Predictions

Scientist who predicted Donald Trump's election victory says Marine Le Pen is 'VERY LIKELY' to win French presidential vote 

The scientist who predicted Donald Trump's US election victory has claimed far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could win the French election because of voter abstention.

French physicist Serge Galam has said the National Front leader could benefit from her hard-core following who will ensure they turn out to back her. 

By contrast, a substantial number of people who said they would vote for her rival may not actually go to the polls, he claimed.

Cybersecurity

Latest WikiLeaks release shows how the CIA uses computer code to hide the origins of its hacking attacks and 'disguise them as Russian or Chinese activity' 

WikiLeaks has published hundreds more files today which it claims show the CIA went to great lengths to disguise its own hacking attacks and point the finger at Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

The 676 files released today are part of WikiLeaks' Vault 7 tranche of files and they claim to give an insight into the CIA's Marble software, which can forensically disguise viruses, trojans and hacking attacks. 

WikiLeaks says the source code suggests Marble has test examples in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi (the Iranian language). 

Navy

Russia increases nuclear sub fleet, combat patrols reach Soviet-era levels

Russia has floated its new state-of-the-art nuclear-powered multipurpose submarine called Kazan as its fleet returned to Soviet-era operational levels in terms of sea patrols, according to the Russian Navy chief.

TrendsRussia-NATO relations

“The Yasen-M class nuclear-powered submarine cruisers are some of the most advanced battleships that amassed all cutting-edge submarine shipbuilding technologies,” Admiral Vladimir Korolev, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, said as the most advanced Russian nuclear attack submarine, Kazan – the second submarine of the Yasen-M class – was launched in the northern Russian port of Severodvinsk.

9/11 investigation

FBI re-releases 9/11 photos of Pentagon

Photos taken after the attack on the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 have reappeared on the FBI's website six years after they were first released.

The 27 images show fire crews battling the blaze, as well as recovery teams and investigators searching the rubble.

American Airlines Flight 77, travelling from Virginia to LA, slammed into the building at around 09:37 local time.

US authorities said the plane struck between the first and second floors of the Pentagon, killing 184 people.

It was previously thought that the images had been newly released because of the fresh date stamp.

Terror threat

REVEALED: Terrorists are finding new ways to 'plant bombs in laptops to get past airport security undetected'

Terrorists may now be using laptops to conceal bombs that could evade airport security, US security intel sources say.

New government analysis suggests that terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaida have developed innovative ways to plant bombs in electronic devices, CNN reports.

US intelligence believe terrorists are testing the effectiveness of their hidden explosives using commonly used airport security equipment.

The bombs are possibly being built into laptops in a way that allows the devices to contain enough power to briefly power on and fool security screeners.

International security

U.S. defense chief says North Korea has ‘got to be stopped’

North Korea must be stopped on its path toward being able to threaten the United States with nuclear attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday in a stark expression of America’s top national security concern at the moment. He emphasized diplomatic means of changing Pyongyang’s “reckless” agenda.

On his first visit to Britain as Pentagon chief, Mattis also took rhetorical jabs at Russia and said America’s priority in Syria is defeating the Islamic State group rather than bringing down President Bashar Assad.

At a joint news conference with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, Mattis was reminded by a reporter that as commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East several years ago, he considered Iran to be the biggest threat to U.S. interests. Asked how he would deal with Iran as secretary of defense, Mattis called Tehran a problem but quickly pivoted to condemning North Korea and described the isolated, communist country as the more immediate threat.

Information security

Intelligence official who 'unmasked' Trump associates is 'very high up,' source says

The U.S. intelligence official who “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone “very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world,” a source told Fox News on Friday. 

Intelligence and House sources with direct knowledge of the disclosure of classified names told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now knows who is responsible -- and that person is not in the FBI.

For a private citizen to be “unmasked,” or named, in an intelligence report is extremely rare. Typically, the American is a suspect in a crime, is in danger or has to be named to explain the context of the report.

