Energy security

Google’s “Energy Kites” Projects Kicks Off

Makani’s “energy kites” are really not kites at all, but are plane-like machines tethered to ground stations. Rotors on the kite launch it high into the air, where it then starts to rotate, driving an on-board generator to produce electricity, which moves down its tether to a grid below.  The company’s effort is to show that it’s possible to use the same aerodynamic principles as conventional wind turbines, with lightweight electronics and smart software in place of massive amounts of steel.

Makani’s wind kites can reach higher altitudes than traditional wind turbines, which lets them access stronger and steadier winds to produce more energy. They also require less ground space, which makes them a more viable option than conventional wind turbines all around the world.

EMS

Winning the Airwaves: Sustaining America's Advantage in the Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is one of the most critical domains in modern warfare. While militaries have long used it to communicate, keep track of friendly forces and find and target enemies, emerging technological advances now promise to dramatically change how they will use the EMS in the future. In the same way that smartphones and the Internet are redefining how the world shares, shops, learns and works, new sensors and networking technologies will enable militaries to gain significant new advantages over competitors that fail to keep pace.

Gun control

Who owns guns in America? White men, mostly.

As you might expect, gun owners are a lot more likely than non-owners to say that gun control would have negative effects — and a lot less likely to say it would have upsides. Only 32 percent of gun owners agree that stricter gun laws would help reduce accidental firearm deaths; 65 percent of people without household guns do. On the other hand, 68 percent of gun owners believe stricter gun control would give government too much power — compared with 49 percent of gunless households.
But that divide might simply reflect the fact that gun owners are more likely to be Republicans and gunless households are more likely to be Democrats. And the partisan divide is the real difference in the gun debate.

Aerospace

Air Force wants to buy 100 Long Range Strike-Bombers

The Air Force wants to buy 100 Long Range Strike-Bombers, Secretary Deborah Lee James said Dec. 2, a figure at the high end of the 80-to-100-aircraft purchase the service predicted earlier.
“I believe the number is 100,” James said at an event at the National Press Club, offering a rare detail on the service's plans for the hush-hush contract recently awarded to Northrop Grumman.
The service has faced mounting pressure in recent months to procure more LRS-Bs than the planned 80 to 100 planes, particularly in the face of increased aggression from Russia and China.

Terrorism investigation

FBI Will Investigate San Bernardino Shootings as Terrorist Act

The FBI announced today that it is assuming a leadership role in the investigation into the mass shooting that occurred earlier this week in San Bernardino, California, and that the attack that killed 14 people and injured 21 others has been deemed an act of terrorism.

“This is now a federal terrorism investigation, led by the FBI,” said Director James Comey, speaking to reporters at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was joined by Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “The reason for that,” Comey said, “is that the investigation so far has developed indications of radicalization by the killers and of the potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations.” The Bureau’s work, however, continues in close cooperation with our federal, state, and local partners.

Comey cautioned that it is early in the investigation, “but so far, there is no indication that these killers are part of an organized larger group.” He added that hundreds of FBI personnel are following leads all over the world. “We are trying to understand the motives of these killers and trying to understand every detail of their lives.”

Intel sharing

Germany 'draws up plans to prevent sharing intelligence' with Nato ally Turkey

Germany has reportedly drawn up plans to prevent sharing intelligence with its Nato ally Turkey as it prepares to support international air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

German Tornado aircraft are to commence reconnaissance flights over Syria and Iraq after the country’s parliament on Friday voted to deploy up to 1,200 military personnel.

Highly unsual measures have been ordered to prevent Turkey getting access to intelligence from the flights, according to Spiegel magazine.

The aircaft are expected to operate from Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, and as Nato allies, the two countries would normally expect to share intelligence.

Illegal business

Turkey Refuses to Close Border With Syria to Stop Oil Smuggling

Ankara said that it is impossible to close the border and Daesh terrorists may boost their forces in response, according to The Hurriyet Daily News.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also underscored that if the border is closed Ankara will not be able to accept refugees from Syria.

However, closing the border along the area controlled by Daesh would create obstacles for smuggling the oil Turkey buys from the terrorists. Recently, Russia accused Ankara of buying illegal oil from militants in Syria and transporting it to three ports across the Turkish-Syrian border.

