Monthly Archives: August 2017

Hubble Telescope Detects Stratosphere on Huge Alien Planet – Space.com

Posted: August 3, 2017 at 9:59 am

This artist's illustration shows the "hot Jupiter" exoplanet WASP-121b, which presents the best evidence yet of a stratosphere on an exoplanet.

A huge, superhot alien planet has a stratrosphere, like Earth does, a new study suggests.

"This result is exciting because it shows that a common trait of most of the atmospheres in our solar system a warm stratosphere also can be found in exoplanet atmospheres," study co-author Mark Marley, of NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, said in a statement.

"We can now compare processes in exoplanet atmospheres with the same processes that happen under different sets of conditions in our own solar system," Marley added. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The research team, led by Thomas Evans of the University of Exeter in England, detected spectral signatures of water molecules in the atmosphere of WASP-121b, a gas giant that lies about 880 light-years from Earth. These signatures indicate that the temperature of the upper layer of the planet's atmosphere increases with the distance from the planet's surface. In the bottom layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, the temperature decreases with altitude, study team members said.

WASP-121b lies incredibly close to its host star, completing one orbit every 1.3 days. The planet is a "hot Jupiter"; temperatures at the top of its atmosphere reach a sizzling 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius), researchers said.

"The question [of] whether stratospheres do or do not form inhot Jupitershas been one of the major outstanding questions in exoplanet research since at least the early 2000s," Evans told Space.com. "Currently, our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres is pretty basic and limited. Every new piece of information that we are able to get represents a significant step forward."

The top of WASP-121b's atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 Celsius), hot enough to boil some metals.

The discovery is also significant because it shows that atmospheres of distant exoplanets can be analyzed in detail, said Kevin Heng of the University of Bern in Switzerland, who is not a member of the study team.

"This is an important technical milestone on the road to a final goal that we all agree on, and the goal is that, in the future, we can apply the very same techniques to study atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets," Heng told Space.com. "We would like to measure transits of Earth-like planets. We would like to figure out what type of molecules are in the atmospheres, and after we do that, we would like to take the final very big step, which is to see whether these molecular signatures could indicate the presence of life."

Available technology does not yet allow such work with small, rocky exoplanets, researchers said.

"We are focusing on these big gas giants that are heated to very high temperatures due to the close proximity of their stars simply because they are the easiest to study with the current technology," Evans said. "We are just trying to understand as much about their fundamental properties as possible and refine our knowledge, and, hopefully in the decades to come, we can start pushing towards smaller and cooler planets."

WASP-121b is nearly twice the size of Jupiter. The exoplanet transits, or crosses the face of, its host star from Earth's perspective. Evans and his team were able to observe those transits using an infrared spectrograph aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

"By looking at the difference in the brightness of the system for when the planet was not behind the star and when it was behind the star, we were able to work out the brightness and the spectrum of the planet itself," Evans said. "We measured the spectrum of the planet using this method at a wavelength range which is very sensitive to the spectral signature of water molecules."

The team observed signatures of glowing water molecules, which indicated that WASP-121b's atmospheric temperatures increase with altitude, Evans said. If the temperature decreased with altitude, infrared radiation would at some point pass through a region of cooler water-gas, which would absorb the part of the spectrum responsible for the glowing effect, he explained.

There have been hints of stratospheres detected on other hot Jupiters, but the new results are the most convincing such evidence to date, Evans said.

"It's the first time that it has been done clearly for an exoplanet atmosphere, and that's why it's the strongest evidence to date for an exoplanet stratosphere," he said.

He added that researchers might be able to move closer to studying more Earth-like planets with the arrival of next-generation observatories such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and big ground-based observatories such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). JWST is scheduled to launch late next year, and GMT, E-ELT and TMT are expected to come online in the early to mid-2020s.

The new study was published online Wednesday (Aug. 2) in the journal Nature.

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Afghanistan: Two US soldiers killed in NATO convoy attack …

Posted: at 9:58 am

"Two US service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack" on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission, which trains and advises Afghanistan's military and police, confirmed that the attack had resulted in casualties.

"Resolute Support can confirm a NATO convoy was attacked this afternoon in Kandahar. The attack did cause casualties," the statement said.

The high-profile attack targeting the coalition comes as President Donald Trump's administration is attempting to determine its commitment to and strategy for Afghanistan and the wider region and could be seen as an attempt to shape that debate.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis told Congress that the strategy would be decided upon by mid-July but has since said that the administration is continuing to work on it.

