Latest Defense & Intelligence News: i360 Gov

7 Lessons From MilitarySingles.com Hack

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:43:16 -0400

InformationWeek: Want to stop hackers from stealing sensitive data about your users? Then you must properly encrypt and salt stored passwords, subject any user-uploaded content to rigorous server-side security checks, and put mechanisms in place to detect when an attempted breach is underway.

Those are just some of the findings highlighted in a new study from Web application firewall vendor Imperva that analyzes the March 2012 attack by LulzSec Reborn on the MilitarySingles.com website. Ultimately, the hacktivist group disclosed sensitive information on 170,000 members of the online dating site.

Secret Service Director Denies a Culture of Misconduct

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:39:45 -0400

U.S. News & World Report: Denying that the Secret Service has long condoned a culture of misconduct, Director Mike Sullivan insisted Wednesday during a Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing that the scandalous sexual romp by agents in Cartagena, Colombia, is not evidence of an agency that is out of control.

"The Secret Service has five core values: justice, duty, courage, honesty, and loyalty," Sullivan said. "The overwhelming majority of the men and women who serve in this agency exemplify these values...Clearly, the misconduct that took place on April 11, 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia is not representative of these values or of the high ethical standards we demand from our almost 7,000 employees."

DoD official: BRAC fight may not be over

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:39:04 -0400

Federal Times: The Defense Department is still pushing for two more rounds of base realignments and closures despite opposition from Congress, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of Defense for installations and environment, said it's typical for Congress to reject DoD requests for a BRAC on the first try. The Defense Department requested in its fiscal 2013 budget two new rounds of base closures — one in 2013 and one in 2015.

Iran, world powers tight-lipped as nuclear talks continue

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:38:34 -0400

CNN: Baghdad (CNN) -- A stalemate in the latest round of nuclear negotiations with Iran pushed talks into an additional day, with diplomats from Tehran and six world powers agreeing to meet again Thursday.

Tight-lipped diplomats on both sides offered little insight as to why negotiations were extended, with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton meeting behind closed doors for the second time in as many days.

U.S. Lawmakers Threaten Pakistan Over Bin Laden Treason Case

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:37:57 -0400

U.S. News & World Report: Two prominent U.S. senators on Wednesday slammed Pakistani officials for handing down a harsh sentence for a doctor who helped nab Osama bin Laden, rekindling bad blood between the reluctant partners.

A Pakistani court sentenced Shakil Afridi to 33 years in prison on a treason charge. McClatchy reported last summer that Afridi set up a fake health program in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that sent workers around to homes in an effort to obtain bin Laden's DNA. The sentence comes just days after President Obama opted against a one-on-one meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari during the three-day NATO summit in Chicago. Some Pakistani officials and experts have called the move a very public diplomatic snub.

Clinton: U.S. hacked Yemeni al-Qaeda sites

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:37:26 -0400

Clinton: U.S. hacked Yemeni al-Qaeda sites

Dallas Morning News: TAMPA, Fla. — The State Department has launched a different sort of raid against al-Qaeda, engaging in a cat and mouse game to replace anti-American al-Qaeda ads on Yemeni tribal websites.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that experts based at the State Department swapped al-Qaeda ads...

Anonymous Claims it Hacked a DOJ Site

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:41:19 -0400

CIO: IDG News Service (Bangalore Bureau) — The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it was looking into the unauthorized access of a website server in its statistics wing, after hacker group Anonymous claimed to have collected and released 1.7GB of data from it.

In the operation, described by Anonymous as "Monday Mail Mayhem", the group claimed it had hacked the United States Bureau of Justice, presumably a reference to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, a part of the DOJ.

NATO Declares Success on Expected Goals

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:39:13 -0400

Defense News: CHICAGO — With the conclusion of its carefully orchestrated summit in Chicago, NATO declared success in areas where it had planned to announce progress and dialed back the media’s expectations where it may have fallen short.

As it had broadcasted in the months and weeks before the summit began, NATO announced progress on missile defense and a slew of projects aimed to increase the sharing of defense capabilities between NATO members.

FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:38:40 -0400

CNET: The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications.

The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications.

Turkey Pushes U.S. for Sale of Drones: Report

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:38:10 -0400

Defense News: ANKARA, Turkey — The Obama administration is trying to convince the U.S. Congress to approve the sale of spy drones to Turkey for its campaign against Kurdish rebels, the Turkish president was quoted as saying May 22.

“Actually the administration has a positive stance (over the sale),” President Abdullah Gul was quoted as telling the Anatolia news agency in Chicago where he was attending a NATO summit. “They (the administration) are trying to convince the Congress,” he added.

Analysis: Taking bots into battle

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:37:01 -0400

Government Executive: Something you probably didn’t know -- even if you devoured P.W. Singer’s Wired for War in hardback a few years ago or more recently read Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker’s Counterstrike on your Kindle or Nook -- the days of “one person, one vehicle, one joystick,” even in remotely piloted aircraft, are numbered. Remotely piloted vehicles like those operated from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada and flying over Afghanistan are only near-term solutions to long-term threats.

VA, DoD chiefs affirm 2014 iEHR medical center pilots

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:28:42 -0400

Government Health IT: The secretaries of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments affirmed that they would field test in 2014 initial capabilities of their integrated electronic health record despite delays in the past. Those features will focus on laboratory results and immunizations.

The two sites will be at San Antonio, Texas, and Hampton Roads, Va., where DoD and VA provide medical care to thousands of service members and veterans.

