Power grid security

Cybersecurity of the power grid: A growing challenge

Called the “largest interconnected machine,” the U.S. electricity grid is a complex digital and physical system crucial to life and commerce in this country. Today, it is made up of more than 7,000 power plants, 55,000 substations, 160,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, and millions of miles of low-voltage distribution lines. This web of generators, substations, and power lines is organized into three major interconnections, operated by 66 balancing authorities and 3,000 different utilities. That’s a lot of power, and many possible vulnerabilities.

Defense procurement

Russia’s Defense Ministry unveils amount of state defense order

Deputy Head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Yury Borisov, announced that in 2017, over 1,4 trillion rubles will be allocated for implementation of the state defense order, Life.ru reports on Wednesday.

“The main share, more than 65% of the funds, is allocated to the procurement of modern weapons and technology. As at January 1st, the share of modern weapons and equipment in the units of constant combat readiness exceeded 58%,” Yury Borisov told reporters.

At present, a state program of armaments for 2011-2020 is being implemented in the Russian Federation. Within this program, about 20 trillion rubles are planned to be spent on modernization of the Russian Armed Forces and 3 trillion rubles more are to be allocated to technical re-equipment of defense industry.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity: Vital to Legal and Technical Protection of Trade Secrets

Hardly a week goes by without a new hack or cyber breach being reported in the news, and companies are spending lot of time and attention in improving their IT security.  But as companies set out to “raise their game” in protecting their confidential information from cyberattacks, it is important to understand and act on the fact that cybersecurity is not just a technology issue.

Cybersecurity initiatives increasingly have legal as well as practical consequences – including for protecting the value and competitiveness of such items as “trade secrets” – and the trend, in line with such voluntary initiatives such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, is to look more holistically at relevant management processes and people issues throughout a company, not just its IT protections, to assess and address the adequacy of cybersecurity.

Military

China's military is approaching 'near parity' with the West

China's military is fast approaching "near parity" with western nations, according to a new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In its 2017 Military Balance report, which focuses on global military capabilities and defense spending, IISS experts say that China has made significant progress in research and development and improved its military capabilities, putting it close to on par with the US and other allies.

"Western military technological superiority, once taken for granted, is increasingly challenged," Dr. John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive of IISS, said in a statement. "We now judge that in some capability areas, particularly in the air domain, China appears to be reaching near-parity with the West."

Biosecurity

Saab to Deliver CBRN Solution for INTERPOL BioTerrorism Prevent Unit

Saab has received an order for delivery of specially customized CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) sampling equipment and a certified transport packaging container to INTERPOL’s BioTerrorism Prevention Unit.

Under the agreement with INTERPOL’s BioTerrorism Prevention Unit, Saab will supply a total of six sampling units, to be used in the field to combat bioterrorism.

The delivery also includes a certified packaging container designed for safe transportation of CBRN samples and other hazardous materials from the field to the laboratory. Delivery will take place in March 2017.

Air defense

Turkey, Russia Likely To Discuss S-400 systems Purchase In March

Turkey is likely to discuss the purchase of Russia’s advanced S-400 antiaircraft missile systems at a session of the High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council, held in March.

"The talks are continuing on the S-400. The defense industry’s secretariat and the president are receiving information about that. We are closely watching the negotiations.” spokesman for the Turkish president Ibrahim Kalin said on Wednesday.

“Of course, this theme will be raised at the level of the leaders," he said in a broadcast of TRT TV Channel.

Weapons

Russia Developing 3000 KM Cruise Missile For Launch From Tu-160 Strategic Bomber

Russia is developing a cruise missile with a 3000 KM range which would be launched from a modernized version of the Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber and planed for service entry by 2020.

The extremely long range missile development indicates a shift in Russian military philosophy towards long range weapons to reduce the risk of detection and attack from anti-aircraft and anti-attack systems. The success of the cruise missile campaign in Syria where missiles were fired with precision targeting from thousands of kilometres away is believed to fuel this strategic thought.

The ultra-long range cruise missile is being developed by The Russian State Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Systems (GosNIIAS) whose First Deputy of the General Director and Supervisor of Studies Evgeny Fedosov was quoted as saying about the project by Rossiyskaya Gazeta yesterday.

Drones

UAV Swarms – Reality, Not Science Fiction

The UAV swarm technology has been advancing, and while until recently there was doubt about the operational concept, now it seems to have disappeared.

UAV swarms are groups of UAV that work together to accomplish goals, communicating with each other and assisting other members of the swarm in tasks.

When the operational demands are being backed by advanced technology, UAV manufacturers are more confident to offer the performance of missions with two or more UAVs that work together.