In the absence of an administration policy on Afghanistan Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Monday he would work to produce a strategy for winning the conflict in September.

"Eight years of a 'don't lose' strategy has cost us lives and treasure in Afghanistan. Our troops deserve better," McCain said in a statement.

US and coalition casualties in Afghanistan have become rarer in recent years, falling dramatically since the Afghan government assumed responsibility for combat operations in 2014. But there has been an uptick in recent months as US forces have become more directly involved in the fight against the local ISIS affiliate.

Wednesday's bombing is the latest attack to rock southern Kandahar province, which borders Pakistan, in recent months.

At least 26 Afghan soldiers were killed and 13 more wounded last week in a Taliban attack on an army camp in the province's Khakrez district, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said.

Violence also continues elsewhere in the country.

CNN's Ehsan Popalzai contributed to this report.

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Ambush Hits NATO Convoy In Afghanistan, Killing 2 US Service Members – NPR

Posted: at 9:58 am

An American helicopter hovers over a NATO convoy struck by a suicide bomb Wednesday. The Pentagon says the attack, which unfolded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killed two U.S. service members. STR/AP hide caption

An American helicopter hovers over a NATO convoy struck by a suicide bomb Wednesday. The Pentagon says the attack, which unfolded near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killed two U.S. service members.

Two U.S. service members were killed Wednesday when a NATO convoy came under attack outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, according to the Pentagon. It was not immediately clear how many people were wounded in the violence, which unfolded near an American base.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying a militant carried out a suicide attack with a truck packed with explosives.

NATO's Resolute Support mission in the country confirmed an assault on its convoy but did not offer further details. "We are working to gather additional information as quickly as possible," the coalition said in a statement.

As NPR's Tom Bowman notes, the Taliban rose to prominence first in Kandahar Province in the 1990s, but in recent years, U.S. and Afghan forces have largely pushed the militant group from the area.

"The last American combat deaths in Kandahar were in 2014," Tom says, "but during the past year, the Taliban have made inroads once again in Kandahar."

The Pentagon is considering sending nearly 4,000 more troops to the country to train their Afghan counterparts, joining a U.S. contingent that currently numbers roughly 8,500.

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NATO readiness strategy: ‘Out-exercise them, out-train them’ – DefenseNews.com

Posted: at 9:58 am

WASHINGTON With exercise Saber Guardian coming to a close in Eastern Europe and more than 30 exercises stillto take place during the remainder of 2017, NATO is continuing to build its readiness. Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of NATOs Allied Air Command,highlighted for Defense News the importance of these exercises from the air perspective of the multi-domain effort.

What you want to do is out-work them, out-exercise them, out-train them, he said on how to best NATOsadversaries, such as Russia.

Wolters likened NATO to an athlete, perched in theater in a three-point stance, ready to move forward on the drop of a dimein response to nefarious events.

To maximize get readiness, Wolters emphasized training, training and training as the best way to integrate both layered capabilities and layered domains for this level of maximum readiness. And to get the best juice for your squeeze, he said, the alliance should train with the resources available.

As an example, he said NATO has seven nations that are on the brink of bringing fifth-generation F-35 aircraft into theater. But a crew of mixed fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft makes for an operational challenge.

As the aircraft train in an integrated group, he said, the crews learn how the other types of aircraft react to different situations. They become familiar with communication systems and work out the kinks, allowing for a cohesive crew, he added, in turn increasing deterrence capabilities.

This idea also extends to the interoperability of domains. Each NATO exercise, he said, is designed to incorporate several domains and ensure that allies operate smoothly, side by side and add to a greater effect.

Each one of these exercises they improve your speed, they improve your understanding of the environment, he said. You gain a greater intellectual grasp of what the problem could be, and you certainly gain a greater degree of confidence.

For Wolters, communication is also key to readiness and efficiency. This is especially true in relation to the air domain, as pilots must be cognizant of their environment through which they fly as well as coordinate with operations in other domains.

Wolters said he sees a great willingness from NATO countries both to train and provide understanding in their air domains. And he sees investments being made in ensuring the linkage between domains is open and flowing, allowing an awareness of what other groups are accomplishing.

This greater motivation to participate in exercises and cooperate across borders comes from the recent acceleration of readiness and NATOs shift from assurance to deterrence. Wolters said this shift has driven counties to secure their airspace and not only allow but participate in NATO activities.

