Moles

Arrested Russian FSB Agents Allegedly Passed Information to CIA

A top cybersecurity specialist and his deputy in Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB, are reportedly being accused by the Kremlin of “breaking their oath” by working with America’s Central Intelligence Agency.

Sergei Mikhailov, allegedly detained at a board meeting last December, and his deputy, Dmitry Dokuchaev, were arrested by the Kremlin on Jan. 27 for treason and illegal hacking. Then, on Tuesday, Russian news agency Interfax, after hearing from unidentified sources, reported that they, along with Ruslan Stoyanov, the head of cybercrime investigations at Kaspersky Labs, and a fourth, as yet unnamed person, are suspected of passing along secret information to the CIA — or of passing it to someone who passed it to the CIA.

Public security

GUN VIOLENCE IN US SCHOOLS LINKED TO UNEMPLOYMENT

When people come out of schools and find no jobs, the disappointment and despondecy that develops among them leads to gun violence in the schools, a new study based on a quarter-century of data has found.

The study conducted by researchers in Northwestern University found a persistent connection over time between unemployment and the occurrence of school shootings in the country.

“Our study indicates that rising gun violence in schools can result from disappointment and despair during periods of increased unemployment, when getting an education does not necessarily lead to finding work,” researchers said in the study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Poll results

Poll shows support for Trump's travel order 'even if it means turning away refugees' as a majority back 'requiring immigrants from Muslim countries to register with the federal government' 

Polling taken early this month showed majority support for a general expression of President Trump's controversial plan to halt immigration from 'terror-prone' countries.

Word of Trump's new executive order halting immigration from nine countries, which at first was applied even to green card holders from Iraq and other listed nations, spared immediate protests at airports among those arguing it was ill-advised, un-American or even unconstitutional. 

But a Quinnipiac poll taken in early January, as the order was being contemplated but before Trump took the oath of office, showed support not only for an immigration crackdown but for a 'Muslim registry,' an idea Trump also promoted on the campaign trail.

American voters backed suspending immigration from such 'terror prone' countries by 48 to 42, the survey revealed. 

Ukrainian crisis

More than ten killed and dozens injured in surge of violence in east Ukraine

The Russian and Ukrainian governments have traded blame over a surge in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists that has killed more than ten people and injured dozens more since the weekend.

The fighting is the first significant violence in the war zone since Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president and could be seen as a key test of new administration’s stance on the crisis, including whether it will prolong sanctions imposed against Russia over its role in the war.

Immigration security

France will copy Donald Trump’s travel ban if Marine Le Pen is elected as president his year, her senior aide reveals

France's National Front would consider imposing a travel ban if Marine Le Pen is elected president this year, one of her senior aides has admitted.

Steeve Briois, who is part of the far-right leader’s campaign team, said American President Donald Trump’s hugely controversial policy could work in Europe.

‘Why not?’ Mr Briois told AFP, France’s national news agency. ‘We not living in the word of Care Bears any more. We are in a horrible world.

Law & order

FBI Shuts Down Prominent New ISIS Recruitment Website

Saying the measure would greatly aid efforts to combat the rise of anti-American sentiment online, the FBI announced Tuesday that it had shut down a prominent new ISIS recruitment website, www.whitehouse.gov. “Blocking sites like this one, which spread propaganda in the effort to attract people to ISIS, is vital to winning the war on terror,” said spokesperson Terrence Moreland, adding that the FBI recently became aware of the site after prominent ISIS leaders began posting on social media in support of the online recruitment hub. 

Terror threat

Ex-CIA Chief Warns of Increased Terror Threat in US Amid Trump's Travel Ban

Trump's executive order to block refugees from coming to the United States for four months and restrict immigration from seven predominantly Muslim nations may contribute to growth of terror threat in the US, Panetta said in an interview with CNN.

"We've fed ISIS [Daesh] a major argument that I think will help them in recruiting and that increases the chances of a potential attack in this country," Panetta told CNN on Tuesday.

