NATO chief: Interim rapid-response expected next year

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Published December 01, 2014

BRUSSELS NATO expects to have an interim rapid-reaction force in place by next year to deal with new security challenges in Europe and elsewhere, the alliance's secretary-general said Monday.

Jens Stoltenberg said the force would be a provisional step until a full-scale unit can be organized in 2016.

Stoltenberg said Germany, Norway and the Netherlands have agreed to contribute troops to the initial force. The bigger rapid-reaction force was agreed to at a NATO summit in September as a response to Russian actions in Ukraine.

The NATO chief met with reporters to preview the agenda of Tuesday's meeting of alliance foreign ministers in Brussels. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to attend the session, which will cover a broad range of issues, from reviewing actions taken by NATO since the September summit in Wales to NATO's planned non-combat mission in Afghanistan starting Jan. 1.

On Wednesday, Kerry will chair a separate meeting at NATO headquarters of countries involved in the campaign against the Islamic State extremist group.

Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said the prototype of what's officially called the High Readiness Joint Task Force will be used as a "test bed" to gauge its command and control, logistics, sustainability and connections with host nations and NATO's supreme commander in Europe.

The goal is to hone response time throughout 2015 so the unit will be able to deploy within days, Lute said.

The actual size and composition of the force is expected to be set by NATO defense ministers in February. Lute said many questions about it still remain to be answered, not least how it will be paid for.

Stoltenberg said the interim unit's creation proves NATO is moving faster to beef up security than foreseen at the Wales summit.

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NATO chief: Interim rapid-response expected next year

NATO announces deterrent force to contain Russia

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BRUSSELS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- NATO will have an "interim spearhead" force in place by early 2015 to deter what its new Secretary General called Russia's "aggressive behavior."

Speaking at a press conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels this week, Secretary General Jens Stollenberg said Russia continues to violate international law in providing pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine with goods and weapons. By 2016, he added, NATO will have a fully-equipped "spearhead" in place which could be deployed, to Baltic states as an example, to "deter and defend" in a crisis.

Air patrols and military exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all NATO members, have increased since Russia's military involvement in Ukraine, and the United States has returned tanks and other military equipment to Europe, a reversal of previous plans.

The interim force will consist of several hundred troops from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Stollenbeerg added NATO would not involve itself in the current Ukraine crisis, but member nations could send weapons and equipment on a bilateral basis.

Russian reaction was immediate, with Alexei Meshkow, Russian deputy foreign minister, telling the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass northern Europe was being destabilized by NATO's exercises and "transferring aircraft carriers able to carry nuclear weapons to the Baltic Sea."

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NATO announces deterrent force to contain Russia

NATO, Afghan leaders say they are ready to move to new phase

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Published December 01, 2014

BRUSSELS Leaders of Afghanistan and NATO say they are ready to move to a new phase in their relations the end of NATO-led combat operations in the violence-torn country effective Jan. 1.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah arrived at NATO headquarters on Monday for talks with alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Abdullah said that following the signature by Ghani on Sunday of a status of forces agreement with NATO, the "legal framework is now fully in place" for the U.S. and other alliance member nations to shift in 2015 to a mission of training, advising and assisting Afghanistan's security forces.

Foreign ministers of the 28 NATO member countries are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Brussels. They are expected to approve the new Afghan mission, named Resolute Support.

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NATO, Afghan leaders say they are ready to move to new phase

Pakistan was product of Aligarh Muslim University – NSA Shri Ajit Doval Sir – Video

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Pakistan was product of Aligarh Muslim University - NSA Shri Ajit Doval Sir
NSA Shri Ajit Doval Sir during his speech said, "Pakistan was product of Aligarh Muslim University created by British to counter Indian Nationalism". Watch the full video here : https://www.youtu...

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NSA Opens Up Data Automation Software For Public Use

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The Apache Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has worked with theNationalSecurityAgency (NSA) on the release of Niagarafiles (or Nifi, to the initiated) technology designed to automate data flows among multiple computer networks. The software is free and open source (so is available to the public) through the Apache Software Foundation. But why is automating data flows important?

Automation for the people

Data flow automation is important because it brings together data streams that need to be aggregated for analysis and yes, think big data analytics here if you wish. This can be hard work when data formats and data transmission protocols differ between different sources. But Niagarafiles handles this exact cross-format challenge.

Data flow automation is important to commercial enterprises because they can us it to control, manage and analyze the flow of information from geographically dispersed sites such as international office headquarters and/or customers and partners. If you need to ask why the NSA is good at complex data flow automation and aggregation, then go back to the start of the first paragraph and start reading again.