The Turkish Air Force maintains airspace security not only for its own aircraft, but also for the aircraft taking off from Turkish soil to participate in Operation Inherent Resolve, the multinational joint task force battling the Islamic State group.

You have to be on your toes 24/7, 365 to make sure you understand exactly what is taking place, he said. Its not easy. You have to embrace it intellectually.

But training, training, training in maintaining a razor-sharp edge is critically important, he added. And weve had great success up to this point there.

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NATO’s role in fighting post-caliphate ISIS looms large – The Hill (blog)

Posted: at 9:58 am

With the Islamic State defeated in Mosul and on the ropes in Raqqa, NATO is trying to assess what its role could or should be in the post-caliphate phase of the counterterrorism fight to come. The alliance has an important role to play, but it should stick close to its traditional mission and skillset. At its core, NATO is a military alliance, not a counterterrorism (CT) agency.

The spike in international terror incidents in the West and the unrelenting instability rocking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, provided a stark backdrop for the blunt comments of President Trump about NATOs need to do more on counterterrorism. NATO, then presidential-candidate Trumpsaidin May 2016, was obsolete.

NATO is not new to the CT mission, having invoked Article 5 for the first time after 9/11 and soon launching the largest combat operation in its history in Afghanistan in response to the terror attacks against the United States. NATO has developed particular expertise at training local security forces in Afghanistan to take on the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS and stabilize the country.

Similar NATO training missions have focused on CT capabilities in in the MENA region as well, including in Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. NATO surveillance planes support the anti-ISIS coalition, and at the NATO summit in May, the alliance announced it would become a full member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

But given the nature of the terrorist threats today, it should not surprise anyone that bothformerandcurrentNATO secretaries general recently concluded there is more NATO can and should do on CT. Despite the near-term battlefield defeat of the so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq, the terrorism forecast is grim.

As ISIS loses territory, the terrorist threat it poses in the region through itsprovincesand terrorist cells and in the West may increase (at least in the short term) as it devolves from governance to insurgency and terrorism. Returning foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) present one threat, compounded by the social-media-driven phenomenon ofhomegrown violent extremism(HVE), which in turn can include a spectrum of terrorist threats from foreign-inspired, enabled or directed plots.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel with respect to the Syrian tragedy, a jihadist enterprise that has givenal-Qaedaa new lease on life, a group that is also resurgent in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa. To Europes south,Libyapresents a variety of security threats that show no signs of abating and threaten stability across North Africa and into the Sahel, and, as the Manchester attack suggests, up into Europe as well.

Europols 2017TESAT reporthighlights the threats posed to Europe by regional instability outside the EU, including the Western Balkans, Caucasus, Africa, Middle East and in NATO-member Turkey.

The latest Global Trendsreportpublished by the U.S. National Intelligence Council focuses on two key trends that will significantly impact the future direction of theterroristthreat:

First, the resolution or continuation of the many intra- and inter-state conflicts currently underway most importantly, the Syrian civil war, but also conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and the Sahel, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere will determine the intensity and geography of future violence.

The key factor this will impact is the spread of ungoverned space, which to date has created an environment conducive to extremism and encouraged the enlistment of thousands of volunteers eager to fight.

The second factor is how we deal today with the foreign fighter and migrant phenomena. If not properly managed, these will become the recruiting pools for tomorrows terrorist groups.

What more could NATO do in the counterterrorism arena?As the latest State Departmentreporton counterterrorism notes, NATOs added-value in the CT space comes in the three cones of its current strategy: improving threat awareness, developing CT capabilities and enhancing partner engagement.

The creation of a newNATO Strategic Direction-South (NSD-S) Hubin Naples is a welcome development and should help NATO improve situational awareness along NATOs southern flank and provide long-range, horizon-scanning analysis and policy recommendations for NATO HQ, SHAPE and the North Atlantic Council.

This effort should leverage resources to address both existing and future regional security challenges. NATO should play a greater role countering FTFs and the migrant crisis, as an example of current challenges. The EU counterterrorism coordinator hascalledfor increased connectivity between NATO soldiers and Europol for the timely sharing of biometric and other tactical intelligence collected in the field.

NATO could also do more on maritime security related to the EUs migrant crisis, he added. But the NSD-S Hub will have the biggest potential impact getting ahead of future problems by partnering NATO officers and analysts with academics and subject-matter experts to focus international engagement (primarily training) in areas that would benefit from being preemptively inoculated from projected instability.