The Israeli industry wishes to take advantage of that technology that enables the operational cooperation of several UAV .And there is a commercial potential connected with that technology.

Innovations & technologies

New Surveillance Development for Covert Operations

A new radar camera system for surveillance purposes has been unveiled recently. Blighter Surveillance Systems, a British electronic-scanning radar & sensor solution provider, has exposed Blighter Explorer Nexus, a fully integrated, battery operated, portable radar-camera surveillance system. The device is a compact, lightweight and low power all weather surveillance solution. The product is designed for fully covert operation with a ‘silent’ mode and zero light emissions.

The radar provides rapid detection and location of moving targets. For example, it can detect a crawler at 1.5 km (0.9 miles) and a moving vehicle at 8 km (5 miles). The radar cues a long-range camera to enable the operator to identify any target. According to americansecuritytoday.com, one of the advantages of the system is that it is backpack mounted and can be operated by a single user.  

European security

How will EU look after French, Dutch and German Elections and what will be the implications for Youth Entrepreneurship?

Nexit? Frexit? Deutschexit? Confused by this words? You shouldn’t, because those are some of the most popular hashtags and movements nowadays in Europe. Those three can become the most popular words in a few months, because 2017 marks the year of the Dutch, French and Germany elections, but above all, marks the future of the European Union as we know it.

15/03/2017. All the roads end up in the Netherlands, being the first country where the elections take place. Nexit is the main word in Geert Wilders dictionary, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PPV), whose popularity has risen day by day. The race is currently neck and neck, with the lead changing frequently, but PPV tops most of the polls, based on a populist and anti-immigration speech and ideology, that has been backed up by Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.

French elections

French election: Marine Le Pen attempts global outreach

Le Pen reiterated past promises to “finish off the bureaucratic monster” of the EU and “do away with the EU treaties”.

She criticised France’s last two presidents for involving the country in “wars that are not ours, for interests that are not ours” in Libya and Syria. It was a mistake to break off relations with Syrian intelligence, Le Pen said, asking “How many attacks could have been avoided?”

She criticised French intelligence – as Trump criticised the CIA – saying French services were either “incompetent” or “served foreign interests, which is what one calls high treason”.

Lybia

NATO’s “Success” in Libya, ISIS Replaces Gaddafi

Third week of February marked 6th anniversary of ‘popular’ up-rising in Libya that ultimately led to the overthrow of Gaddafi regime. Thanks to NATO’s intervention and the chaos it left behind, today’s Libya lies in ruins, over-run by a multitude of militias and the self-styled Islamic State. While NATO intervention itself was a drastic failure, as we had previously reported, its aftermath has turned out to be even more devastating, forcing the country to descend into utter chaos. What was previously a reasonably stable Libya is today a picture of extreme debilitation where power cuts are routine, water shortage is acute, inflation rate is sky high and a liquidity crisis is looming large. Not to forget that the country does not have a central government and is being run by a militia whose authority and legitimacy is openly challenged by rival factions.

Could there be a better context for the world’s most ruthless and powerful terror organization, ISIS, to grow and establish control over large swaths of the oil rich country? ISIS emerged in Iraq when the country was in shatters after the US forces had withdrawn in 2008-09. Today, ISIS has emerged in Libya when its condition is no different from that of Iraq. This is not a coincidence; for, this is how Western interventionism works and creates chaos in countries that don’t subscribe to its imperialist agendas.
http://journal-neo.org/2017/02/21/nato-s-success-in-libya-isis-replaces-gaddafi-2/

http://journal-neo.org/2017/02/21/nato-s-success-in-libya-isis-replaces-gaddafi-2/

Military

Trio of military men gain growing influence with Trump

In a White House laden with competing power centers, a trio of military men has emerged as a force to be reckoned with. 

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford have quickly formed a stabilizing alliance in an administration whose earliest days have been marked by turmoil. At working dinners and meetings with President Donald Trump, the men — all retired or current generals — have sought to guide the new leader and foreign policy novice.

And they have increasingly represented Trump around the world, seeking to allay concerns about the new president and his nascent foreign policy.

Their fingerprints can increasingly be seen on the president's early national security moves, from the reworking of his controversial refugee and immigration order to the walking back of his talk of a "military operation" for deportations to his search for a national security adviser after the first was ousted. 

War on terror

Pentagon plan to defeat Islamic State to look beyond Iraq, Syria

A Pentagon-led plan to defeat Islamic State, due in draft form by Monday, will look beyond Iraq and Syria to include the threat from jihadists around the world fueling the conflict, America's top general said on Thursday.