Situational awareness

So far so good, but why perform data flow automation anyway?

The NSA explains that coalescing information from multiple sources can help create comprehensive situational awareness and that this is as relevant to the NSAs wider work as it is to business. Lead Developer of Nifi Joseph L. Witt explains that this technology, Provides a way to prioritize data flows more effectively and get rid of artificial delays in identifying and transmitting critical information.

So is the NSA about to start sharing more of its software with the enterprise business sector? The organization confirms that this release is first in a series of releases of in-house software products the NSA Technology Transfer Program (TTP). Posting the code to open source forums allows the private sector and others to examine the agencys research up close, and potentially benefit from it through additional enhancements and applications.

The agency says it often uses open source offerings to confront todays complex foreign-intelligence challenges with creativity and agility.

But heres the point i.e. open source is all about community contributions and shared knowledge, so the at the same time the government can gain from related research advances that occur in the wider world of enterprise software.

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NSA Opens Up Data Automation Software For Public Use

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Bearing arms-on Black Friday! Gun sales boom

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Apparel and electronics are far from being the only things consumers seek out on Black Fridaymany really like firearm deals as well.

Second amendment enthusiasts sent gun sales surging on Friday, according to a report from CNN.com. The federal government was on track to process more than 144,000 background checks for the purposes of gun ownership, a new record and the equivalent of 3 investigations per second, the report added.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman told the news organization that approximately 600 FBI and contract call center employees sift through thousands of requests within a 3 day span. Traditionally, Black Friday is a peak day for volume, but Friday likely topped last year's requests of 144,758.

Gun sales have been on the rise since at least late 2012, when the Sandy Hook massacre stoked new fears that the federal government could tighten access to firearms. Those concerns proved unfounded, however, as efforts to pass new restrictions have repeatedly failed to pass stiff Congressional opposition.

Of the number of Black Friday requests, approximately 3,000 of them will not be completed because of the need for more information, the spokesman told CNN.com. The agency usually denies around 500 background checks per day due to incomplete applications.

The full report can be found at CNN.com

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Ex-CBS Reporter: Spineless Media Bosses Eroding Our First Amendment – Video

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Ex-CBS Reporter: Spineless Media Bosses Eroding Our First Amendment
Former CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson joins Larry with her personal story of harassment, intimidation spying by the federal government and about the media bosses who allow...

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Supreme Court May Protect Facebook Rants Under First Amendment

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The U.S. Supreme Court Monday heard arguments in the case of a Pennsylvania man convicted of using Facebook to threaten his ex-wife and declare his intention to commit a Columbine-style attack on an elementary school. At issue is whether Anthony Elonis online rants were criminal or, as vile as they were, a form of speech protected by the First Amendment.

The outcome of Elonis v. United States could determine the limits of free speech on social media and Internet forums, which are increasingly becoming platforms for vitriolic wars of words on a range of political and social issues.

Expressing concern the lower courts may have overreached in convicting Elonis of communicating a threat across state lines, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said convictions based only on an assumption of the defendants intent could set a chilling precedent. How would the government prove whether this threat in the mind of the threatener was genuine? Ginsburg asked from the bench.

In questioning the states case, Justice Elena Kagan noted, We typically say that the First Amendment requires a kind of buffer zone to ensure that even stuff that is wrongful maybe is permitted because we dont want to chill innocent behavior.

Taking an opposite tack, Justice Samuel Alito said First Amendment protections must be weighed against the states obligation to protect individuals from Internet speech that poses a very grave threat of domestic violence, a transcript of the sessionshows.

Chief Justice John Roberts also appeared to be leaning toward favoring victims rights over free speech arguments. Roberts scoffed at Elonis defense his rants, some of which were written in verse, signaled no more violent intent than, say, a rap song. All he has to do is say, as I understood your brief, its therapeutic, its a good thing I could do this, or its art, Roberts said to attorney John Elwood, who is representing Elonis.

On a narrow legal basis, the justices will decide what standards should be applied to online threats. In cases of traditional harassment, say through telephone calls, state courts are split on whether prosecutors must prove defendants subjectively intended their words would be taken as a true threat or that its sufficient to show a reasonable person would feel threatened.

On balance, Mondays arguments indicated the court "is likely to adopt some form of subjective intent, said Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, which filed an amicus brief in the case. Calvert said such a threshold would protect everyday rants, which have become common on the Internet. The question is whether you treat a threat less seriously because it was made on Facebook as opposed to a direct message or other form of one-to-one communication, Calvert said.

