it would appear to be the first time that al Qaeda elements based in Iran have directed some kind of plot in the West." While Western intelligence agencies have long thought that al Qaeda operatives are present on Iranian soil, they were thought to be under some form of house arrest and under strict control. Many al Qaeda sympathizers and members took refuge in Iran in the aftermath of the post 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, including one son of Osama bin Laden, Saad bin Laden, and a son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Abu Ghaith left Iran in February this year and entered Turkey, but was subsequently arrested in Jordan and flown to the United States in March. But Iran has become increasingly hostile to al Qaeda as it has become a Sunni sectarian group, especially in Iraq and Syria, as much as an anti-western outfit. But the United States says there appears to have been some tactical co-operation between the Islamic Republic and al Qaeda. In 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Iran of a "secret deal with al-Qa'ida allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory." Another aspect of the alleged Canadian plot is that it underlines the enduring interest of al Qaeda and its supporters in attacking railroad systems, seeing such operations as relatively cheap and easy to carry out -- with potentially devastating results.

 

Commentary: Small Cells vs. Big Data: Can information dominance crush terrorism?

04/23/13:  Foreign Policy posted an article by John Arquilla discussing terrorism and big data. The fundamental dynamic of the Cold War was an arms race to build nuclear weapons; conflict today is primarily driven by an "organizational race" to build networks. Terrorists, insurgents, and other militants focus on the creation of dispersed cells -- most comprised of just handfuls of operatives -- pursuing common goals, but without central controls. Intelligence, law enforcement, and military organizations strive to network their information flows, the aim being to mine "big data" to illuminate enemy cells, then to use this knowledge to eliminate them. In Boston last week, both aspects of this organizational race were evident -- the small cell and big data -- and both had their innings. Opposed to this new terrorist trend are the rising informational networks of many countries that hinge upon the sustained effort to unmask small cells and preempt them before they can strike. These counterterror networks have been doing pretty well, and to date have prevented about 20 major terrorist attacks -- not least two recent ones involving cells comprised of North Caucasians that were aiming to hit Americans at Naval Station Rota, in Spain, and British targets at Gibraltar. Yes, a small cell did pull off an attack in Boston last week, but massive flows of shared information swiftly identified the malefactors and brought them down. One and done. If this is how matters will play out, terrorist networks will be in big trouble because of the power of big data. And when one adds in the losses to the small-cell network due to preemptions before some of these cells can mount a single attack, terrorist prospects look even worse.

Israeli official: Syria using chemical weapons

04/23/13:  CNN reports the Syrian government is using chemical weapons against rebel forces, the head of the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence research and analysis division said Tuesday. "In all likelihood, they used sarin gas," Brig. Gen. Itai Brun told a conference in Tel Aviv. This comes as a civil war between the government and rebels rages across Syria, which borders Israel. One of the main characteristics of the recent events in Syria is the increasing use of ground-to-ground missiles, rockets and chemical weapons by the Syrian regime," Brun said, according to quotes provided by the IDF. "According to our professional assessment, the regime has used deadly chemical weapons against armed rebels on a number of occasions in the past few months. For instance, on March 19, 2013, victims suffered from shrunken pupils, foaming from the mouth and other symptoms which indicate the use of deadly chemical weapons. The type of chemical weapons was likely sarin, as well as neutralizing and nonlethal chemical weapons." The accusation came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in a news conference in Jerusalem with US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, appeared less certain. Asked about possible chemical weapons use in Syria, Yaalon said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that allowing any "rogue elements to put their hands on chemical weapons from the Syrian chemical arsenal" would represent a red line.