Nuclear security

As 120 countries push for a ban, nuclear survivors take the floor

Over the past two days, about 120 governments have participated in nuclear ban talks at the United Nations, determined to move ahead even though nuclear-armed states like the United States are refusing to participate and pressuring allies to do the same. The high-level segment of the meeting, which invited government ministers and UN permanent representatives to speak, was scheduled to end on Monday but ran until lunchtime on Tuesday due to overwhelming interest. States continued to cite the “historic nature” of the negotiations, with the delegate from Liechtenstein observing that “the broad and high-level representation today shows strong political support for this process.”

Climate security

Experts respond to Trump’s climate blitzkrieg

President Donald Trump’s March 28 Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth is but the latest in a series of rollbacks intended to dismantle the Obama administration's climate change policies. Although Trump never uttered the words “climate change” during the signing ceremony, his order will have profound effects on programs and environmental protections intended to rein in global warming—primarily by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Among other things, Trump's order lifts a moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands, removes restrictions on fracking on federal and tribal lands, directs the Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite the Clean Power Plan regulations designed to limit emissions from power plants, and eliminates the requirement that climate change be considered in federal environmental reviews and decision making. The White House claims that these moves will bring back jobs in coal mining and foster energy independence.

Whistleblowing

BOMBSHELL: CIA WHISTLEBLOWER LEAKS 47 HARD DRIVES EXPOSING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SPYING

The same day House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes gave a press conference stating that Trump and his transition team were under “incidental surveillance,” Attorney and founder of Judicial Watch, Larry Klayman, sent a formal letter to the House Committee on Intelligence demanding they investigate the claims and evidence more than 40 hard drives over 600 million pages of information presented under oath at the FBI Field Office In Washington, DC by his client – CIA/NSA Whistleblower Dennis Montgomery.

Klayman claimed in a Newsmax report that Montgomery, “holds the keys to disproving the false claims that there is no evidence that the president and his men were wiretapped,” however Montgomery’s case was largely ignored.

 “When Montgomery came forward as a whistleblower to congressional intelligence committees and various other congressmen and senators, including Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who, like Comey, once had a reputation for integrity, he was “blown off;” no one wanted to even hear what he had to say,” the letter said.

Climate security

Why Environmental Issues Are Crucial to National Security

Despite the fact that 97% of active climate change scientists believe in manmade global warming, President Donald Trump and numerous administrators, including the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, don't fully believe the scientific research backing climate change. However, one member of Trump's Cabinet has been a long-time climate change believer and said that not joining conversations on the environment could have long-term effects on U.S. national security: Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Last week, ProPublica posted previously unpublished excerpts of Mattis's confirmation hearing testimony regarding his feelings on climate change, which he argued had to be front and center in matters regarding the security of the country. “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” he said. “It is appropriate for [military officials] to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning.”

Weapons

Why Doesn't The US Army Develop Thermobaric Weapons?

Why does the US army not develop thermobaric missiles? Because our investigations into thermobaric weapons is that they are cruel and unnecessary. DARPA and the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency, not a typo) did a lot of research into the possibility, but what was discovered is that while the bang was bigger, the weapon itself is… problematic.

The employment of a thermobaric weapon against a population is about half of a war crime. According to the International Comittee of the Red Cross, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has this to say on “Certain weapons”:

Pursuant to Article 8(2)(b)(xx) of the 1998 ICC Statute, the following constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts: Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering [empahsis added]… provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute. [1]

Laser

The US Military Will Usher in a Widespread Use of Laser Weapons in the 2020s

Lasers have been a mainstay of sci-fi battles for decades. But making them practical for the battlefield has proven difficult. Now, private contractors and government agencies have developed weapons systems that are making science fiction a reality. This was made evident when Lockheed Martin and the US Army recently announced, a successful test of a 60-kilowatt (kW) laser. This one was twice as powerful as one they assessed in 2015.

The basic design was first introduced via the Department of Defense's (DoD) Robust Electric Laser Initiative Program, launched in 2010. Most laser weapons would require a large power supply. In this way, they’re stuck being mounted at a permanent base, which isn’t so useful. Over time, laser technology has grown small enough, yet powerful enough to serve military purposes. They have incredible advantages, including not having to store or deploy expensive ordinance, and a near unlimited firing capacity.

