Immigration security

The Real History of American Immigration

The great immigration wave that delivered some 40 million newcomers to the United States between 1830 and 1940 was comprised largely of unskilled workers with minimal English-language proficiency. For every third- or fourth-generation white ethnic family, there is a stunning success story, but in the aggregate, their ancestors experienced little economic mobility in their own lifetimes. Many of them had little interest in even being American; they came to earn money and return home.

The proposed shift to a skills-based system might be good for the country; it might be bad. It’s the prevailing system in Canada and Australia, two countries that aren’t known for their hostility to immigrants. But on one important point, Miller is clearly wrong: Trump’s plan would signal a dramatic break with American history and tradition.

Electronic surveillance

Surveillance used to be a bad thing. Now, we happily let our employers spy on us

Biotracking technology allows bosses to record the number of steps an employee takes in a day, their heart rate, what they eat and drink, how much sleep they get and even their hormone levels. Neurotechnology, such as increasingly cheap EEG scanners, enables overly inquisitive firms to monitor the activity in their employees’ brains. Now, companies are literally getting under their employees’ skin.

Last month, a small Wisconsin-based vending machines company called Three Square Market shot to global prominence when it offered employees the opportunity to implant a small device about the size of a grain of rice under their skin. This RFID-enabled device allowed its proud new owners to do things such as log into their computer, open doors and purchase food in the office cafeteria with a flick of the wrist. Nearly half of the company’s 85 workers had the device implanted when the firm held a “chip party”.

Cybersecurity

UK intelligence agencies turn to start-ups on cyber security

Cyber security is seen as an increasingly important issue in the UK following the large-scale Petya and WannaCry attacks, and a number of serious data breaches at the NHS, TalkTalk, Yahoo and Tesco Bank. Research from FireEye, a US-listed cyber security group, shows the UK was the target of one in eight malware attacks in Europe between January and September of last year, with only Germany and Belgium facing more attacks. This is due in part by the UK’s status as a centre for finance, manufacturing and technology. As a result, the UK government has ramped up its investment in cyber defences and increasingly turned to the private sector for ideas.

Climate security

Al Gore on why climate change is a national security threat

Gore said the Pentagon has "for a long time through several administrations" warned climate change was a national security issue, in part because it affects scarce resources and refugee flows in places like the Middle East. He gave the example of the turmoil in Syria.

"Some regions are in danger of becoming literally unlivable with increasing temperatures and humidity. Humidity worldwide has gone up 5 percent just in the last 30 years because of all the evaporation off the oceans. And the desertification and extended drought in the eastern Mediterranean is linked by the scientists to the multi-sided civil war in Syria," Gore said. "Other causes as well, but long before that civil war started, this climate-related drought destroyed 60 percent of their farms, killed 80 percent of their livestock, drove 1.5 million refugees into the cities. And the Syrian ministers were saying on WikiLeaks, 'This is going to cause an explosion. We can't handle this.' And that was before the gates of hell opened in Syria."

War on terror

Under Trump, gains against ISIS have ‘dramatically accelerated’

Nearly a third of territory reclaimed from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014 has been won in the past six months, due to new policies adopted by the Trump administration, a senior State Department official said Friday.

Brett McGurk, the State Department’s senior envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition, said that steps President Trump has taken, including delegating decision-making authority down from the White House to commanders in the field, have “dramatically accelerated” gains against the militants.

Combined Islamic State losses in both countries since the group’s peak control in early 2015 total about 27,000 square miles of territory — 78 percent of militant holdings in Iraq and 58 percent in Syria. About 8,000 square miles have been reclaimed under Trump, McGurk said in a briefing for reporters.

Forensics

New Sensor System Helps Tracking ISIS Explosives

A new use for a bomb-detecting technology: identifying the dangerous opioid fentanyl from a distance using a laser beam to protect soldiers and law enforcement officers and help with prosecutions.

Fentanyl — 100 times more potent than morphine — can be dangerous even to touch. Officers are often sickened by fentanyl exposure during busts.

“Farther, faster, safer,” said Ed Dottery, owner of Alakai Defense Systems, describing the advantages of the technology. Dottery said his sensor system is already being used by the US military to protect troops against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria truck bombs.

It works by shooting a laser beam at an object, then reading the change in the beam when it bounces back. Those changes signal whether there are chemicals used to make explosives.

Public security

How to React in the Event of a Terrorist Attack?

