ON THE FIGHT
The Defense Clandestine Service isn’t on the ropes, but it’s not running at full steam, either. That’s because top House Republicans and Democrats, joined by a handful of influential senators, are ambivalent about its role, its mandate and the ultimate mission. Does it compete with the National Clandestine Service? If not, what is its purpose vis a vis coordination? Where does the former Defense HUMINT Service and the various special reconn
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
Mike Rogers, Chairmain of the House Permanent Select Committee for Intelligence, is weighing a bid for the U.S. Senate. Rogers, a Republican and former FBI agent, has not expressed interest in the Senate before and is widely considered to be a top contender to succeed incumbent FBI director Bob Mueller.
The battle over the scope and breadth of America’s cybersecurity initiatives continues to rage, and yesterday on Capitol Hill was no exception. U.S. government and industry cybersecurity experts testified before a House Energy and Commerce Committee, offering diverging opinions on what steps the government should take to ensure protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure. According to Ambassador James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, we should be more concerned with the safety of our electric grid than with any other critical infrastructure component. The failure of the nation’s electric grid will cause a chain reaction, bringing down all 17 critical infrastructures with it, Woolsey said. North Korea, China and Iran all possess or are in the process of acquiring these capabilities. In discussing what steps are required to mitigate the possibility of the aforementioned attacks and whether a National Institute of Standards and Technology cyber framework will suffice, Woolsey said “with this kind of problem, we have to have a national policy and a national commander in chief.”
ON TECH, PRIVACY AND SECRECY
James Rosen’s parents were included in the Department of Justice probe into the possible leak of national security information, Fox News has revealed. Rosen was involved in talking to a source in the Department of State who ended up feeding him classified information, and when the Department of Justice came after them, they came hard.