Electronic surveillance

Int'l Community Living in 'Golden Age' of Surveillance - Snowden

The world is going through a "golden age" of surveillance, with governments unwilling to reduce privacy violations, US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden said Tuesday.

In February, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy Joseph Cannataci wrote in a report that a number of states, including the world's leading democracies, have used modern digital technology for opportunistic surveillance as well as actively discouraging UN work to establish safeguards against privacy intrusions.

Law & order

Lawsuit: Did Hillary's secret email 'damage national security?'

A government watchdog group Tuesday demanded that the nation's intelligence czar and State Department determine if former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's secret email server damaged national security.

In a lawsuit against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and State, Judicial Watch demanded that they conduct an assessment of the damage and report it to the public.

"The Obama administration conspired with Hillary Clinton regarding her emails, so it is no surprise that Obama officials wouldn't want to hold her to account for her mishandling of classified materials," charged Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "This lawsuit is an opportunity for the Trump administration to get back to basics on the Clinton email scandal and find out what damage was done to our national security as a result of her illicit email practices."

Military

‘You can’t buy your way out’: Military bureaucracy causing skilled service members to leave – report

After President Donald Trump proposed a $54 billion increase in military spending, a new report suggests that money will not fix fundamental problems that have existed since the Cold War ended.

A report released Monday by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) says that the current system of recruiting, training and retaining military personnel is a “holdover from the Cold War, reflecting the national security priorities and American society of that time.” 

After World War II, when the Soviet Union was the only major threat to the US, defense leaders created the “one-size-fits-all” system to ensure that the armed forces would “remain ‘young and vigorous’ enough to meet the physical demands of battle but also retain a large number of midgrade officers and NCOs prepared to command units in case of another major war.”

The BPC says that the system helped win the Cold War, however, is no longer working in the current environment.

Nuclear security

Sweden updates hundreds of nuclear bunkers amid fears of new Cold War with Russia

Sweden is set to bring hundreds of Cold War-era nuclear bunkers out of mothballs as tensions with Russia in the Baltic are ratcheted up another notch. 

The news comes as the Swedish parliament held its first war game in 20 years.

Fifty MPs - who would have the power to replace parliament in the event of an outright conflict - held the drill yesterday at a secret location.

The Speaker of Parliament, Urban Ahlin, said: 'These are secret scenarios...you were exposed to pressure. But it went really well.'

More than 60,000 nuclear bunkers were established after 1945 to protect Swedes in the event of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. 

Weapons

How America's Military Would Kill Russia's Tanks in a War

...Russia is also aware of the Javelin’s capabilities—and their latest tanks feature several countermeasures intended to defeat them. New Relikt and Mechanit ERA systems feature dual layers of radar-triggered ERA plates designed to defeat tandem charge warheads. The Shtora and the newer Afganit Active Protection Systems can also deploy ‘soft kill’ multi-spectral grenades and flares designed to obscure the tank from infrared seekers or divert them to other heat sources.

However, the latest infrared sensors have also improved in their ability to see through obscuring haze and distinguish flares from the original target. And “hard-kill” active defenses designed to shoot incoming missiles down would need to be able to shoot vertically above the tank to tackle a top-attack Javelin—which the new Afganit system on the T-14 tank, with launch tubes nestled at a horizontal angle under the turret, doesn’t seem capable of doing.

So would Relikt-style ERA and soft-kill infrared defenses work against the Javelin? There’s simply no way to know for sure, unless Moscow were suddenly to invite Washington to test its anti-tank missiles against its best tanks in a friendly competition. But given that relations are too frosty for the United States to participate in Russia’s annual tank biathlon, don’t count on that happening.

Korea

North Korea missile launch 'fails'

A North Korean missile launch has failed, South Korean defence officials say, but it is unclear how many were fired or what exactly was being tested.

The US military said it detected a missile which appeared to explode within seconds of being launched.