The terrorist attacks in London during the last months apparently brought about a greater awareness to the need to prepare the public for such an event. Counter-terrorism experts have started training staff at hospitals, schools and public buildings across the North-eastern region Scotland, so that the staff know how to react in the event of an attack.

Police Scotland officers are offering courses under Project Griffin, which aims to prepare people for terrorist attacks, and under the Prevent strategy, which aims to teach people to spot the signs of people becoming terrorists.

Police Scotland has said the workshops are not being held due to any particular threat to hospitals or other organisations. The intention is to raise awareness of the current terrorism threat level and give staff advice on how to stay safe and what they should do if they see suspicious activity.

Forensics

A New Resolution for Explosive Detection

Scientists are developing new methods to reveal traces of drugs and bomb-making components. A rather new approach named spectroscopy and in particular, infrared absorption spectroscopy, is used by scientists to detect performance-enhancing drugs in blood samples and tiny particles of explosives in the air. While the method has improved greatly in the last 100 years, researchers are still working to make the technology more sensitive, inexpensive and versatile.

A new light-trapping sensor, developed by a University of Buffalo-led team of engineers, makes progress in all three areas. “This new optical device has the potential to improve our abilities to detect all sorts of biological and chemical samples,” Qiaoqiang Gan, PhD., associate professor of electrical engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UB told the University’s site.

The sensor works with light in the mid-infrared band of the electromagnetic spectrum. This part of the spectrum is used usually for remote controls, night-vision and other applications.

Terror threat

'Three Musketeers' terror plot: How MI5 'got lucky' to prevent Lee Rigby-style attack using bomb and meat cleaver

Pressure is mounting on the Government and security services to explain how a terror cell who dubbed themselves the “Three Musketeers” were able to prepare an imminent attack while under surveillance by police and MI5.

Naweed Ali, Khobaib Hussain, Mohibur Rahman and Tahir Aziz have been convicted of plotting a Lee Rigby-style attack on police or military targets in the UK at the end of a trial dogged by debates over secrecy. 

Intelligence officers had believed the plot was in an early stage of planning when they went to bug one of the men’s cars, only to find a machete and homemade pipe bomb hidden under a seat.

Politics

What’s Worse: Trump’s Campaign Agenda or Empowering Generals and CIA Operatives to Subvert it?

DURING HIS SUCCESSFUL 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump, for better and for worse, advocated a slew of policies that attacked the most sacred prongs of long-standing bipartisan Washington consensus. As a result, he was (and continues to be) viewed as uniquely repellent by the neoliberal and neoconservative guardians of that consensus, along with their sprawling network of agencies, think tanks, financial policy organs, and media outlets used to implement their agenda (CIA, NSA, the Brookings/AEI think tank axis, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, etc.).

Whatever else there is to say about Trump, it is simply a fact that the 2016 election saw elite circles in the U.S., with very few exceptions, lining up with remarkable fervor behind his Democratic opponent.

Energy security

Billions Lost in Nuclear Power Projects, With More Bills Due

 A decade ago, utilities were persuading politicians around the country to let them spend big to go nuclear.

Expanding nuclear energy capacity was a sure bet, they said: Natural gas prices were rising, energy needs skyrocketing, and the federal government was poised to cripple carbon-emitting fossil fuel plants. With a dozen or more nuclear power projects being developed around the nation, cost savings could be found through simultaneous construction.

State legislators were sold. In South Carolina, they even passed a law allowing utilities to charge customers up front and to recoup their investments even if the projects never produced a kilowatt. Several other Southern states also passed "pay-as-you-go" laws.

International security

Russia, Iran Agree to Strengthen Military Cooperation After New US Sanctions

Russia and Iran agreed to strengthen the military, technical and technological cooperation after new US sanctions.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin will discuss arms supply with Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan in Tehran on Saturday, as the countries tentatively agreed to strengthen military and technical and technological cooperation after new US sanctions, a source in Rogozin’s office said.

Rogozin is set to visit Iran on Saturday to lead the Russian delegation to the inauguration ceremony of re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Climate security

Climate change is turning cities into harsh, sweltering hotspots

New York has averaged three days above 95 degrees F over the past 20 years. If carbon pollution continues on its current trend, by 2075 that number is likely to increase to 31, according to a new Climate Central analysis.