 

Two are accused in Canada of plotting train derailment

04/23/13: The New York Times reports the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday announced the arrest of two men who are accused of planning to derail a passenger train in an Al Qaeda-linked plot. The police, saying the investigation was continuing, offered little in the way of details or evidence at a news conference in Toronto. Canadian politicians and government officials were similarly reticent. Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said that the two suspects had received “direction and guidance” from “Al Qaeda elements living in Iran,” but that there was no evidence that the effort had been sponsored by the government of Iran. He declined to explain how the link to Al Qaeda had been made. The suspects were identified as Chiheb Esseghaier, 35, who has been living in Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 30, of Toronto. The police said the men were not Canadian citizens, but declined to identify their nationalities or to describe their immigration status in Canada. Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said the two men had studied train movements and rail lines in and around Toronto, and had been plotting to attack a train operated by Via Rail Canada, the government-owned rail system, within Canada. The police emphasized that the public had never been in “imminent danger.” Officials said that the suspects had been under constant observation and that contingency plans had been made. Both the police and David Jacobson, the United States ambassador to Canada, indicated that the FBI and other American law enforcement and intelligence agencies were involved in the investigation. No one, however, offered any specifics about that involvement or indicated if the plot had a cross-border element.

UN detects possible signs of past North Korean nuke test

04/23/13: The Miami Herald reports a UN agency tasked with looking for signs of nuclear explosions says its monitoring stations have detected radioactive gases that could be linked to North Korea's Feb. 12 test. CTBTO says stations in Japan and Russia have picked up ''significant" traces of noble gases that accompany a nuclear explosion and say they ''could be attributed" to the North's test. A statement from the Vienna-based CTBTO Tuesday said the Japanese station is located around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the test site. It says lower levels were picked up by the Russian site at Ussuriysk, without giving its location in relation to the site. It says the two types of xenon radioactive isotopes detected ''provide reliable information on the nuclear nature of the source."

Israel ready to act on Syria weapons, warns Netanyahu

04/18/13:  The BBC reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the BBC that Israel has a right to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands in Syria. He said that if terrorists seized anti-aircraft and chemical weapons they could be "game changers" in the region. There have been growing calls for the international community to arm rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. But there is increasing concern that Islamist militants could use such weapons to further their own causes. Israel has said its policy is not to get involved in the Syrian conflict. But in recent months it has retaliated following Syrian fire into Israeli-controlled areas in the Golan Heights. Israel first occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move that is not internationally recognised. Mr Netanyahu, in an exclusive interview with the BBC's Lyse Doucet, said Israel's concern was "which rebels and which weapons?" "The main arms of concern to us are the arms that are already in Syria - these are anti-aircraft weapons, these are chemical weapons and other very, very dangerous weapons that could be game changers," he said. "They will change the conditions, the balance of power in the Middle East. They could present a terrorist threat on a worldwide scale. It is definitely our interest to defend ourselves, but we also think it is in the interest of other countries."

Army policeman gets 16 years for trying to sell secrets to Russia

04/16/13:  The Washington Times reports a military policeman serving in the US Army was sentenced to 16 years in prison and given a dishonorable discharge for trying to sell secrets to an agent he believed was a Russian spy. Spc. William Colton Millay pleaded guilty to the spying charge last month, The Associated Press reported. A panel of eight military officials handed down the ruling Tuesday. Prosecutors said Millay was a white supremacist, sick and tired of the military and his country, and didn’t care that his sale of secrets would put his fellow soldiers in harm’s way, AP said. Defense lawyers countered that Millay was emotionally immature and that his attempt at espionage was aimed only at getting him some attention, AP reported. During testimony, an FBI official said Millay “expressed his disgust with the U.S. military” and offered to work for Russia. Millay said he could provide information on America’s Warlock Duke jamming system, which is used by the military to scan for roadside bombs, the agent testified, as AP reported.  Millay ultimately was arrested when he traded an envelope of information to the man he believed was a Russian official for $3,000, AP reported.