The remarks by Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggest the preliminary plan will be far broader in scope than initially thought and might initially omit more tactical details, like specific troop requests.

"This is not about Syria and Iraq. It's about trans-regional threat," Dunford told a think-tank event in Washington, citing other jihadist groups like al Qaeda.

"So, when we go to the president with options, it will be in the context of the trans-regional threat."

Dunford noted U.S. military estimates that Islamic State had drawn 45,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 nations around the world.

Nuclear security

Whistleblowers and the NRC: Do as I say, not as I don’t

Workers at nuclear power plants form the front line of nuclear safety: They are the ones most likely to detect safety problems when they arise. For example, it was nuclear power plant workers who reported that reactors were being operated with broken and impaired safety equipment at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants in New Jersey in 2004. And it was plant workers who alerted officials in 2013 to a security manager who permitted unqualified individuals to hold security positions at the Palisades, Michigan, nuclear power plant. And it was plant workers who discovered extensive corrosion of the reactor vessel head at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in 2002, in which a small amount of cooling water that had been leaking from the reactor vessel over an extended period of time had corroded away nearly six inches of the metal vessel, leaving only a quarter-inch-thick layer. Had that thin layer been breached, the rapid loss of cooling water through the opening could have caused an accident worse than Three Mile Island.

Intel world

Draining the Swamp, Mr Trump? Try a Toxic Ocean of Privatized Intelligence!

According to a 2010 Washington Post investigative report, “the top-secret world the (US) government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”

A sampling of figures cited by a series of Washington Post reports was truly staggering:

•    By 2010, there were already 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies working on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence across 10,000 locations in the United States.

•    An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances with nearly 500,000 of them being private security contractors.

•    By 2013, about 5.1 million people — or more than 1.5 percent of the US population — were holding security clearances, spurring an industry in background checks worth $5.9 billion alone.

US national security is now a commodity sold on the borderless bazaar. Even the king troll, replete with bogus credentials, now fancies himself as a player in international affairs and wouldn’t hesitate to confect cockamamie intelligence via the most ludicrous plots. 

Arms trade

Countries Buying the Most Weapons From the US Government

The U.S. government sent nearly $10 billion worth of military vehicles and weapons systems to foreign governments last year. The United States is easily the largest exporter of arms in the world, surpassing other producers such as Russia and China by billions of dollars each year.

In the past five years, more than 100 nations have directly purchased aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, and missiles from the U.S. government. When excluding those nations that are not under international embargo, relatively few countries are left out of American arms deals. A few others, however, receive a disproportionately large share of American weapons. Thirteen countries accounted for almost 70% of U.S. 2016 arms exports. Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. partner in the Middle East, received almost 20% of total U.S. weapons exports.

Drug smuggling

Police seize millions of pounds of drugs in smuggling crackdown at London's airports

Detectives have seized millions of pounds worth of Class C drugs following an investigation into smuggling at London’s airports.

More than a million prescription-only tablets – believed to be diazepam – were uncovered, as well as half a million cigarettes and smaller quantities of other drugs.

Intelligence first led officers to raid a house in Hayes on Thursday afternoon, where they arrested a 42-year-old man on suspicion of importation of class C drugs, possession of class A drugs and money laundering.

They seized around £18,000 in cash from the home, on Coldharbour Lane, as well as a vehicle. They also recovered what is believed to a quantity of class A drugs.

Politics

Nigel Farage Calls For A ‘Great Global Revolution’

Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage came to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to congratulate himself on supporting U.S. President Donald Trump, bash the media and call for a “great global revolution.”

Farage drew a direct line between the June 2016 “Brexit” vote, in which British citizens opted to exit the European Union, and Trump’s surprising U.S. presidential victory in November.

Calling on more nations to vote for what he views as their nationalist interests, Farage noted, “We’ve got some very exciting elections coming up in the Netherlands, in France, in Germany, possibly even in Italy. They’re rejecting the idea of being governed by a bunch of unelected old men in Brussels.”

Information security

White House bans certain news media from briefing

The BBC, CNN, the New York Times and others were excluded from an audience with Press Secretary Sean Spicer, with no reason given.

It came hours after President Donald Trump delivered another attack on the media in a speech, saying that "fake news" was the "enemy of the people".

He has previously singled out CNN and the New York Times for criticism.

Recent reports claiming his campaign aides had contact with Russian intelligence officials have particularly irked the president.

Shortly after Mr Trump's speech on Friday, a number of selected media organisations were invited into Mr Spicer's office for an informal briefing, or "gaggle".