Trump said the order would keep terrorists out of the United States.

Cybersecurity

Trump Outlines Plan to Tighten Government Cybersecurity, Postpones Order

President Trump was expected to sign an executive order Tuesday outlining his approach to protecting federal agencies from hackers. The White House said Tuesday afternoon that the signing had been postponed, but did not give a reason.

Trump met earlier in the day with cybersecurity experts at the White House, during which they discussed the president's goals.

The order is expected to put heads of all federal agencies on notice that they themselves would be responsible for making sure their electronic defenses are sufficient, a White House official told reporters. That is to keep them from passing the buck to lower-level staffers, the official said.

At the top this effort will be the Office of Management and Budget, which will examine the cybersecurity risks across the executive branch, the official said.

Smuggling

Broody prison officer jailed for 9 months for smuggling prisoner’s sperm

A “besotted” broody prison officer has been ironically jailed for nine months for attempting to smuggle her gangster boyfriend’s sperm from behind bars in a Lancashire jail.

Alison Sharples, 47, was caught with a medicine syringe containing traces of sperm during a routine bag check in October, 2014.

DNA testing of the syringe revealed the semen belonged to either Marvin or Michael Berkeley - twin brothers who were both jailed in 2007 for a multitude of charges ranging from hijacking to kidnapping, reports the Manchester Evening News.

But as only Marvin Berkeley,32, was a prisoner at Sharples place of work, HM Prison Garth, he was the assumed ejaculator. A subsequent search of Sharples’ home uncovered a letter from Marvin.

A “former friend” reportedly told the jury at Preston Crown Court that the semen was slipped under a cell door by Berkeley and was intended to be used “like a turkey baster” to impregnate a “besotted” Sharples who wanted to “have a chocolate baby”.

Military

'Abhorrent' sexual abuse & hazing at German elite base admitted by military

Recruits and service personnel have been sexually abused, humiliated and forced into violent rituals at an elite military base in southern Germany, according to a report first published by Der Spiegel daily and later confirmed by the German military.

“Sexual abuse and sadistic actions” were “common practice” during a medical training course named “Combat First Responder” which recruits from all military branches had to attend at the Pfullendorf military base in Baden-Wuertemberg, Der Spiegel reported citing an internal military investigation that was kept secret.

Health security

Completely 'locked-in' patients can communicate

Patients with absolutely no control over their body have finally been able to communicate, say scientists.

A brain-computer interface was used to read the thoughts of patients to answer basic yes-or-no questions.

One man was able to repeatedly refuse permission for his daughter to get married.

The study on four patients in Switzerland - published in PLOS Biology - also showed they were happy despite the effects of being "locked-in".

The patients all had advanced forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in which the brain loses the ability to control muscles.

War on terror

US raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen: What we know so far

US special forces operatives carried out a raid in central Yemen on Sunday, targeting the house of a suspected leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

US officials have confirmed that one Navy commando died and three more service members were wounded, and say 14 al-Qaeda fighters were killed. Unconfirmed reports suggested a number of civilians were killed, including an eight-year-old girl whose father and brother were killed in drone strikes six years ago.

Here's what we know and what's been reported.

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The US operatives targeted the house of a suspected senior AQAP leader in the mountainous Yakla region of Bayda province - the focal point of recent US drone strikes in Yemen.

A Pentagon spokesman said the clandestine mission - the first authorised by President Donald Trump - was an intelligence-gathering operation designed to retrieve computer hard drives.

International security

US rips 'irresponsible' Iran after missile test

US officials sharply condemned Iran on Tuesday as "provocative" and "irresponsible" after it conducted its first missile test since President Donald Trump took office.

A US defense official told CNN the medium-range missile was launched on Sunday, and that the test failed, posing no threat to the US or its allies in the region.