For example, NATO could focus efforts to prevent the spread of violent extremist organizations in relatively stable but fragile states, such as Tunisia. This must be made a strategic priority over a 10-20-year horizon.

At the end of the day, the NSD-S Hub cannot be just a response to President Trump, in which case it will be focused more on being seen to be doing something rather than actually generating effects. To get ahead of the trajectory of the tomorrows terrorist threat, we must collectively address the two key factors laid out by the NIC: contending with the foreign terrorist fighters coming out of Syria and Iraq and addressing the festering conflicts that createlooming disequilibriaand the ungoverned spaces in which tomorrows threats can fester.

Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that seeks to advance a realistic understanding of American interests in theMiddle Eastand to promote thepoliciesthat secure them.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.

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It Looks Like HR McMaster Is Cleaning House at the NSA – New York Magazine

Posted: at 9:58 am

McMaster. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

H.R. McMaster, national security adviser and so-called adult in the room, is apparently gaining some ground over the nationalistic forces inside the Trump administration.

On Wednesday, the White House confirmed that the NSCs senior director of intelligence, 30-year-old Ezra Cohen-Watnick has left the NSC. McMaster had allegedly tried to get rid of Cohen-Watnick who was brought on by former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and also worked on the Trump transition soon after taking the NSC job. McMaster reportedly expressed doubts about Cohen-Watnicks qualifications, but advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon intervened on his behalf, and got Trump to step in and overrule McMaster.

Cohen-Watnicks ouster appears to be the latest sign that McMaster isnt done cleaning house of both Bannon and Flynn loyalists at the NSC. (And maybe its also a sign of a new order under chief-of-state John Kelly.) In addition to Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, another Flynn ally and Iran hawk, was removed from his post as NSC Middle East adviser last week.

These personnel changes come amid an Atlantic report that an NSC staffer was fired last month after a troubling memo he wrote arguing that globalists, Islamists, and the deep state are working to undermine President Trumps agenda, and threatening the country.

The NSC-staffer in question is Rich Higgins, formerly director of strategic planning. Through the campaign, candidate Trump tapped into a deep vein of concern among many citizens that America is at risk and slipping away, he wrote in the memo, a portion of which The Atlantic obtained. Globalists and Islamists recognize that for their visions to succeed, America, both as an ideal and as a national and political identity, must be destroyed.

The conspiracy-laced memo reportedly also insinuates that the Russia probe is made-up to hurt Trump and accuses the left of being aligned with Islamist organizations at the local, national and international levels, and:

recognition should be given to the fact that they seamlessly interoperate through coordinated synchronized interactive narratives These attacks narratives are pervasive, full spectrum and institutionalized at all levels. They operate in social media, television, the 24-hour news cycle in all media and are entrenched at the upper levels of the bureaucracies

Higgins apparently wrote the memo in May, though warning about the Maoist insurgency being co-opted by Islamists was shockingly outside his job description. Its not clear how the memo came to the attention of NSC higher-ups or why it took so long but sources told the Atlantic that the memo had been circulating around the White House and may have landed on the presidents desk. Finally, on July 21, McMasters deputy NSA Ricky Waddell (who himself replaced Trump appointee K.T. McFarland when McMaster took the job after Flynns firing) relieved Higgins from his duties.

In July, former Breitbart writer Tera Dahl also left the NSC, rounding out a string of dismissals for the Bannonesque populists. However, its unclear if some of ex-NSCers will leave the Trump orbit for good, or be reshuffled to new posts within the administration. Which means McMaster may have an edge now, but the battle against the fever swamp is far from over.

Sounds a lot like hell be Skyping with America.

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen much faster than you thought they could.

After repeatedly pushing off major undertakings like tax reform and raising the debt ceiling, theyre in for a truly hellish fall.

He suggested replacing the top general, but experts say the issue is he hasnt approved a new strategy.

A few high-profile firings of Flynn and Bannon allies including one who wrote a bizarre memo warning against globalists are out in recent weeks.

Despite Governor Cuomos assurances that wouldnt happen, the Board of Elections complied though it wont turn over Social Security numbers.

The GOPs plans to use the budget process for health-care and tax legislation are already half-ruined. The worst could be yet to come.

The Statue of Liberty doesnt mean what you think it does, Miller says.

Sanders, Biden, or Warren may run in 2020 and clear the field of pretenders. If not, Democrats could have the kind of field the GOP sported in 2016.