Raids in Russia target ‘foreign agents’

03/29/13:  The New York Times reports it has been a nerve-jangling week for civil society groups in Russia as they awaited a knock on the door by state officials on the hunt for “foreign agents.” Amid concerns among international advocacy organizations about what has been described as the worst crackdown on Russian democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the authorities have raided scores of offices of rights groups, foreign cultural bodies and other nongovernmental organizations. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, the corruption watchdog, were among those targeted, as well as Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights organization. The Russian Justice Ministry said the checks by judicial and tax officials were to investigate if the real activities of these organizations matched the declared ones. Responding to Western criticism that the raids amounted to harassment and intimidation, President Vladimir V. Putin described them on Thursday as “legal and routine.” The raids follow adoption last year of a law requiring NGOs that receive foreign funding to declare themselves foreign agents, a term that, to Russians, evokes Cold War-era espionage. Although noncompliance carries large fines, possible jail terms, and potential closure, no organization has so far registered. Reacting to the wave of raids that began on March 21, High Williamson, Human Rights Watch’s Europe director, said the scale of the operations was "unprecedented and only serves to reinforce the menacing atmosphere for civil society.”  The US State Department expressed deep concern at what looked like a witch hunt, while German and French officials warned that the inspections could damage their countries’ relations with Moscow.

 

Britain's domestic spy agency names new director

03/28/13:  The Miami Herald reports Britain's domestic spy agency has chosen a new director, a 50-year-old ornithologist with counter-terrorism experience in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Andrew Parker, one of the youngest MI5 directors in recent history, has worked for the service for 30 years and led the agency's response to the July 7 London transit bombings in 2005. Parker said Thursday that he's "extremely proud of the extraordinary work the men and women of MI5 do to keep the country safe in challenging circumstances," and that he looks "forward to leading the service through its next chapter." Parker has been the deputy director general since 2007. He succeeds Jonathan Evans, who is leaving MI5 after 33 years of service. He starts his job on April 22.

 

Pakistani arrested in Germany, suspected of spying

03/28/13:  The Miami Herald reports German authorities have arrested a man suspected of trying to obtain information on military technology for a Pakistani intelligence agency. The Federal Prosecutor's Office said Thursday the 28-year-old Pakistani citizen, identified only as Umar R. because of German privacy rules, was arrested Wednesday in the northern city of Bremen. Prosecutors said in a statement he's suspected of working for Pakistani intelligence since at least October. They say that he worked as a student assistant at a research facility and is alleged to have tried to obtain information on technology that could be used for military purposes. A judge has ordered the man kept in custody pending formal charges.

Officer tied to tapes’ destruction moves up CIA ladder

03/28/13:  The New York Times reports a CIA officer directly involved in the 2005 decision to destroy interrogation videotapes and who once ran one of the agency’s secret prisons has ascended to the top position within the CIA’s clandestine service, according to current and former intelligence officials. The officer, who has been serving in the position in an acting role for several weeks since the retirement of her direct boss, is one of a small group of candidates being considered to take over the job permanently. The decision about whether to keep the officer in the job presents a dilemma for the new CIA director, who said that he was opposed to the brutal interrogation methods used by the spy agency in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks. The promotion of the officer, who spent years working inside the agency’s Counterterrorist Center and once was in charge of a so-called black site, played a role in developing the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, was first reported by The Washington Post. Because the officer remains undercover, The New York Times is not disclosing her identity. The officer served as the CIA station chief in London and New York, and the branch of the agency she now leads, the National Clandestine Service, is responsible for all CIA espionage operations and covert action programs. The head of the clandestine service is one of the most coveted jobs in the CIA, and has never before been run by a woman. The destruction of dozens of CIA interrogation tapes, documenting the interrogations of Qaeda operatives Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand, was one of the most controversial episodes of the past decade. The Justice Department undertook an investigation into the matter after the destruction of the tapes was disclosed in late 2007, but no CIA officers were criminally charged.