Elonis began his campaign of harassment in 2010 with a Facebook post directed at his ex-wife that in part read, Im not going to rest until your body is a mess. He followed up with posts that said he was bent on mass murder. Im checking out and making a name for myself. Enough elementary schools in a 10-mile radius to initiate the most heinous school shooting ever imagined, one post said.

Its a hot-button issue in an era when the Internet is increasingly being used as a tool to settle scores and launch harassment campaigns. In the ongoing Gamergate scandal, a group of bloggers launched highly personal attacks against a female game developer and her supporters. I think that many of the speakers who are online and many of the people who are being prosecuted now are teenagers who are essentially shooting off their mouths or making sort of ill-timed, sarcastic comments which wind up getting them thrown in jail, Ellwood said.

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Supreme Court May Protect Facebook Rants Under First Amendment

Supreme Court to consider Facebook threats case

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WASHINGTON It's a First Amendment test for the Supreme Court in a case being heard Monday.

At issue are the free-speech rights of people who use violent or threatening language on Facebook and other social media.

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for posting graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent.

The man says he was just venting his anger over a broken marriage and that he never meant to threaten anyone.

But a jury convicted him of violating a federal law that makes it a crime to threaten another person. A federal appeals court rejected his claim that his comments were protected by the First Amendment.

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Supreme Court to consider Facebook threats case

When is an online threat illegal and when is it free speech?

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WASHINGTON - Anthony Elonis claimed he was just kidding when he posted a series of graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent.

But his wife didn't see it that way. Neither did a federal jury.

Elonis, who's from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was convicted of violating a federal law that makes it a crime to threaten another person.

In a far-reaching case that probes the limits of free speech over the Internet, the Supreme Court on Monday was to consider whether Elonis' Facebook posts, and others like it, deserve protection under the First Amendment.

Elonis argues that his lyrics were simply a crude and spontaneous form of expression that should not be considered threatening if he did not really mean it. The government says it does not matter what Elonis intended, and that the true test of a threat is whether his words make a reasonable person feel threatened.

One post about his wife said, "There's one way to love you but a thousand ways to kill you. I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts."

The case has drawn widespread attention from free-speech advocates who say comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media can be hasty, impulsive and easily misinterpreted. They point out that a message on Facebook intended for a small group could be taken out of context when viewed by a wider audience.

"A statute that proscribes speech without regard to the speaker's intended meaning runs the risk of punishing protected First Amendment expression simply because it is crudely or zealously expressed," said a brief from the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups.

But so far, most lower courts have rejected that view, ruling that a "true threat" depends on how an objective person perceives the message.

For more than four decades, the Supreme Court has said that "true threats" to harm another person are not protected speech under the First Amendment. But the court has been careful to distinguish threats from protected speech such as "political hyperbole" or "unpleasantly sharp attacks."

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Should the First Amendment Cover Free Speech On Social Media?

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A Lehigh Valley man is at the center of a debate that has people talking.

Should you be able to post whatever you want on social media?

Anthony Elonis of the Bethlehem area was convicted of making threats after prosecutors say his posts on Facebook in 2010 violated federal law.

Some of the posts you see here are what the United States Supreme Court is now reviewing to see if it counts as free speech.

I see this as less of a social media case as a regular first amendment free speech case. Just like ones that existed before Facebook ever existed, Civil Rights attorney Barry Dyller said.

Among the Facebook posts by Elonis was this apparent message to his ex-wife: Fold up your PFA and put it in your pocket. Is it thick enough to stop a bullet?

He now says he posted rap lyrics because it was a therapeutic way to address traumatic events in his life.

A federal appeals court rejected his claim, and now its in the hands of the United States Supreme Court.

For each of us individually as a society, we want free, robust and open speech, Dyller said.

At the Luzerne County courthouse detectives say there have been a few cases this year that they have investigated on social media.

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Should the First Amendment Cover Free Speech On Social Media?

Andreas Antonopoulos talks Bitcoin @ Melbourne Bitcoin Technology Center (Full) – Video

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Andreas Antonopoulos talks Bitcoin @ Melbourne Bitcoin Technology Center (Full)
Andreas Antonopoulos talks about Bitcoin, the blockchain and Smart contracts at the Melbourne Bitcoin Technology Center (Full). (coworking.biz) Brought to yo...

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