Myriad cities across the country will be far worse off, though. Atlanta is projected to see 69 days above 95 degrees F, Boise could spend 80 days above that threshold, while Dallas is on track to have 140 days above 95 degrees F. Then there’s Phoenix, where residents may have to contend with more than half of the year above 95 degrees F (163 days in case you’re wondering).

Many small towns will suffer even more. Alva, Florida (population 2,182) could see 142 days above 95 degrees F while Salton City, California (population 3,763) could have to cope with a mind-bending 203 days where the mercury tops out at 95 degrees F or higher.

People smuggling

Trafficking gang smuggling Iranians to Britain caught in Europe

 European authorities have smashed a human trafficking gang smuggling Iranians, some as young as five, into Britain, making more than 100 arrests, the European police agency Europol said on Thursday.

Europol said the criminal network, operating from the southern Spanish city of Malaga, was charging migrants about 25,000 euros ($30,000) for fake Spanish passports, flights, transfers and accommodation.

After a year long investigation, Spanish police arrested 14 members of the group in Malaga and another 42 people accused of selling their Spanish documents to the gang.

Europol said another 44 Iranian citizens were intercepted at different European airports carrying forged passports while the leader of the group was arrested at London's Heathrow airport trying to take a flight to Brazil.

National security

MCMASTER’S NSC COUP AGAINST TRUMP PURGES CRITICS OF ISLAM AND OBAMA

Derek Harvey was a man who saw things coming. He had warned of Al Qaeda when most chose to ignore it. He had seen the Sunni insurgency rising when most chose to deny it.

The former Army colonel had made his reputation by learning the lay of the land. In Iraq that meant sleeping on mud floors and digging into documents to figure out where the threat was coming from.

It was hard to imagine anyone better qualified to serve as President Trump’s top Middle East adviser at the National Security Council than a man who had been on the ground in Iraq and who had seen it all.

Just like in Iraq, Harvey began digging at the NSC. He came up with a list of Obama holdovers who were leaking to the press. McMaster, the new head of the NSC, refused to fire any of them.

McMaster had a different list of people he wanted to fire. It was easy to make the list. Harvey was on it.

Weapons

U.S. military is developing 'variable nukes' that can be dialed up or down in power to to target everything from a small neighbourhood to an entire city

The US Air Force is planning to develop 'variable nukes' that can be dialed up or down in destructive power to target everything from a small neighbourhood to an entire city.

Current bombs already have or can be set to low yields of 20 kilotons, meaning an explosion wouldn't even touch an area a mile or so from the location of the detonation.

The new 'mini nukes' would offer the President 'a new option' military bosses say. 

Climate security

US notifies UN of Paris climate deal pullout

The Trump administration has issued its first written notification that the US intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

But in the notice to the United Nations the US state department said Washington would remain in the talks process.

President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced the US intention to withdraw.

He said the deal "punished" the US and would cost millions of American jobs.

Friday's announcement is seen as largely symbolic as no nation seeking to leave the pact can officially announce an intention to withdraw until 4 November 2019.

Nuclear security

US cities are not medically prepared for a nuclear detonation

The United States is not prepared to deal with an attack by a terrorist group using an improvised nuclear device, the author says. It should get prepared, because the risk is real even if the probability is low, and doing so could save a great many lives. The author explores the potential impact of a 10–15-kt improvised nuclear device set off in New York City. The initial blast would kill between 75,000 and 100,000 people in seconds. Another 100,000–200,000 people would be injured, many of them dying within weeks or months, some with burns, others with impact injuries, and some with acute radiation syndrome. 

Nuclear security

‘Iran nuclear deal under threat after new US sanctions’

The Trump administration forfeited its policy on Iran under pressure from neocons in Washington DC, who unfortunately want to torpedo the nuclear deal with Tehran, says Kaveh Afrasiabi, former adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiation team.Iran has become a target of Washington's recent sanctions. The country's officials have already claimed the move breaks the terms of its current nuclear deal with the US and other world powers.

Election security

South Korea spy agency admits trying to rig 2012 presidential election

South Korea’s spy agency has admitted it conducted an illicit campaign to influence the country’s 2012 presidential election, mobilising teams of experts in psychological warfare to ensure that the conservative candidate, Park Geun-hye, beat her liberal rival.

An internal investigation by the powerful National Intelligence Service also revealed attempts by its former director and other senior officials to influence voters during parliamentary elections under Park’s predecessor, the hardline rightwinger Lee Myung-bak.