Opinion: The appeal of the courts

03/26/13: Foreign Policy published an article by Phillip Carter and Deborah Pearlstein arguing we've already figured out how to win the legal war on terrorism. The Justice Department in fact has a far better record than the Defense Department in prosecuting and convicting terrorist suspects. Surveillance abroad by military and intelligence agencies, strong allied cooperation, coupled with US prosecution and incarceration -- has now been used successfully in a range of cases. This blended, postwar approach works precisely because the military plays a supporting, not a leading, role. A number of foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies are far more likely to cooperate with their American intelligence and law enforcement counterparts than they are with the US military. This was true in the Abu Ghaith case for Turkey and Jordan, two key allies in the counterterrorism effort against al Qaeda, both of which cooperated with US intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The same was true in the Harun case, in which Italian authorities gave the suspect to the United States upon assurances he would be prosecuted in civilian court -- and not transferred to Guantánamo Bay or charged before a military commission. Let's be clear: This is not a call for a law-enforcement-only approach. It is not a rejection of military force (including the power to detain) when a public case can be made that force is necessary to US national security and in keeping with our obligations under domestic and international law. The time has come for the United States to transition from its current war footing to a long-term, sustainable counterterrorism strategy

US jails Chinese engineer for exporting trade secrets

03/26/13:  The BBC reports a US court has sentenced a Chinese national to more than five years in prison for illegally exporting military trade secrets to China. Liu Sixing, who formerly worked in US company L-3 Communications, was accused of taking information on US missile, rocket and drone technology to China. He was convicted of exporting military information, possessing stolen trade secrets, and lying to the authorities. Liu says he did not break the law, or intend to pass secrets to China. Liu Sixing, who was also known as Steve Liu, worked in L-3 Communications' space and navigation unit in New Jersey from 2009-2010 as a senior engineer. Prosecutors say he stole thousands of computer files in 2010, and took them to China on his personal computer, where he gave presentations about the technology he was working on to universities and conferences linked to the Chinese government. Prosecutors say he transported the files, which included information on the performance and design of guidance systems for missiles, rockets and unmanned drones, in the hope that it would help him gain future employment in China. Technical military data covered by US export regulations cannot be taken out of the country without a license.

Analysis: The AUMF will soon extend to Syria (if it doesn't already)

03/24/13: Lawfare has this post by Jack Goldsmith discussing a report that the CIA is expanding its role in the campaign against the Syrian regime by feeding intelligence to select rebel fighters to use against government forces.  The point of the CIA aid is to stem the rise of Islamist extremists in Syria by aiding secular forces and in particular to blunt the influence of the extremist al Nusra Front, the main al-Qaeda-linked group operating in Syria.  Goldsmith highlights the fact that, according to US officials, al-Nusra is deepening its ties to al-Qaeda’s central leadership in Pakistan.  The ties to al-Qaeda’s central operations have become so significant that officials are debating whether al Nusra should now be considered its own al-Qaeda affiliate instead of an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as it has generally been viewed within the US government.  Goldsmith points out that, if the former view is taken, the authority the President has to fight al-Qaeda and its affiliates under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) would now extend, for the first time, to Syria.

Syria unrest: UN probes 'chemical weapons' in Aleppo

03/21/13:  The BBC reports the UN is to investigate the possible use of chemical weapons in an attack in Syria, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced. The investigation will focus on an incident in Khan al-Assal, Aleppo province, when Damascus says rebel forces used chemical weapons. But the rebels accuse the government of staging the attack. The US has urged the UN to look into "any and all credible allegations" of use of the weapons. Only a handful of countries have failed to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which internationally bans their use. Syria is one of them. It is believed to have stockpiles of mustard gas and the highly toxic nerve agent sarin.

Chinese contractor at NASA makes court appearance

03/19/13:  CNN reports a Chinese aerospace contractor, who one senior lawmaker suspects is a spy, made his first appearance in federal court on Monday. Bo Jiang worked at NASA's Langley's Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and was seized over the weekend as he boarded a flight to Beijing at Dulles airport outside Washington. Jiang was charged with making false statements to U.S. authorities by failing to disclose all of the electronic devices he was carrying on his one-way flight. He was jailed following his appearance in federal court in Norfolk. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Virginia, said Jiang recently arranged travel after the lawmaker went public with his concerns about NASA security. Wolf told reporters Monday that he believes Jiang had access to highly sensitive documents, including source codes for high-tech imaging used in missiles, unmanned aerospace equipment and other technology desired by the Chinese government. Wolf, who oversees congressional funding of several agencies, believes Jiang was spying.

