TEARLINE
Obama says he is responsible for Benghazi’s security failures, after weeks of back and forth between officials in the White House and Intelligence Community. “Ultimately as Commander-in-Chief I am responsible and I don’t shy away from that responsibility.”
Under Secretary María Otero will travel to Bamako, Mali from October 29 to November 1, 2012. In Mali,Under Secretary Otero will meet with Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra, President Dioncounda Traore as well as other government officials, human rights activists, UN agencies, and NGOs to discuss political and civilian security issues – including the conflict in northern Mali – refugee and migration issues, food security, human rights, trafficking in persons and combating terrorism.
ON THE FIGHT
“The MISO role in those countries will require MISO support not against large standing Armies, but in dealing with non-state actors within their border and reinforcing these countries’ relationships with the U.S. It would seem that MISO personnel will need to develop a new arsenal of linguistic and cultural skills as they support the new national defense strategies.”
Cyberspace is increasingly competitive and contested. Malware signatures are expected to increase from fewer than 3 million to more than 200 million by 2025. Moreover, the appearance of worms such as Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame illustrate that cyber operations have moved beyond the virtual realm to touch the physical world. We anticipate that future threats will arrive along multiple fronts. Increasingly sophisticated adversaries can attack with a range of methods (e.g., social engineering, malicious insider, supply chain) against an array of interdependent layers with a diversity of effects on availability, integrity and confidentiality.
The raft of sensitive diplomatic cables between Washington and U.S. officials in Libya detailing security concerns in the country was simply not enough to justify taking military action in the region, according to the Pentagon.
Kelsey Atherton aggregates a timely look at elite structures, education, cheating and their intersection with emergent national security imperatives.
When is a cyberattack an act of war?
ON SECRECY – OR LACK THEREOF
The Federal Bureau of Investigation invoked national security a few years ago to justify withholding certain information from a Freedom of Information Act requester named Deirdre McKiernan Hetzler. But as rarely happens, a court last month critically assessed the FBI national security claim and ordered the Bureau to release some of the withheld information.
Publicly available code allows hackers to disable Wi-Fi in a range of products, including Apple products, Droids — even select Ford cars.
CONTRACT WATCH
The military’s top propaganda contractor in Afghanistan is under federal criminal investigation for its possible role in smear campaign against USA TODAY. As the investigation begins it is still receiving contracts from all over the Department of Defense, including Fort Meade-tenant AWG. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service has an ongoing investigation of Leonie Industries. That probe followed a USA TODAY story in February that found the owners of the company had failed to pay $4 million in taxes on time. The inspector general’s office, in an Oct. 24 letter to Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat and member of the armed services committee, announced that it would examine the alleged misinformation campaign.
Robert Caruso is a veteran of the United States Navy, and has worked for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Business Transformation Agency and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