Remote viewing & national security

Meet the Former Pentagon Scientist Who Says Psychics Can Help American Spies

Twenty years ago this month, the CIA released a report with the unassuming title, “An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications.” The 183-page white paper was more like a white flag—it was the CIA’s public admission, after years of speculation, that U.S. government agencies had been using a type of ESP called “remote viewing” for more than two decades to help collect military and intelligence secrets. At a cost of about $20 million, the program had employed psychics to visualize hidden extremist training sites in Libya, describe new Soviet submarine designs and pinpoint the locations of U.S. hostages held by foreign kidnappers.

Deadly attack

First suspect identified as Syed Farook, 'very religious' Muslim

One of the deceased suspects behind the San Bernardino shootings on Wednesday has been identified as Syed Farook of Redlands, Calif.

"He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He's Muslim," his estranged father of the same nametold the New York Daily News.

Farook Sr. said he had not seen his son in some time because of a divorce, noting that his son lived with his ex-wife.

A SWAT team executed a search of the family residence on Wednesday evening. That search flushed out a car containing a heavily armed Farook Jr. He was killed by police in an exchange of gunfire.

Corruption

America's Descent into a Third World-Style Kleptocracy

In fact, everything in this list happened (and much of it is still happening) in the United States, the world leader -- or so we like to think -- in clean government. These days, however, according to the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International (TI), our country comes in only 17th in the least-corrupt sweepstakes, trailing European and Scandinavian countries as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In fact, TI considers us on a par with Caribbean island nations like Barbados and the Bahamas. In the U.S., TI says, “from fraud and embezzlement charges to the failure to uphold ethical standards, there are multiple cases of corruption at the federal, state and local level.”

Cyberwars

Cyber and EW: It's about effects, not missions

Across the military, the services are moving electronic warfare and cyberspace operations ever closer together as the two disciplines become increasingly intertwined, dependent on each other and a source of growing pains. And while that integration is happening across the Defense Department, it's the battlefield effects that should be the focus, according to a top Air Force official.

The push to combine EW and cyber is well established – at Fort Gordon, Georgia, the Army will co-locate its cyber and signals headquarters, and the service's CIO/G-6 office currently is assessing integration of some cyber, signal and electronic warfare operations. But more than integration, it's about synchronizing operations, effects and personnel.

Security breaches

New breaches revealed in report that says Secret Service is ‘in crisis’

A man masquerading as a member of Congress walked into a secure backstage area without being properly screened and spoke with President Obama at an awards dinner last fall. Five days later, a woman walked backstage unchecked at a gala dinner where Obama was a featured guest. Months after that, two people strolled unnoticed past a Secret Service checkpoint into the first layer of the White House grounds.

The incidents were among a half-dozen previously undisclosed security breaches since 2013 that were detailed in an extensive, bipartisan congressional investigation of the inner workings of the Secret Service.

Mass shooting

Attackers slay 14 in Calif. in deadliest mass shooting since Sandy Hook

As many as three gun-wielding assailants opened fire on a holiday party for county employees Wednesday, killing 14 people in the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre three years ago this month.

Hours after the shooting, law enforcement officials said two attackers — a man and a woman, neither identified by name — had been killed in a police shootout several miles from the site of the original attack. A third suspect who had been seen fleeing the scene was taken into custody, but police said they were not sure whether he had been one of the shooters.

Decapitation

DoD to deploy ‘targeting force’ to hunt down ISIS leaders

Carter said much of that progress is due to better intelligence from U.S. forces in the region, which have opened the way for improved attacks on IS supply lines and leadership sites. He also said the American presence there has attracted new allies in both countries, both connected to and separate from the Iraqi government.

The White House had already announced plans to put small numbers of U.S. special operations personnel in Syria to coordinate with those local forces. On Tuesday, Carter said he is also deploying a "specialized expeditionary targeting force" to assist Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State group.

Terror threat

ISIS In America: Who Is The Average Islamic State Sympathizer?

More people in the U.S. were arrested for alleged connections to ISIS this year than in any previous year. A new report analyzes the 56 people who were detained this year, of 71 charged since March 2014, and the results paint a rough sketch of the Islamic State’s adherents inside the U.S. An ISIS sympathizer in America is most likely to be young, male and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

International security

Russia and Turkey accuse each other of buying oil from the Islamic State

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, traded accusations on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit. Putin said Turkey's behavior was aimed at protecting its interests. Some Erdogan critics, now including Putin, allege that these involve ties to the Islamic State militant group.

...The accusation was angrily rejected by Erdogan, who said he would resign if the claim could be proved.