NATO accepts Obama timetable to end war in Afghanistan by 2014

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:40:28 -0400

CNN: Chicago (CNN) -- NATO leaders signed off Monday on President Barack Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan that calls for an end to combat operations next year and the withdrawal of the U.S.-led international military force by the end of 2014.

GAO auditing Pentagon propaganda campaigns

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:39:55 -0400

USA Today: WASHINGTON – The top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have called for a federal audit of the Pentagon's "military information support operations" in light of concerns about their growing cost and questionable merit, according to their offices and documents obtained by USA TODAY.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) review, which begins this week at the request of Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., is the latest inquiry into programs the military uses to market its war aims abroad.

Cameron: NATO Needs ‘New Mindset’

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:39:22 -0400

Defense News: CHICAGO — Speaking at the NATO Summit here May 21, British Prime Minister David Cameron argued for an ambitious future role for NATO, but said that would require the alliance to develop a new mindset for doing business.

Cameron said that he and U.S. President Barack Obama recommended NATO conduct a strategic review, similar to the reviews both politicians undertook in their own countries.

House defense bill’s contracting provision irks White House

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:38:48 -0400

Goverment Executive: In threatening a veto of the Defense authorization bill the House passed on Friday, the White House mentioned a host of budgetary reasons, but it also cited a little noticed provision on agency contracting to small businesses.

The fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act faces an uncertain future in the Senate mostly because of its controversial provisions to restore cuts in weapons programs already accepted by the Pentagon.

U.S. officials: Ambassador Crocker to step down from Afghan post

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:38:19 -0400

CNN: Washington (CNN) -- Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, is expected to step down this summer after a year in the job, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter told CNN early Tuesday.

Crocker was appointed to the post in Kabul on July 25, 2011. The relatively short length of his service in the Afghan capital is no surprise. In recent history, American ambassadors have served similar terms.

Obama snubs Pakistan leader over supply routes

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:37:54 -0400

Air Force Times: CHICAGO — In an unmistakable snub, President Obama left Pakistan off a list of nations he thanked Monday for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan.

The prolonged slump in U.S. relations with Pakistan clouded a NATO summit where nations were eyeing the exits in the decade-long war and raised questions not only about cooperating to eliminate al-Qaida sanctuaries but other important issues like the security of Pakistan’s growing nuclear arsenal.

How Obama Missed an Opportunity for Middle East Peace

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:37:19 -0400

Foreign Policy: There aren't many reasons for optimism regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these days. But amid the failed negotiations, diplomatic maneuverings, and occasional spasms of violence, one unsung initiative has been an unalloyed success: The mission of the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This hodgepodge staff of military and civilian advisors, working together in the spirit of Lawrence's words, has trained more than 5,000 members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF), rebuilt Palestinian security institutions, and fostered a renewed sense of relevance in the Palestinians' nascent moves toward statehood.

DoD role minimized in deciding drone targets

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:36:50 -0400

Army Times: WASHINGTON — White House counterterror chief John Brennan has seized the lead in guiding the debate on which terror leaders will be targeted for drone attacks or raids, establishing a new procedure to vet both military and CIA targets.

The move concentrates power over the use of lethal U.S. force outside war zones at the White House.

CBP to Hold Industry Day on Border Security Strategies, Trends

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:36:19 -0400

Homeland Security Today: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold an industry day Tuesday at its headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, to discuss its border security mission and goals with the private sector.

The goal of the industry day is to provide insight into the planning conducted by various elements of CBP and its strategies rather than to announce specific acquisitions in support of those strategies, Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner at the CBP Office of Technology Innovation and Acquisition (OTIA), told Homeland Security Today.

NATO Signs $1.7B Global Hawk Contract

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:35:45 -0400

Defense News: CHICAGO — At the end of the first day of the NATO Summit in Chicago, the transatlantic alliance signed a $1.7 billion contract with Northrop Grumman for five Global Hawk UAVs.

The Block 40 Global Hawks, which are unarmed reconnaissance UAVs, are part the Allied Ground Surveillance (AGS) system.

Iraq buys U.S. drones to protect oil

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:53:12 -0400

USA Today: BAGHDAD - The United States has agreed to sell unarmed surveillance drones to Iraq's navy as part of an effort to help protect that nation's oil exports amid growing tensions in the Persian Gulf and to strengthen U.S.-Iraqi ties.

"They understand the importance of the mission to protect its oil platforms," said Army Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, who heads the U.S. Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq.

Obama warns ‘hard days ahead’ in Afghanistan

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:52:43 -0400

Army Times: CHICAGO— The NATO alliance that has fought for a decade in Afghanistan is helping that nation shift toward stability and peace, but there will be “hard days ahead,” President Obama said Sunday as alliance leaders insisted the fighting coalition will remain effective despite France’s plans to yank combat troops out early.

With a global economic crisis and waning public support for the war in the backdrop, world leaders opened a NATO summit confronted by questions about Afghanistan’s post-conflict future: money for security forces, coming elections and more. They were also papering over the crack in the fighting alliance with the planned French withdrawal.

Obama aide: Pakistan impasse might not be solved in Chicago

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:52:12 -0400

USA Today: CHICAGO — It is looking increasingly unlikely that the U.S. and Pakistan will hatch a deal on reopening critical supply routes to the U.S. military during the NATO summit that begins here on Sunday.

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with President Obama on Saturday night that negotiations are ongoing and he expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved, but not necessarily quickly.