North Korea is banned from any missile or nuclear tests by the United Nations.

However, it has conducted such tests with increasing frequency and experts say this could lead to advances in its missile technology.

Earlier this month, the North fired four missiles that flew about 1,000km (620 miles) landing in Japanese waters.

Weapons

Navy Lasers, Railgun, and HypervelocityProjectile: Background and Issues forCongress 

The Navy is currently developing three potential new weapons that could improve the ability of its surface ships to defend themselves against enemy missiles—solid state lasers (SSLs), the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG), and the hypervelocity projectile (HVP). Any one of these new weapon technologies, if successfully developed and deployed, might be regarded as a “game changer” for defending Navy surface ships against enemy missiles. If two or three of them are successfully developed and deployed, the result might be considered not just a game changer, but a revolution.
Rarely has the Navy had so many potential new types of surfaceship missile-defense weapons simultaneously available for development and potential deployment. The HPV in particular has emerged as a program of particular interest to the Department of Defense (DOD), which is exploring the potential for using the weapon across multiple U.S. military services. 
Although the Navy in recent years has made considerable progress in developing SSLs, EMRG, and HVP, a number of significant development challenges remain. Overcoming these challenges will likely require years of additional development work, and ultimate success in overcoming them is not guaranteed.

Criminal investigation

Russian Space Official Found Dead In Jail After Transfer To Unmonitored Cell

A former executive director of the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, has been found dead in his jail cell with stab wounds.

A public prison oversight committee said on March 20 that Vladimir Yevdokimov had been moved to a cell without CCTV cameras a month before his death.

Yevdokimov, 55, was arrested in December on suspicion of fraud and placed in pretrial detention in Moscow.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on suspicion of murder after his body was found on March 18 in the cell he shared with 11 other inmates.

Military

DoD has more intel than it can process

The Department of Defense is grappling with an overwhelming preponderance of data, so much so that it can’t process it all. 

The department needs to take a comprehensive approach at what is known as processing, exploitation and dissemination, or PED in DoD parlance, according to the director of Defense Intelligence (Warfighter Support), which falls under the purview of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence 

“We are now at the point for the first time I can remember where PED is the shortfall more so than the platforms themselves,” Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan said during a March 17 luncheon hosted by AFCEA’s Northern Virginia Chapter. 

The DoD doesn’t have the backend analytics for all the platforms and sensors being put into the field, he added. 

Chemical security

Chernobyl-scale chemical disaster looms in Eastern Ukraine war, experts warn

This isn’t a cold war; it’s a hot war. And experts caution that the conflict in Eastern Ukraine could soon get a whole lot hotter if fighting damages huge industrial storage units of chlorine gas and there is a deadly release of the toxic gas.

“If one of those uncontrolled sites containing chemicals were to detonate, tens of thousands of people could be poisoned. It is a potential disaster on the scale of Chernobyl,” Robert Amsterdam, Russian political expert and lawyer at international law firm Amsterdam & Partners, told Fox News.

The risk is hardly hypothetical. Late last month a stray artillery shell hit the Donetsk Filter Station’s chlorine gas depot, which holds 15,000 pounds of chlorine gas. While the containers -- by sheer luck – were not damaged, the incident raised serious red flags.

Flight security

US to ban laptops and tablets on flights from eight countries

The US is banning electronic devices such as laptops and tablets from cabin baggage on flights from eight Middle Eastern and North African countries.

A US government source told the BBC that the measure would affect nine airlines operating out of 10 airports.

US media reported the order was sparked by intelligence gathered overseas.

It will reportedly include all large electronic devices such as laptops, tablets cameras, DVD players and electronic games.

But mobile phones and smartphones will still be allowed in carry-on luggage.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment on the issue but is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday.

Cold war history

The CIA's Secret Plan to Crush Russia During the Cold War: Super Psychic Powers

What if someone sitting in a darkened room could close his eyes and visualize the exact location of a nuclear submarine hidden in the ocean depths five thousand miles away?