"I will not remain in this post," he said. Then he went on the offensive: "But I am asking Mr. Putin, would you remain?" Here's how the pro-government Daily Sabah described what Erdogan said next:

He stated that a Russian-Syrian citizen has been buying oil from [the Islamic State] and then selling it to Assad regime, which he said was also confirmed by U.S. sources. "First they [Russia] should give an account of this," he added.

Casus belli

Religious War Is Already Here (Again)

In order to understand the events we are experiencing in the Middle East in general and in Israel in particular, we must take a moment and look at the history of war as a definition and analyze its characteristics and the changes that have taken place regarding its character. Both Judaism and Christianity has seen its share of religious wars, but over the years, people were divided into nation-states and abandoned religious wars to a point where a motive for wars is mostly based on political and national interests. Only in the nations of Islam did this change faile to take place and religion remained a central element in wars to this very day.

Muslims did not, even for a moment, stop from executing religious wars throughout a history of over a thousand and four hundred years. Since there was no Islamic religious reform movement, religious wars in Islam never stopped. On the contrary – it is safe to say that throughout the past fifteen decades, except for a few rare occasions, all Muslim wars have been religious ones.

Forensics

Fighting Crime With Big Data

Computers predicting crime have become a staple of science fiction films, but it could soon be a reality. The way it works will be somewhat different than what we’ve seen on the big screen.

The problem is that predicting the behaviour of individuals is hard. The way we act can appear random to an outside observer, no matter our internal logic . This makes the task of calculating our next move incredibly difficult for computers. When the focus is shifted, however, to a larger scale, the task becomes much easier.

Computer models are great at analysing patterns of activity of groups. When the sample is large enough – many thousands of individuals – groups of people behave more like an ant colony or particles, with areas of concentrated activity forming and dissolving over time. At this scale predicting collective behaviour becomes much easier. This is where Big Data comes into play.

Middle East

Israel’s air superiority clouded by new Russian missiles in Syria

Israel’s air superiority over its enemies has been a linchpin of its defense strategy for decades. The capacity of Israeli planes to carry out attacks well within enemies’ borders has prevented Syria and Iraq from creating nuclear weapons. The Israel Air Force’s unquestioned supremacy over neighboring forces has kept Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian planes almost entirely out of Israeli airspace in the country’s wars.

But with the recent deployment of the Russian S-400 “Triumph” missile defense system in Syria, that absolute primacy is now in question.

War on terror

The Wishful Thinking War: a Briefing on Syria to Members of Parliament

The armed opposition to President Assad is dominated by Isis, the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham. Some of the smaller groups, once estimated by the CIA to number 1,500, might be labelled as moderate, but only operate under license from the extreme jihadists. Aymenn al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum and an authority on the Syrian armed opposition, says that these groups commonly exaggerate their numbers, are very fragmented and have failed to unite, despite years of war.

Middle East

Iraqis think the U.S. is in cahoots with the Islamic State, and it is hurting the war

On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion.

Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil.

Cybersecurity

UK Spy Agency Admits Engagement in Computer Hacking

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) for the first time admitted in a court case that it carried out Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) or computer hacking, media reported on Tuesday.

In a written argument to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), cited by the Guardian, GCHQ rejected claims brought by Privacy International and seven internet service providers that its hacking activities were disproportionate and illegal.

EMP 

LETTER: Don’t ignore terrorist EMP threat

We know from U.S. studies that are now declassified that terrorists with simple ballistic missiles or even a dirty bomb can launch such missiles off our shores — say from a freighter — in a relatively low-earth orbit against us and bring us back to the Stone Age for weeks, months or years. This is not hyperbole on my part. It is reality, especially if you count our nation-state adversaries.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the Subcommittee Report on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security released on March 8, 2008. Senator Kyl, a leading Republican, noted the following in the summary: “The subject, as I said, is the electromagnetic pulse and its potential as a tool of terrorism.” He followed: “That an EMP attack could potentially shock, damage, or even destroy our electrical systems is indeed possible.” The CIA indicated that nuclear material had been stolen by possible terrorists in the latter stages of the Soviet Union.

Private data security

OPM Just Now Figured Out How Much Data It Owns

When the government announced this summer that more than 4 million federal employees had their personal information stolen—likely by Chinese hackers—lawmakers and victims were outraged. Officials pointed fingers, the FBI threatened retaliation, and the government handed out meager compensation: a free year of credit monitoring for the affected workers.