The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had strong words for Iran following UN Security Council discussions on reports of Iran conducting a ballistic missile test.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Haley said. "We will act accordingly ... we will be loud."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement Tuesday that the US is "well aware of and deeply troubled by Iran's longstanding provocative and irresponsible activities."

Environmental security

Senator: Army Corp told to approve Dakota pipeline easement

The Acting Secretary of the Army has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with an easement necessary to complete the Dakota Access pipeline, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said on Tuesday.

Hoeven issued a statement late in the evening after he said Acting Army Secretary Robert Speer informed him of the decision. Hoeven said he also spoke with Vice President Mike Pence.

A spokesman for the U.S. Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. Hoeven spokesman Don Canton says that Speer's move means the easement "isn't quite issued yet, but they plan to approve it" within days.

Immigration security

Trump's Immigration Order Is 'Not A Ban On Muslims,' Homeland Security Chief Says

Homeland Security officials are defending the Trump administration's executive order on immigration and refugees, along with its implementation.

At a news conference Tuesday, DHS Secretary John Kelly said the order creates a "temporary pause" as officials "assess the strengths and the weaknesses of our current system." He was adamant in saying that the order "is not — I repeat — not a ban on Muslims."

The controversial executive order suspends new-refugee admissions for 120 days and blocks travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia — for 90 days. Syrian refugees are banned indefinitely.

Immigration security

US travel ban: Officials admit poor communication but defend policy

US security chiefs have admitted flaws in the way President Donald Trump's bar on people from seven countries entering the US was implemented.

The policy has caused uproar internationally and was challenged by the acting US attorney general, whom Mr Trump then fired.

Top Republican Paul Ryan said he regretted that some people with valid documents had been affected.

But he also defended the ban, saying it aimed to prevent terror attacks.

Law enforcement

FBI ‘secret rules’ revealed: Massive trove of documents unmask agency's shady tactics

A new report published by the Intercept reveals the FBI’s wide-ranging powers from the surveillance of journalists to the treatment of informants after the investigative news site acquired a trove of confidential FBI documents.

The 11-part series led by Intercept reporter Cora Currier sheds light on the bureau’s vast secret powers, following a months-long study of confidential documents.

The papers include the FBI’s governing rulebook, known as the DIOG, and classified policy guides for counterterrorism cases and handling confidential informants.

The investigation exposes the FBI’s spying on journalists, its deportation of immigrant informants when they are no longer of use, and other instances of invasive surveillance on targets without need to show suspicion of wrongdoing.

Weapons

New Chinese Microwave Weapon Can Short Out IEDs and Tanks

China has unveiled a new directed energy weapon, one that poses a serious threat to high-tech U.S. military electronics. According to Popular Science the weapon, which resembles existing American arms, can "disable missiles and paralyze tanks".

The unnamed weapon system has been in development for the past six years at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xi'an, China. According to Popular Science, the weapon is "small enough to fit on a lab bench" and is ready to be weaponized. A cruise missile, such as the ones pictured above, is one deployment option.

Microwave weapons work by unleashing a torrent of microwave radiation that can disable or even destroy integrated circuits. That means everything from iPhones to cars is vulnerable. It also means enemy weapons, communications systems, and sensors are feasible targets.

Terror threat

Terrorist Threats to Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A Clear and Present Danger

Pakistan has the world’s fastest growing nuclear stockpile.[i] Given the rate of plutonium and highly enriched uranium production, it may be able to produce another 200 nuclear warheads in the next 5 to 10 years, taking its arsenal close to 350. The production of such a staggering stockpile has been associated with an extremely worrisome trend; the majority of nuclear warheads produced by Pakistan in last decade are low yield tactical weapons. The rapid tacticalization of a strategic asset in the region considered to be a nuclear flashpoint, has raised a plethora of security and strategy related issues.

