The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the newest player in the U.S. Defense Department’s war on counterfeit* parts. Counterfeit parts, particularly electronics, have posed a huge threat for the Department of Defense for years, threatening the integrity a wide variety of systems, from helicopters to the computers for Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude […]
In the first few months after Snowden’s leaks first exploded onto headlines, the public, and the media, struggled to fathom how private individuals figured into this story, and how close the U.S. had come to that “Orwellian state” Edward Snowden warned us of. If Google Trends are any indication, the story reached a peak in […]
We’re definitely not still stuck in the Cold War (although sometimes it feels that way), but there are some doozies from the mid-1900s that are worth remembering. In May 1997, the Central Intelligence Agency released a wave of highly-anticipated documents on some of the agency’s most infamous Cold War activities. One of the unveiled documents, entitled […]
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s major policy reform proposals, on everything from new taxes on soda pop to amending the 70-year constitutional prohibition on foreign investment in Mexico’s petroleum sector, have swept through that nation’s congress with breathtaking speed.
This is the first in a series of blogs I’ll write on the annual maritime related conference I recently attended co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute. Both organizations are dedicated to providing forums for exchange of information on national security topics. The conferences they put on feature speakers who are key leaders […]
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that more crude oil is being sent by sea and inland waterways as a supplement to railways and pipelines. Since 2010, the amount of oil shipped on barges from the Midwest down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico has increased 13 times. Much of this […]
By Sarwar Kashmeri It is time to stop pretending that a residual American military presence in Afghanistan can make any difference to the future of that ancient and troubled land. The future of Afghanistan will be determined, as it has always been, by the Afghans, at their own pace and in conjunction with the countries […]
Angela Merkel wants to wall off European data from the NSA. If ever there was evidence of dysfunction in the free world, this is it. The technical foolhardiness of the idea, which the Financial Times noted in its report, makes the initiative more likely to launch a war of words than truly divide the internet. […]
“The physical features of the Somali country are much the same wherever the traveler may land. Bereft of all vegetation but a few scattered thorn- bushes bristling like hedgehogs, it is destitute of wealth and forbidding in aspect. The fine sand is driven by rainless storms into innumerable drifts. All the world seems ablaze; […]
Around this time every year the intelligence community gives a worldwide threat overview to Congress. As part of this process, they publish an unclassified Worldwide Threat Assessment that is available to the public. For the second year in a row, they identified cyber as the number one national security threat. “Several critical governmental, commercial, and […]
One of the year’s most urgent policy questions—whether or not the U.S. should export oil–is finally garnering attention in Washington as both sides of the U.S. oil export debate make their case. The United States began safeguarding domestically produced oil after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which caused supply disruptions and price spikes in the […]
In 1997, after trial proceedings lasting over three years, Berlin’s High Criminal Court convicted four individuals of murdering Iranian dissidents in a Berlin restaurant—and more significantly—explicitly found the murders were ordered at the highest levels of government in Tehran. The historic judgment culminated in an unprecedented diplomatic shift between Iran and Europe: Every EU member […]
Last week I attended the Cyberspace Symposium 2014 in Colorado Springs. The topic was: Managing Cyber Chaos: Integrating education, industry and government into the anarchy of the virtual world. I thought it was an excellent venue and provided great insight into what approaches the military is taking toward cyberspace and why. I know for a […]
On Monday, February 10, the Associated Press broke a story that the Obama administration is mulling over potentially conducting a drone strike on a U.S. citizen in an unidentified country who is allegedly plotting terrorist attacks. The AP notes that it withheld the name of the country “because officials said publishing it could interrupt ongoing […]
Persistence proved to be a winning strategy for one app developer this weekend. Metadata+, data artist Josh Begley’s iOS app that presents “real-time updates on national security,” was approved and released by Apple. The app, formerly known as Drones+, had been rejected by Apple several times prior to its release. In one rejection letter, Apple noted […]