Things only got worse from there. It soon became clear that the Office of Personnel Management had been breached more than once, and that the agency’s original estimate of the damage could be low. Government workers who hadn’t heard from the government about the first breach began to wonder if their data was caught up in a potentially much bigger hack. It took four weeks, but the answer finally came, and the difference in scale was astounding.

Arms trade

Why Russia needs China to buy its weapons

The deal, announced last week by Russian defense conglomerate Rostec, makes China the first foreign contractor of the multi-role Sukhoi Su-35 (main picture), an upgraded and highly maneuverable fighter jet. While the deal has yet to be confirmed by Beijing, Russian daily newspaper Kommersantquoted Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov on November 19 as saying: "The protracted talks on Su-35 deliveries to China have ended. We have signed the contract."

The agreement reportedly includes not only the supply of 24 jets to the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) for a total of $2 billion ($83 million per unit) but also the delivery of ground support equipment and reserve aircraft engines. The first batch of the planes, with the NATO reporting name Flanker-E, is expected to be delivered next year.

Intel warnings

Ex-US Intelligence Chief on Islamic State's Rise: 'We Were Too Dumb'

There were all kinds of strategic and tactical warnings and lots of reporting. And even the guys in the Islamic State said that they were going to attack overseas. I just don't think people took them seriously. When I first heard about the recent attacks in Paris, I was like, "Oh, my God, these guys are at it again, and we're not paying attention." The change that I think we need to be more aware of is that, in Europe, there is a leadership structure. And there's likely a leader or a leadership structure in each country in Europe. The same is probably similar for the United States, but just not obvious yet.

International security

NATO seeks to cut risk of confrontations after downing of Russian warplane

NATO allies must not lose sight of the threat Russia poses along the alliance’s eastern flank even as it considers new steps this week to avoid airspace confrontations in the wake of Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane, NATO’s top official said on Monday.

As NATO foreign ministers gather for two days of talks in Brussels on Tuesday, much of the focus will be on Russia and its growing military presence on NATO’s doorstep in Syria. But the crisis in Ukraine also will demand alliance attention.

“We have to do both at the same time,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

Military-to-military communications

Dunford Initiates Call With Russian Counterpart

The Pentagon's top military official initiated a phone call with his Russian counterpart Monday, the highest military-to-military communication between the two nations since August 2014.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, had a "short" call that discussed a "range of issues," according to Capt. Gregory Hicks, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs.

"The chairman, he's new to the job obviously and he wanted to establish a line of communication with his counterpart," Hicks said. The two agreed to have follow-up conversations in the future, Hicks added, noting that "they want to have that line open, and now it is."

Syrian war

Next Up for Syria: Even More Lethal Russian Military Hardware

Russia is continuing to up the ante in Syria following the downing of one of its Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer bombers by Turkey.

...Meanwhile, the Russians have started to arm of all of their air-to-air capable aircraft with air intercept weapons. “Today, for the first time Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft went on a mission carrying not only aerial bombs OFAB-500 and guided aerial bombs KAB-500, but with short and medium range air-to-air missiles,” Russian air force spokesman Col. Igor Klimov told the Russian state-owned media outlet Sputnik. The missiles “are equipped with homing devices and are capable of hitting aerial targets at a distance of 60 kilometers.”

Cybersecurity

Cyber's role in the future of war

Military strategies have undergone updates in recent years: Many of the militaries around the world either have or are in the process of establishing cyber components.
For the most part, militaries start off with cyber defenses and then add offensive capabilities. With between 10 and 20 new strains of malicious software being released every second, militaries quickly implemented defenses for military-related critical infrastructure and their offensive cyber weaponry. At that point militaries try and to get ahead of the cyber threats they face by adding cyber-intelligence capabilities.

Concepts & opinions

The West will lose to ISIS - too

French president Hollande has declared war - war on terror, George W. Bush style. Like September 11, 2001 wasn't a war, Paris November 13 wasn't a war. It was a criminal act.

The war on terror has been an exceptionally stupid war.

In the years before 9/11 about 400 people died worldwide by terrorist attack. The Global Terror Indexinforms us that 32.600 died in 2014 - 80 times more!

And, still, the only answer everywhere is: More war on terror.

The only - intelligent - exception is Italy whose PM has announced that Italy is going to counter terrorism by investing billions of Euros in culture, art and creativity - showing the world what civilisation is.

Politicians and the mainstream media seemingly try to make us believe - as if we were uneducated - that we in the West are the main victims and innocent victims at that. We are neither.