Claims, now confirmed by the service, that it was behind an aggressive online campaign to sway voters is certain to add to public anger towards South Korea’s political system.

Korea

He’s dangerous, but not crazy– it’s all part of the plan: Kim Jong-Un's nuclear weapons are 'insurance policy' against being ousted by a U.S.-led invasion like Saddam Hussein, experts claim

Kim Jong-Un's 'cartoonish image' should not fool the international community into thinking he is not clever and rational, North Korea experts warn.

They claim Kim's obsession with building nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. is not an indication that he is looking to start a war - but to prevent one.

The North Korean dictator, whose most recent nuclear missile test is claimed to have proven that his warheads can soon reach U.S. shores, was branded a 'chubby-faced maniac playing with dangerous toys' by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday. 

International security

Trump: US-Russia relations are at 'dangerous low'

US President Donald Trump says his country's relationship with Russia is at a "dangerous low", amid a feud with Congress over new sanctions imposed against Moscow.

Mr Trump approved the measure on Wednesday, despite calling it "flawed".

Russia said the new sanctions were tantamount to declaring a "full-scale trade war".

The law aims to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US elections and its actions in Ukraine.

Mr Trump had opposed the bill, which also contains measures against Iran and North Korea, as it constrains his ability to ease the sanctions without the consent of Congress.

Nuclear security

Would Japanese nukes stop North Korean aggression? Tokyo taboo weakens amid NK testing

As North Korea advances its nuclear ambitions with yet another test of a long-range missile system, the once unthinkable has started to go mainstream in Japan: a discussion of the idea that Japan needs to have a nuclear deterrent of its own to survive in an increasingly unstable region.

Japan's "nuclear allergy" stems from its unique, tragic history with nuclear weapons. It is the only country in the world to suffer their impact, when the United States leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to end World War II.

Since then, there have been brief public discussions of gaining nuclear weapons to stave off threats, such as in the '50s at the height of the Cold War, but such discussions were almost always relegated to extremists who longed for a return to Japan's imperial military heyday.

Immigration security

Trump Pushes To Reduce Legal Immigration

Every year, the United States welcomes about a million new immigrants, issuing green cards that grant permanent resident status. President Trump wants to cut that number in half. He threw his support today behind a controversial bill that would dramatically reduce legal immigration to the U.S. while also changing the criteria for deciding who is allowed in. NPR's Scott Horsley has our report.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Trump is calling for the most significant shakeup in U.S. immigration policy in more than half a century. Along with his crackdown on illegal border crossings, the president wants to curb the flow of legal immigration while also making permanent a cap on refugees.

Radiation safety

Nuclear labs endanger public with radioactive mail

At least 25 times in the past five years, nuclear weapons contractors have improperly packaged or shipped plutonium capable of being used in a nuclear weapon, conventional explosives and highly toxic chemicals, according to government documents.

While the materials were not ultimately lost, the documents reveal repeated instances in which hazardous substances vital to making nuclear bombs and their components were mislabeled before shipment. That means those transporting and receiving them were not warned of the safety risks and did not take required precautions to protect themselves or the public, the reports say.

The risks were discovered after regulators conducted inspections during transit, when the packages were opened at their destinations, during scientific analysis after the items were removed from packaging, or — in the worst cases — after unwary recipients released radioactive contaminants, the Center for Public Integrity’s investigation showed.

Criminal investigation

DALLAS MAYOR DURING JFK ASSASSINATION WAS CIA ASSET

Earle Cabell, who had been elected mayor of Dallas in May 1961, oversaw arrangements for Kennedy’s trip and motorcade, which took him through Dealey Plaza, a route that violated almost all standard rules for presidential safety — and where normal safeguards, such as sealing windows and placing sharpshooters, were ignored. This is of interest to researchers into the assassination, who have been collecting evidence of CIA ties to a host of individuals who figure in the events of 11/22/63 (see also WhoWhatWhy Editor-in-Chief Russ Baker’s Family of Secrets for more on this topic.)

Below is Earle Cabell’s 10/17/56 CIA Secrecy Agreement, his CIA 201 file cover sheet (a “personality” file opened on actual or potential agents, assets, or informants), his 5/13/57 CIA Personality 201 File Request, and a cover sheet indicating that the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) reviewed his 201 file.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity for the travelling scientist

Cybersecurity concerns can be particularly acute when crossing international borders. Some regions have a reputation for hacking, and border guards might insist on seeing files.