Iran indicts 18 over killing of nuclear scientists

03/18/13: The Miami Herald reports Iran’s judiciary has indicted eighteen suspects on charges of involvement in the killing of nuclear scientists.  Since 2010, at least five Iranian nuclear scientists, including a manager at the Natanz enrichment facility, have been killed.  Tehran has accused Israel’s Mossad, the CIA, and Britain’s MI6 of being behind the assassinations; Washington and London have denied the allegations, while Tel Aviv has not commented.  Iranian state media said Sunday that authorities have issued indictments against the eighteen suspects, who will be tried in the coming months.  In 2012, Iran hanged a man for the 2010 killing of a nuclear physicist.

UN Official says US drones breach Pakistan’s sovereignty

03/16/13:  The New York Times reports the United States has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty and disrupted life in the country’s tribal areas with drone strikes in its counterterrorism operations near the border with Afghanistan, a United Nations human rights investigator said Friday. The investigator, Ben Emmerson, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, visited Pakistan this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings. The drone campaign “involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Mr. Emmerson said in statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. The United Nations Human Rights Council asked Mr. Emmerson to start an investigation of the drone attacks after requests by countries that include Pakistan, Russia and China. Mr. Emmerson said in January that he would investigate 25 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories. He is expected to present his final report to the United Nations General Assembly in October. Washington had little to say about Mr. Emmerson’s statement. “We’ve seen his press release,” said a State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland. “I’m obviously not going to speak about classified information here. We have a strong ongoing counterterrorism dialogue with Pakistan, and that will continue.”

California: Judge Strikes Down Law on National Security Letters

03/16/13:  The New York Times reports a federal judge on Friday struck down a law that allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to secretly seize subscriber information from Internet companies and other communications service providers without a court warrant. The ruling, by Judge Susan Illston of Federal District Court in San Francisco, struck down the law because it forbids companies from disclosing that they had received such an order, called a National Security Letter, making the statute “impermissibly overbroad” under the First Amendment, she wrote. She also struck down a statute on legal challenges by recipients of the security letters, but stayed her ruling to allow the government to appeal.

CIA must end silence on drone targeted killings, Appeals court says

03/15/13:  Wired's Threat Level reports a federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit seeking Central Intelligence Agency documents outlining its drone targeted killing program, ruling Friday that the agency’s refusal to acknowledge the program and whether records exist about it contradicts public statements by top government officials, including President Barack Obama. The case concerns a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in which the CIA has been refusing to confirm or deny the covert military use of drones to kill suspected terrorists overseas, despite Obama’s and even a former CIA director’s admission of the agency’s targeted killing program. With Friday’s decision, the ACLU’s case returns to a federal court, where a district judge had sided with the agency’s so-called "Glomar"response which allowed the CIA to neither confirm nor deny the existence of responsive records because doing so would expose national security secrets. The FOIA litigation dates to 2010, when the ACLU sued in federal court seeking records concerning the legal basis for carrying out targeted drone killings; any restrictions on those who may be targeted; any civilian casualties; any geographic limits on the program; the number of targeted killings that the agency has carried out; and the training, supervision, oversight, or discipline of drone operators. Last year, the same appeals court upheld the National Security Agency’s decision, citing Glomar, to withhold from the public documents confirming or denying any relationship it has with Google concerning encryption or cybersecurity.

Iran chases US drone over Persian Gulf

03/15/13:  The New York Times reports an Iranian jet fighter pursued an American surveillance drone over the Persian Gulf this week but ended the chase after a radio warning from an American escort plane, Pentagon officials said Thursday. The chase, which occurred Tuesday, followed a more serious encounter in November, when Iranian warplanes fired on, but missed, a Predator drone carrying out a similar classified surveillance mission. Pentagon officials said that in both instances the drones were in international airspace. Even so, the episodes illustrate the chance of unintended hostilities arising from encounters between remotely piloted surveillance craft and Iranian warplanes in the heavily militarized Persian Gulf. The Pentagon press secretary, George Little, said that in the episode on Tuesday, an Iranian F-4 jet fighter approached within 16 miles of the Predator, which was being escorted by a pair of American military aircraft. United States officials did not say what type of American planes were involved.