Syrian war

The US-Russia Proxy War in Syria

Obama boasted about the 65 nations in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State compared to Putin’s small coalition of Russia and Iran (although Putin’s tiny coalition appears to be much more serious and effective than Obama’s bloated one, which includes countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been implicated in supporting jihadist elements, including Al Qaeda and the Islamic State).

By delivering these anti-Russian insults at such a delicate time, Obama apparently was trusting that Putin would keep his cool and tamp down public emotions at home, even as Obama lacked the integrity and courage to stand up to neocon criticism from The Washington Post’s editorial page or from some of his hawkish subordinates.

Aerospace

Russian Su-24M communications equipment blamed for shootdown

The crew of the Russian Sukhoi Su-24M 'Fencer' strike aircraft downed by Turkey on 23 November may not have been able to hear radio warnings issued by the Turkish Air Force, Russian sources tell IHS Jane's .

Turkish authorities have stated that the aircraft was warned 10 times within a five-minute period. However, the surviving crewmember told Russian media on 25 November that he and the aircraft commander, who was shot from the ground while parachuting, did not receive the signal.

Russian specialists familiar with the R-862 model VHF radio installed on the Su-24M say it requires an optional add-on receiver module in order to receive emergency channel transmissions in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) and very high frequency (VHF) bands.

Religious reconciliation

A powerful antidote to the Islamic State

Lebanon’s offer of school takes young people off the streets and ensures that they are being taught in an ordered environment. More important, the curriculum’s focus on peace and reconciliation between religions is an antidote to the extremist propaganda of the Islamic State. The curriculum challenges the narrative of the violent extremists that there is an irreconcilable divide between Muslim believers and the apostate “others.”

Middle East

A Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man

From the Switzerland of the Persian Gulf to its Sparta, is how one Western official describes the transformation. It’s one full of risks, because the U.A.E.’s business model has largely worked -- turning it from a $50 billion economy in 1990 to the Arab world’s second-largest after Saudi Arabia, with output of $400 billion last year.

From Dubai skyscrapers, Citigroup and Uber run regional hubs. Abu Dhabi, where Sheikh Mohamed holds court, has Ferrari World and branches of New York University and Paris’s Sorbonne; Guggenheim and Louvre museums are under construction.

War on terror

Will terrorism make Russia and the West friends again?

When it comes to diplomacy, bickering usually seems like what Russia and the West do best.

But the recent Paris attacks and Russian jet crash may actually forge a closer alliance between the two against a common enemy: the Islamic State (IS), which claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The clearest indicator came when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to work with the French as "allies" — that word was no accident — for joint operations in Syria.

Earlier that same day, Russia's top security chief for the first time said the Russian airliner crash over Egypt last month that killed all 224 on board was a "terrorist attack." The timing was key: coinciding with the international fallout from the Paris killings.

Energy transport security

SouthFront: Oil and gas pipelines in the Middle East

Saudi Arabia has a pipeline system with a length of more than 17 thousand. Km. At the same time geographically it covers a relatively small portion. In fact, the main unextended pipeline connects the field to the east of the country to the export port in the same area. Several pipelines Saudi oil output in the western export route – to the ports on the Red Sea, as well as to the north of Iraq. Also, pipelines are stretched to major oil refineries of the country: Ras Tannura, Rabigh, Yanbu, Riyadh and Jeddah. The total capacity of these plants is about 1.6 million bbl. / Day...

Weapons

China Again Tests Nuclear Hypersonic Missile

China carried out a sixth flight test of its new high-speed nuclear attack vehicle on Monday designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses or carry out global strikes.

The ultra-fast maneuvering strike weapon known as the DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle was launched atop a ballistic missile fired from the Wuzhai missile test center in central China’s Shanxi Province, according defense officials.

The vehicle separated from its launcher near the edge of the atmosphere and then glided to an impact range several thousand miles away in western China, said officials familiar with details of the test.

The DF-ZF flight was tracked by U.S. intelligence agencies and flew at speeds beyond Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

Innovations & technology

Digital Barriers uses space technology to spot concealed weapons and suicide bombs

A hi-tech camera invented in Oxford’s world-famous science research facility Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and originally designed to map the Earth’s ozone layer is now being used to find concealed weapons, contraband and suicide bombs.

ThruVision, which can detect the different heat signatures generated by the human body and concealed items, is the only technology of its kind, its inventors claim.

The system can detect threats through multiple layers of clothing, using Terahertz energy, which does not penetrate the body, and can be used at a distance.