If the U.S. government’s paranormal research had proved fruitful instead of a flop, that’s the world we would live in today. A world where psychics hunt subs, and American soldiers kill enemies with the power of their mind, like an army of Darth Vaders in camouflage uniforms.

When the CIA made twelve million documents available online in January, the records that drew the most media attention were those concerning the agency’s Cold War paranormal research. Beginning in the 1970s, and spurred by reports that the Soviet Union had invested heavily in psychic research, the CIA’s Scanate and the U.S. Army’s Stargate projects explored the possibility of using psychic powers as battlefield tools.

Korea

Understanding North Korea’s Nuclear Coercion Strategy

North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, proclaimed during his annual 2017 New Year’s address that the DPRK military is in the “final stages in preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic rocket.” A North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, would be capable of threatening the continental United States. As a counter-response, the United States and its allies in Northeast Asia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, have forcefully condemned the frequent missile tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), particularly when coupled with a nuclear test, as clear signals of the North’s threatening stance toward the alliances and even the US homeland. In this vein, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis promised an “effective and overwhelming” response to any use of nuclear weapons against America or its allies, delivering a firm message to North Korea. And the Trump administration is in the process of conducting a comprehensive North Korean policy review, with all options on the table.

Politics

Opposition figure Navalny attacked with antiseptic dye

Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny was smeared with green antiseptic dye during his visit to the city of Barnaul. Police have launched a probe into the attack, but no one has claimed responsibility.

“A dude was meeting me at the entrance to our headquarters, he stretched out his hand and I approached him cheerfully intending to shake it. But he sprayed me from a bulb syringe, quite accurately hitting my eyes. It stung and I thought with horror that it was acid, but it was nothing – just brilliant green!” Navalny wrote in his blog. (Brilliant green is an aniline dye used by Russian doctors as anti-septic and a protective film for treating minor wounds. As with any aniline dye, it is very hard to remove).

Foreign affairs

Russia Ready to Restore Military Ties With Japan - Defense Minister

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that Moscow is ready to restore military ties with Japan, underscoring the importance of ongoing talks in boosting military cooperation.

Shoigu is meeting Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, as part of "2+2" format consultations in Tokyo.

"I am convinced that today's meeting will contribute to strengthening friendly relations between the armed forces of the two countries and developing mutually beneficial military cooperation," Shoigu said.

"I would like to assure my Japanese colleagues of readiness for constructive work to restore military ties," the Russian defense minister said.

Military

China to ax military corps of disgraced generals amid downsizing of world’s biggest army – sources

China’s People’s Liberation Army will reportedly disband five of its 18 army corps, including two that served as the power base of two disgraced generals, sources with knowledge about the ongoing shakeup told the South China Morning Post.

Two years ago, Beijing announced that it would lay off 300,000 members of its 2.3 million-strong military as part of a major reform, which is meant to turn the PLA into a more efficient and flexible modern fighting force. The country’s top brass has since been overhauled, and China has restructured its military and investigated generals for alleged corruption.

Cybersecurity

How companies can stay ahead of the cybersecurity curve

Cyberattacks can interrupt business operations, hurting companies’ bottom lines, and can infringe upon the privacy and other human rights of consumers and the general public. Right now, there isn’t much regulation around companies’ cybersecurity practices. For example, Congress has not required that Internet of Things devices accept security updates, nor that consumer information be fully encrypted to limit the effects of a data breach. A Federal Communications Commission rule that would have required internet service providers to protect customers’ information has been halted.

Nuclear security

U.S. REDUCING NUCLEAR WEAPONS: AIR FORCE DEPLOYED MISSILES DROP TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 60 YEARS

The Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile force will reduce its nuclear missiles from 450 to 400, the first reduction in a decade, by April. The plan has long been in place. President Barack Obama renewed the deal with Moscow in 2010 and in 2014 announced he would downsize the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile force.

Under the original deal signed by the U.S. and the USSR in 1991, Moscow and Washington could deploy up to 1,600 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 6,000 warheads. The new deal stated that each nation may have a maximum of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and bombers, along with 1,500 warheads. Both nations have until February to meet the terms of the treaty.