What can researchers do to keep their data safe from prying eyes on the road? It depends on your data and the threats you're likely to face, says Morgan Marquis-Boire, director of security for First Look Media in San Francisco, California, who has experience helping government whistle-blowers travel with sensitive data. Are you concerned mostly about overzealous border guards, opportunistic theft or government-sponsored hacking?

It's like chatting with a physician, he says. “If you ask a doctor how to be healthy, you'll get general advice. But it will be different if you're going to the jungle.”

Whatever the perceived threat, the first step in data protection, says Marquis-Boire, is encryption — rendering data unreadable by mathematically transforming them with an electronic key (see ‘Dos and don'ts’). This simple step can protect against casual theft and deter all but the most determined hackers. “The number one thing we push for is encryption of data, whole-disk encryption of portable devices especially,” says John Southall, a data librarian at the University of Oxford, UK.

Economic security

US sanctions are 'trade war' on Russia, says PM Medvedev

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said new sanctions imposed by the US are tantamount to declaring a "full-scale trade war" against Moscow.

He said the measures, signed by Donald Trump, demonstrated the complete impotence of the US president, whom he said had been humiliated by Congress.

The law aims to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US elections and its actions in Ukraine.

Mr Trump accused Congress of overreach on the legislation.

In signing the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act on Wednesday, he attached a statement calling the measure "deeply flawed".

The legislation also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

Poll results

Islamic State and Climate Change Seen as World’s Greatest Threats, Poll Says

Climate change is essentially tied with the Islamic State as the most-feared security threat across much of the world — except in the United States, where cyberattacks are considered a greater danger than global warming, according to a Pew Research Center report released on Tuesday.

Residents of 13 countries ranked climate change as the greatest threat to national security, while in 17 countries the Islamic State was considered a more immediate problem.

In the United States, however, a gaping partisan divide pushed climate change to third-most severe perceived threat, after ISIS and cyberwarfare. Just 56 percent of Americans surveyed identified global warming as the most serious threat to the country, compared to 71 percent for cyberwarfare and 74 percent for Islamic State attacks.

Terror threat

Britain raises defences against returning ISIL fighters

British officials are engaged in behind the scenes reviews designed to address the threat from hundreds of ISIL fighters trying to return to the country from front lines in Syria and Iraq.

Security sources believe the number of potential returnees remains more than double the 150 suspects known to have been stripped of citizenship for terror activity abroad in recent years. Work is under way in the main administrative buildings in Whitehall, London, to target ISIL veterans.

Sources said that lengthening official watch lists of British citizens and residents recruited to ISIL ranks had become a priority for the security services. Newspaper reports have revealed that 40 of the 150 people stripped of British nationality since 2011 — under so-called deprivation orders — were sanctioned in the past year.

Policing

This CIA-funded tool predicts crime before it happens

Palantir — a CIA-backed startup created, in part, by PayPal’s billionaire co-founder Peter Thiel in 2004 — is a little-known tool that’s changing the world right under our noses.

Once used to predict roadside bombs in Iraq based on patterns of previous deployment, Palantir is now being deployed here at home for everything from law enforcement to finance.

The tool currently resides in a nondescript building on a back street in Palo Alto, California. From the outside, you might not think much of it. Inside, the technology is protected by walls that are impenetrable by radio waves, phone signals, or internet: its only means of entry secured with advanced biometrics, and pass codes held by dozens of independent parties whose identities are protected by blockchain technology.

Cybersecurity

Cyber security is now mainstream business

The past three months were a watershed period for cyber security. Wanna Cry and then Petya hit the world like cyber tsunamis and left behind significant business impact and business loss. Could these attacks have been prevented? First, let’s understand some aspects of these attacks.

In almost two decades in the field of cyber security, I have never witnessed the widespread electronic and mainstream media coverage that was received by the recent ransomware attacks. It almost became national news. This is one of the positive outcomes of any major cyber attack. It reminds us of how exposed we are to these risks and underlines the need for building a robust cyber defence for individuals as well as corporations.

Weapons

Army Chief Outlines Future Tank Features

The chief of staff of the U.S. Army discussed what he'd like to see in a future tank to replace the M1 Abrams. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. last week. Chief of Staff Mark Milley mentioned railguns, a reduced crew or no crew at all, so-called active protection systems, and a super strong yet lightweight armor that could dramatically lower the weight of future tanks.