Pakistan is the epicenter of global jihadi terrorism. The country has faced some of the most devastating attacks on its defense establishments by the jihadist in the past decade or so. There have been repeated instances where some of these attacks were mounted with the help of insiders within the Pak military establishment. The unabated internal chaos coupled with a perpetual tension with its eastern neighbor, makes Pakistan a bit of a nuclear nightmare. 

Nuclear security

'Dead Hand' and Bunkers: This is How Russia Can Survive Potential Nuclear Attack

In 1983, Raegan received a new report saying that the Soviet strategic management system was more stable than its American analogue.

"Then, Washington decided that soft power would be more effective on the standoff between the US and the USSR, rather than a nuclear or conventional war," Ivashov added.

The modernization of Soviet-era nuclear defense systems began during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999). Significant progress was also made during Vladimir Putin’s presidency, including expanding the life support systems’ capacity to three months.

According to Ivashov, after 2000, Washington approved the conception of a rapid global strike, and, as a result, stopped to modernize its strategic nuclear arsenal.

"The US focused on the conception of a highly accurate strike, with the following use of tactical weapons. Moreover, the US adopted the global missile shield plan," Ivashov explained.

Corruption

FBI International Corruption Squads: What are they, and what do they do? 

The FBI announced the formation of its International Corruption Squads almost two years ago, with Squads to be located in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. 

According to the FBI, the Squads would help the Bureau to combat both the supply and demand of corruption -- FCPA violations and Kleptocracy.  The FBI anticipated that investigating one side of corruption could lead to information about the other and that creating Squads with both objectives would be more effective in achieving the overall goal of combating international corruption. 

In pursuing leads, the Squads would have FBI tools at their disposal, including "financial analysis, court-authorized wiretaps, undercover operations, informants, and sources."

Personal security

Don’t be fooled by people who can put you in a trance

In conjunction with World Hypnotism Day on Jan 4, the Association of Hypnotherapy Practitioners Malaysia (AHPM) organised an awareness event at Persatuan Alumni University Malaya (PAUM) in Kuala Lumpur.

The theme of the event was “Dispelling the myths about hypnosis”.

AHPM, also known as Persatuan Pengamal Hipnoterapi Malaysia, is a recognised body under the Federation of Complementary and Natural Medicine Associations, Malaysia, one of the organisations recognised by the Health Ministry.

As such, once the Traditional and Complementary Medicines Act is enforced, hypnotherapists would need to be registered to obtain their practising license.

Those who attended the event included students, professionals, retirees, and even people from as far as Johor, who came to learn more about hypnosis.

Border security

Borders across Europe to STAY sealed for months as Schengen dream found TOO RISKY

Struggling Schengen was all-but destroyed in 2016 when countries began blocking their borders to stop illegal immigration.

Under the arrangement European citizens can travel without a visa through the designated zone, covering most of the bloc.

However, as scores of migrants from Syria, Africa and all over the Middle East began making their way through Italy and Greece to inland Europe, borders were sealed.

The introduction of border controls was a divisive issue but member states stood their ground, with Hungary and Austria erecting huge fences to stop entry.

It was widely hoped among EU supporters Schengen will be saved but the EU commission has now confirmed an extension of border controls.

Border security

Terror and the Mexico border: How big a threat?

Islamic militants purchase a nuclear device from a sympathetic official in Pakistan and ship the weapon on the flip side of a drug trafficking route through West Africa to South America. Next, the package is smuggled north to the United States-Mexico border.

Although this sounds like the plot line of a spy thriller, it is a scenario laid out in an online magazine produced by the Islamic State, the apocalyptic Syria-based terror group also known as ISIS.

“From there it’s just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and … presto, they’re mingling with another 12 million ‘illegal’ aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk of their car,” the 2015 ISIS article says.