Yous guys should give him some credit.

Trump said an executive from the organization called him to say his speech was the greatest. Turns out, no such call was ever placed.

After defeat, wild, pointless anger.

Well have to wait for Scaramuccis inevitable book deal to get the real tea.

If the prospects of vulnerable 2018 GOP candidates get much worse, and the chaos in D.C. doesnt improve, an anti-Trump rebellion is a possibility.

The retired general may have had early success in ousting Scaramucci and instilling some order. But this is Trumps White House were talking about.

In a signing statement, Trump says that provisions limiting his power to alter the sanctions are unconstitutional.

This complex in the Rockaways was rebuilt and is clean, well-maintained, and safe.

Two senators, alongside Trump, will propose halving the rate over the next ten years.

After Kellys first 48 hours on the job, even Trump is on his best behavior for his new chief of staff.

She only reports real (a.k.a. positive) stories about the White House.

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In Abusing NSA Intelligence, Did Obama White House Commit A Crime? – Investor’s Business Daily

Posted: at 9:58 am

Then-Deputy Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, shown talking to the White House press corps in December 2016, joins a growing list of former Obama officials under subpoena from the House Intelligence Committee. (Cheriss May/Zuma Press/Newscom)

'Unmasking' Scandal: Day by day, the scandal of the Obama administration's abuse of domestic intelligence gathered by the National Security Agency grows. Forget the phony Russia-Trump collusion charges the Obama White House looks increasingly to have committed a crime by using U.S. intelligence for political purposes.

The NSA's insatiable gathering of data and conversations on Americans make it a potentially highly dangerous enemy of Americans' freedoms. Who would want to have a federal government spy shop that knows almost everything you do in public, on the phone, by email, or by computer?

That's why the super-secret NSA, which is much bigger than the better-known CIA, has always operated under strict guidelines for how its intel could be used. In its reports, Americans who are surveilled without a warrant while speaking to a foreign citizen are routinely "masked" that is, their identity is kept secret unless there's an overwhelming national security interest in that person being "unmasked."

Unfortunately, like a child with a dangerous new toy, the Obama administration apparently seems to have believed that the NSA could be used for narrow, political purposes.

As a result, a number of administration officials and Obama supporters, including former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and former CIA chief John Brennan, have been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee to answer some questions.

On Wednesday, the panel announced another subpoena had been issued for a former Obama official, this for former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. Our guess is it won't be the last.

This mega-scandal, by the way, has been building for months, though you would hardly know by the near-silence it's been treated with in the media.

But there are exceptions. Back on May 24, the online journal Circa reported that the scandal was far more serious than it first appeared.

"The National Security Agency under former President Barack Obama routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall, according to once top-secret documents that chronicle some of the most serious constitutional abuses to date by the U.S. intelligence community," wrote Circa investigative reporter Sara A. Carter.

Now, this week, Carter reports that the scandal is much bigger than suspected. A review of government documents found that "government officials conducted 30,355 searches in 2016 seeking information about Americans in NSA intercept meta-data, which include telephone numbers and email addresses," Carter wrote.

She notes that the election-year searches by Obama's political aides and other government officials jumped 27.5% from 2015, tripling the "9,500 such searches" in 2013."In 2016 the administration also scoured the actual contents of NSA intercepted calls and emails for 5,288 Americans, an increase of 13% over the prior year and a massive spike from the 198 names searched in 2013."

Before the Obama administration, under rules propagated by former President George H.W. Bush, "unmasking" incidental intelligence targets was strictly limited and frowned upon. Even after 9/11, despite increased surveillance of people with potential terrorist ties, the rules stayed in place. The potential for abuse, they knew, was too great.

But that ended in 2011 as Obama, using the pretense of fighting a War on Terror that he never even believed in, loosened the rules. As the Washington Examiner reported earlier this week, in 2013 National Intelligence Director James Clapper formally loosened the rules on "unmasking" the names of congressional staffers, elected officials and others.

That major violations occurred under this program seems clear. Last week, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats noted that "the total requests for Americans' names by Obama political aides numbered in the hundreds during Obama's last year in office and often lacked a specific intelligence community justification," according to The Hill.

In particular, Nunes pointed out that "one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests" in 2016. Speculation is that the official was U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power.

Is this a crime? We do know that the FISA Court, in a closed-door hearing last October, already censured White House officials for their violations of Americans' email privacy, citing an "institutional lack of candor" that had become a "very serious Fourth Amendment issue."