Quoted in Breaking Defense, Milley made it clear he wanted the tank that follows the 40 year old M1A2 Abrams tank to have "breakthrough"—as opposed to incremental—technologies. An incremental technology tank would have, for example, a 140-millimeter main gun, a more efficient turbine or diesel engine, and more armor but perhaps nothing more extreme than that

Climate security

Our Climate Is Our Security

Climate change has historically been a controversial topic, and former President Barack Obama was sharply criticized for addressing it during his time in office. However, the issue may be losing some of its political toxicity of late. More and more professionals and politicians on both sides of the aisle have begun speaking openly about the linkage between the environment and America's national security.

For example, Richard V. Spencer, President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of the Navy, recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "The Navy is totally aware of rising water issues, storm issues … We must protect our infrastructure, and I will work hard to make sure we are keeping an eye on that because without the infrastructure, we lose readiness."

Spencer is not the only current appointee who has expressed this concern. During his confirmation process for the post as secretary of defense this spring, Gen. James Mattis wrote in the question/response period: "Climate change can be a driver of instability and the Department of Defense must pay attention to potential adverse impacts generated by this phenomenon."

Nuclear security

Iran accuses United States of breaching nuclear deal

Iran believes new sanctions that the United States has imposed on it breach the nuclear deal it agreed in 2015 and has complained to a body that oversees the pact's implementation, a senior politician said on Tuesday.

Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by the United States, Russia, China and three European powers, Iran curbed its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.

However, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program, after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

Border security

'Walls That Work': Can Israeli Tech Be Trump's Solution for Mexico Border Security?

The Trump administration has reportedly reached a new contract with the Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems to implement advanced security systems on the U.S. border with Mexico, similar to the security technology utilized along Israel’s borders.

According to reports that emerged last weekend in Hebrew- and English-language Israeli media, an American delegation recently visited Israel to tour the country’s borders with the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Delegation members were pitched on a “smart border” security concept to be implemented along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The plan reportedly involves the construction of observation towers and the implementation of cutting-edge technology—including highly advanced sensors as well as monitoring and communications systems—to combat illegal border infiltration from above and below ground.  

International security

US-Russia relations 'under considerable stress,' Tillerson says

Russia’s intent to expel 755 U.S. diplomats and seizure of two U.S. properties in Russia has put relations between the two countries “under considerable stress,” said Tillerson at a Tuesday press conference at the State Department.

Russia announced the diplomatic measures Friday after the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approved sanctions legislation that targets Russia, Iran and North Korea. The bill requires congressional approval, or Russia to meet conditions, before the administration could lift sanctions against Russia. Tillerson argued that limited his flexibility in negotiations with the Russia government.

“Neither the president nor I were very happy about that,” said Tillerson. “We were clear we didn’t think it was going to be helpful to our efforts, but that’s the decision they made in a very overwhelming way. I think the president respects that, and all indications are he will sign that bill.”

Information security


Lock up the leakers? Sessions to unveil crackdown, as Kelly gets White House staff in line

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to announce a major crackdown on leakers this week, in the latest sign the administration is pushing to run a tighter ship as John Kelly seizes the reins as White House chief of staff.

One of the first tasks facing the retired general and former Homeland Security boss will be plugging the leaks at the White House that his predecessor struggled to stanch.

"If Reince [Priebus] couldn't control those leaks ... then he was the one who was ultimately responsible, and General Kelly was brought in to make sure those leaks do not continue," former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.

Kelly, with his apparent role in Monday's removal of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, already has demonstrated he'll oust staff members he thinks are causing problems.

Judiciary security

Moscow court shooting: Gang suspects killed in escape bid

Three defendants have been killed in a court in the Russian capital, Moscow, after they tried to take the arms from security officers in an attempt to escape, officials say.

The incident happened as five suspected gang members attacked the agents who were escorting them in a lift to a hearing, the Interior Ministry said.

Three were killed when trying to escape. The two others suspects and three security officers were wounded.

The building was briefly evacuated.

The suspects were accused of being part of the notorious GTA Gang, named after the violent game series Grand Theft Auto.

The group of Central Asian nationals was suspected of killing 17 motorists in the Moscow area between 2012 and 2014. They forced cars to stop on a main road and killed the drivers for reasons as yet unknown.