Nuclear security

A big one for Big Brother

Between Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia, it’s like a “reverse Bermuda Triangle,” Williams said, where instead of mysteriously vanishing, radiological materials mysteriously appear.
Williams and Congedo don’t believe they’re the only people working on parsing intelligence about nuclear smuggling. The task is important enough to warrant duplication, they say.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which oversees countries’ compliance with nuclear nonproliferation regimes, has a similar database, although it’s not available to the public. The US-based nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative has one, too. It’s public and has three years of data.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a government weapons lab in New Mexico, have shown there is a world of information on the Internet that could enhance nuclear nonproliferation efforts. A creative algorithm can go a long way to turn seemingly mundane public data into actionable intelligence.

International security

China’s Happy to Sit Out the Nuclear Arms Race

For China, it’s not the size of the arsenal that counts, it’s how you use it. About 200 nuclear warheads are “enough.” China’s primary goal has always been to prevent the use of nuclear weapons against them. Beijing figured out that you don’t need 30,000 nuclear warheads to achieve that end — you only need enough that the risk of losing a major city in retaliation holds your opponents back. They have enough for escalation control, they have enough for deterrence, and they only need to mate their warheads to delivery vehicles to signal.

So they keep their strategic forces small and agile. With about 200 weapons, you already have increased the cost of nuclear war enough that nobody wants to start one with you. You don’t even have to spend a fortune to keep those weapons ready to go at a moment’s notice, as Russia and the United States do with their arsenals. 

Immigration sesurity

Department of Homeland Security Won't Stop Green Card Holders from Entering US

The US Department of Homeland Security has clarified that it is takings steps to comply with court orders issued yesterday and with the statements by Homeland Security Secretary James Kelly regarding the way refugees and travelers from the seven countries affected by the new travel restrictions, including green card holders, are treated.
n the statement, issued late January 29, the department said, "We are committed to ensuring that all individuals affected by the executive orders, including those affected by the court orders, are being provided all rights afforded under the law. We are also working closely with airline partners to prevent travelers who would not be granted entry under the executive orders from boarding international flights to the U.S. Therefore, we do not anticipate that further individuals traveling by air to the United States will be affected."

Chemical security

Iraqi forces discover ISIS chemical weapons arsenal in Mosul

French and Iraqi forces have uncovered a mustard agent and missiles in an area formerly controlled by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) during a sweep of eastern Mosul.

The mustard agent was found in an abandoned storage area near the historic Nineveh ruins, AP reported, hoping to avoid attracting attention from locals.

In a warehouse 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the Tigris river, reporters were shown three large refrigerated cargo containers holding an unidentified substance hidden among piles of coal, which upon further analysis was found to be mustard agent. There was also more than a dozen surface-to-surface rockets bearing Russian inscriptions.

Middle East

5 Super Israeli Weapons of War That ISIS Should Seriously Fear

Back in 2014, as Islamic radicals were still on a tear taking large swathes of Iraq and Syria, Israeli strategists worried that Israel could become the next target of groups like Islamic State (IS) and the al-Nusra Front.

Such a battle seems unlikely. Israel must prepare for conflict with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, while IS is busy trying to hold on to its conquered territories—and battling the Iraqi and Syrian governments, as well as the Kurds and any other groups they have antagonized.

Yet the ignominious withdrawal of the forty-year-old plus UN peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights, after rebels fought and kidnapped Fijian and Filipino peacekeepers back in 2014, means there is no longer a buffer zone between the Jewish state and jihadi groups who are ideologically compelled to destroy it.

Sic transit gloria mundi

Trump Fires Acting Attorney General For Refusing To Defend Immigration Order

President Trump has fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, concluding she has "betrayed the Department of Justice" by refusing to defend his executive order that imposes a temporary ban on refugees and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries.

In a statement, the White House called Yates, an Obama administration holdover with 27 years of experience prosecuting corrupt public officials and the man who bombed the Atlanta Olympic park, "weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration."

The Trump administration immediately named Dana Boente, the top federal prosecutor in suburban Virginia, the interim attorney general. Boente, a veteran government lawyer with decades of experience, will serve until Trump's nominee, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, is confirmed by the Senate.