As a reminder, the Fourth Amendment states flatly that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ..." Spying on, and then unmasking, hundreds if not thousands of Americans would seem to us to be a brazen violation of the Constitution.

Remember how the media ridiculed and shamed Donald Trump for tweeting out that he had been "wiretapped" by Obama? It's starting to look like that, or something like it, was very much the case.

If it turns out, as some suspect, that the "unmasking" was used for domestic spying on political foes such as Trump, it would constitute a serious crime and would require a special counsel to investigate it.

The immense size of the spying operation and the clear attempt to use the U.S.' intelligence apparatus for questionable personal purposes seems to be at minimum a violation of the law. If it further turns out that there was a coordinated effort by Obama and his aides to use the information in the 2016 presidential campaign, it will be a crime and scandal larger than even Watergate.

Yes, people will go to prison.

Is that what we have here, the political crime of the still-young 21st century? It would be nice if the mainstream media seemed at all interested in answering that question.

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Reality Winner Is A Loser, And So Is U.S. Security

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Should NSA and CyberCom split? A watchdog weighs in — FCW – FCW.com

Posted: at 9:58 am

Defense

As the status of the dual-hat leadership structure of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command remains under review, the Government Accountability Office teamed up with Pentagon officials to identify the advantages and disadvantages of such a change in a new report.

The benefits of the current arrangement, as identified by officials from the Department of Defense, involve collaboration, faster decision making and resource efficiency.

But the big downside is that wider access to NSA's toolkit of exploits increases the risk that destructive bugs will get loose as has been seen recently.

GAO was directed to conduct the review in the report language of a recent defense bill.

Auditors found that because one officer calls the shots for two organizations, senior leaders from each organization have visibility into the procedures of the other, allowing for natural coordination on capability development, testing and business processes.

"In the absence of the dual-hat, [NSA] and CyberCom would need to formalize these internal processes in order to maintain them," auditors write.

Another advantage is that the single leader for both organizations allows for faster decision-making because it doesn't require building consensus across commands.

Officials from several DOD components, including NSA and CyberCom, told GAO that the structure allows the two organizations to make efficient use of their resources by sharing digital and physical infrastructure and by combining employee training sessions.

DOD officials also detailed the disadvantages of the dual-hat approach.

Officials reported concerns about preferential prioritization of one organization's requests for support over the other's, concerns that may only be exacerbated as CyberCom is set to receive the authorities of a unified combatant command.

And, as previously noted, CyberCom's use of NSA's tools and infrastructure increases the risk those tools being leaked or exposed.

Because of the wide range of responsibilities of the two organizations, and as CyberCom is elevated to become a full combatant command, DOD officials expressed concerns that the duties may be too broad for a single officer to realistically handle.

Although they both operate in cyberspace, the missions of CyberCom and NSA also have an inherent tension. CyberCom focuses primarily on conducting military operations, while NSA's mission is primarily intelligence-based.

DOD officials also told auditors that while the sharing of resources is efficient, the resource allocation between the two entities is sometimes unclear. They stated that DOD does not have an official position on the advantages and disadvantages of the dual-hat structure.

The report also includes actions that could limit potential risks of splitting the leadership.

While there is broad support from current and former officials, including former President Barack Obama, for elevating Cyber Command to the level of an independent combatant command, the idea of splitting the agencies has received some pushback.

Legislatively, 2017 National Defense Authorization Act stated that the dual-hat role, which dates back to CyberCom's creation in 2009, will remain in place until an assessment is conducted about the potential security risks of splitting the current structure.

The 2018 bill submitted by the House Armed Services Committee includes a $647 million boost to support the elevation of U.S. Cyber Command to a full combatant command level, but omits new language about an eventual split of the NSA and CyberCom.

About the Author

Chase Gunter is a staff writer covering civilian agencies, workforce issues, health IT, open data and innovation.

Prior to joining FCW, Gunter reported for the C-Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., and served as a college sports beat writer for the South Boston (Va.) News and Record. He started at FCW as an editorial fellow before joining the team full-time as a reporter.

Gunter is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where his emphases were English, history and media studies.

Click here for previous articles by Gunter, or connect with him on Twitter: @WChaseGunter

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Report: NSA Illegally Spied on Kim Dotcom in New Zealand – Breitbart News

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Documents reveal that the NSA and New Zealands Government Communications Security Bureau surveilled Dotcom in a joint operation officially until 2012. The NSA then reportedly continued to use New Zealand technology to spy on Dotcom after 2012.