Iran nuclear weapon to take year or more, Obama says

03/15/13:  The New York Times reports President Obama told an Israeli television station on Thursday that his administration believed it would take Iran “over a year or so” to develop a nuclear weapon, and he vowed that the United States would do whatever was necessary to prevent that from happening. Less than a week before his first visit as president to Israel, Mr. Obama pledged to continue diplomatic efforts, but he promised that the United States would keep all options on the table to ensure that Iran did not become a nuclear threat to its neighbors. Mr. Obama’s estimated timeline contrasts with Mr. Netanyahu’s stated belief that Israel and its Western allies are likely to have to intervene by the spring or summer, when, he says, Iran’s scientists will have enriched enough uranium to become a nuclear threat. Iran denies that its nuclear program has any military aim. Mr. Obama has rarely been so specific about how long American intelligence agencies estimate it will take Iran to build a bomb. In defining the problem as he did — when Iran could get a weapon, rather than when it could have the capability to build one — he subtly indicated that he and Mr. Netanyahu still saw the problem in very different terms.

 

North Korea sees South Korea and US behind cyberstrikes

03/15/13:  The New York Times reports North Korea, a country paranoid about perceived threats from the outside world, said on Friday that it had found new foreign invaders: hackers from the United States and its allies shutting down the North’s Web sites, the country’s main tool of spreading propaganda abroad. Until now, the complaint came from the other direction, with South Korean officials suspecting that North Korea was behind a recent series of hacking attacks on South Korean and American Web sites. After North Korea’s recent threats to retaliate against United Nations sanctions, South Korea warned of possible North Korean efforts to disrupt the Internet in the South, one of the most wired countries in the world. These accusations, although denied by the opposing sides, showed how inter-Korean tensions are increasingly spreading into cyberspace. North Korea’s often strident rhetoric has escalated to a feverish new pitch in recent weeks, complete with a threat to launch a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” at the United States and South Korea after the allies started joint military drills on March 1, followed by new United Nations sanctions for the North’s Feb. 12 nuclear test.

Intelligence Official cites threat of cyberattacks on US

03/12/13:  The New York Times reports the nation’s top intelligence official warned Congress on Tuesday that a cyberattack could cripple America’s infrastructure and economy and suggested that such attacks pose the most dangerous immediate threat to the United States, more pressing than an attack by global terrorist networks.  James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said in prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee that American spy agencies saw only a “remote chance” in the next two years of a major cyberattack — what he defined as an operation that “would result in long-term, wide-scale disruption of services, such as a regional power outage.” Still, it was the first time that Mr. Clapper has listed cyberattacks first in his annual presentation to Congress about the various threats facing the United States, and the rare occasion since 2001 that intelligence officials have not listed international terrorism first in the catalog of dangers facing the United States. In 2009, the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, called the global financial crisis the “primary near-term security concern of the United States.”

US official in China hacking call

03/12/13:  The BBC reports the Chinese government should acknowledge and investigate cyber-theft from China, a top US official has said. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon said cyber security was a "growing challenge" to the US economic relationship with Beijing. The pointed remarks appeared to reflect growing US concern over cyber-crimes said to originate in China. On Saturday China's foreign minister criticised claims China was behind hacking attacks on US companies. In a speech at the Asia Society in New York on Monday, Mr Donilon said that US businesses were increasingly concerned about "cyber intrusions emanating from China" that stole confidential business information or intellectual property. "We seek three things from the Chinese side," he said. "First, we need a recognition of the urgency and scope of this problem. Second, Beijing should take serious steps to investigate and put a stop to these activities." "Finally, we need China to engage with us... to establish acceptable norms of behaviour in cyberspace." China has long been suspected of a role in cyber-hacking. But the issue has become more high-profile in recent months following widely reported hacks into media outlets including the New York Times - in that case apparently linked to a report by the paper on the wealth of relatives of outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.