GCSB claimed that it turned off all surveillance systems targeting Dotcom and others butfound out more than a year later that surveillance continued without its knowledge, reportedthe New Zealand Herald. The details in the documents have led Dotcom to state that there is now evidence the United States National Security Agency was carrying out surveillance on him.

Dotcom, who should have been protected from GCSB surveillance as a New Zealand resident, said the GCSB did not know because its equipment was being used by the NSA, which was directly involved, the report claims.

In a series of tweets, Dotcomcalled GCSB consistent liars and claimed they were aware of the continued surveillance of him by the NSA.

The tech entrepreneur also called the incident a sellout of NZ sovereignty, before referencing the Five Eyes surveillance alliance between New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Im not a terrorist or a national security threat. Im not even a criminal, declared Dotcom on Twitter. Im an innovator, a nerd, I play video games. Fuck you NSA!

Charlie Nash is a reporterforBreitbart Tech. You can follow himon Twitter@MrNashingtonorlike his page at Facebook.

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Report: NSA Illegally Spied on Kim Dotcom in New Zealand - Breitbart News

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Independence Pass defendant denies multiple allegations – Aspen Daily News

Posted: at 9:57 am

The Colorado Springs man who police say held three men at gunpoint last summer on Independence Pass has denied the allegations in response to a lawsuit.

In addition to the denials, Brolin McConnell, 31, also maintains his Fifth Amendment rights, which guard against self-incrimination.

McConnell faces criminal charges of attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping and menacing, among other counts. He has been in jail ever since his arrest on July 27, 2016, following what the alleged victims said was a terrifying and frightening ordeal on Lincoln Creek Road.

Its unclear why McConnell, a Front Range real estate agent, allegedly held the men hostage and made bizarre statements and demands, including one for $100 million. Law enforcement initially suspected he was on methamphetamine, but a drug screen showed only a trace of marijuana in his blood.

He shot twice near one hostage, including a bullet that whizzed by the mans ear, causing hearing damage, according to the lawsuit and police reports. That man and two others were able to escape, and McConnell surrendered after being rushed by sheriffs deputies and an Aspen police officer at gunpoint. He has been held in jail on a $500,000 bond ever since.

In June, the three men sued him in Pitkin County District Court, claiming assault, battery, false imprisonment, extreme and outrageous conduct and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The criminal case has halted after the district attorneys office appealed a judges dismissal or reduction, in February, of three felony counts, including attempted murder after deliberation, though a charge of attempted murder with extreme indifference was upheld. The disputed charges are now in the hands of the Colorado Court of Appeals.

McConnell has yet to speak in court or enter a plea; his first attorney waived advisement of the charges. At a preliminary hearing in January, in which a judge upheld some of the charges and dismissed or reduced others leading to the appeal Sarah Oszczakiewicz said the current bond was appropriate to protect the public. She cited jail recordings of conversations McConnell had with family members that show him instructing relatives to sell all his possessions to pay for legal representation. That includes multiple firearms, including AR-15 and AK-47 rifles, she said, adding that McConnell told his family he wanted to go live in the woods and forgo society.

On July 24, McConnells attorney, Scott Mikulecky of Colorado Springs, answered the lawsuit with a filing in which all of the allegations are denied.

The plaintiffs claims are barred or reduced by failure to mitigate their damages, the answer says, employing standard, boiler-plate legalese. Defendant expressly reserves all Fifth Amendment rights and privileges.

On Tuesday, Mikulecky moved to stay the lawsuit.

Defendant contends that in order to avoid undue prejudice against him, and to allow him and his counsel to prepare for the criminal trial, this court should stay these civil proceedings until the criminal trial has been completed, says the motion to stay the civil proceeding.

It says that McConnell, during the criminal proceeding, will be advised by his attorneys to invoke the Fifth Amendment in relation to the lawsuit.

And not until the criminal trial is concluded, and any appeals exhausted, will defendant be instructed by counsel that he will no longer have the ability to invoke these Fifth Amendment rights, Mikulecky wrote.

The motion, which the plaintiffs attorney, Ryan Kalamaya of Aspen, did not oppose, was approved by a judge on Wednesday.

chad@aspendailynews.com

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Independence Pass defendant denies multiple allegations - Aspen Daily News

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