Category Archives: NSA

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) have been empowered to set up a Banking Sector Resolution Fund to ensure the safety of depositors funds and operate as a bridge bank to strengthen struggling banks back to health.

The CBN is expected to inject the sum of N10 billion ($26 million) or any amount that will be determined by its board into the fund every year.

According to a report from Thisday, this disclosure is contained in the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 which was just signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Section 74 of the BOFIA states that without prejudice to the provisions of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Act, the Resolution Fund shall be domiciled with the central bank, and into which shall be paid all contributions and agreed levies.

According to the Act, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, with the approval of the board of the bank, is to determine the date of commencement of the fund.

This new arrangement is, however, separate to that of AMCON which was established to buy bad debts following the banking crisis that happened in 2009.

In the new act, each bank is expected to make annual contributions that are equivalent to 10 basis points of their total assets or a percentage that the CBN will still have to finalize.

The new regulation states, This will be based on the financial institutions total assets as at the date of their audited financial statements for the immediately preceding financial year published pursuant to this Act, and which shall be payable on the commencement date, and on or before the 30th day of April in each subsequent calendar year following the commencement date.

The funds are expected to be used to offset operating costs of a bridge bank, to pay the costs of transferring the whole or any part of the business of a bank, specialized bank, or other financial institution pursuant to a resolution measure.

The new act also states, The Resolution Fund shall not be subject to tax and accordingly, all monies accruing to, payments made from, and instruments and transactions relating to the Resolution Fund shall be exempt from all forms of taxes, levies, duties, charges, or imposition howsoever described.

Any annual levy paid by a bank, specialized bank or other financial institution in pursuance of this Act, shall be deductible for the purposes of the companies income tax of the paying bank, specialized bank or other financial institution under the Companies Income Tax Act.

A bank, specialized bank or other financial institution that is in default of payment of the levy imposed under this Act or any part thereof, shall be prohibited from paying dividends or other purpose of the Resolution Fund, it added.

This new regulation is expected to act as a relief to some smaller or medium-sized banks who sometimes struggle during the global financial crisis like the one that happened in 2016 or the one that hit that Nigerian financial system in 2009, which led to the collapse of some financial institutions.

Nairametrics had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari, some days ago assented to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, with several new provisions to enhance the effectiveness of the countrys financial system.

It also strengthens the regulatory and supervisory framework for the financial industry and provides additional tools for managing failing financial institutions and systemic distress to preserve financial stability.

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Terrorism: Nigeria and USA committed to defeating ISIS, Boko Haram and others - NSA - Nairametrics

Senator Ron Wyden asked, and the NSA didnt answer:

The NSA has long sought agreements with technology companies under which they would build special access for the spy agency into their products, according to disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reporting by Reuters and others.

These so-called back doors enable the NSA and other agencies to scan large amounts of traffic without a warrant. Agency advocates say the practice has eased collection of vital intelligence in other countries, including interception of terrorist communications.

The agency developed new rules for such practices after the Snowden leaks in order to reduce the chances of exposure and compromise, three former intelligence officials told Reuters. But aides to Senator Ron Wyden, a leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, say the NSA has stonewalled on providing even the gist of the new guidelines.

The agency declined to say how it had updated its policies on obtaining special access to commercial products. NSA officials said the agency has been rebuilding trust with the private sector through such measures as offering warnings about software flaws.

At NSA, its common practice to constantly assess processes to identify and determine best practices, said Anne Neuberger, who heads NSAs year-old Cybersecurity Directorate. We dont share specific processes and procedures.

Three former senior intelligence agency figures told Reuters that the NSA now requires that before a back door is sought, the agency must weigh the potential fallout and arrange for some kind of warning if the back door gets discovered and manipulated by adversaries.

The article goes on to talk about Juniper Networks equipment, which had the NSA-created DUAL_EC PRNG backdoor in its products. That backdoor was taken advantage of by an unnamed foreign adversary.

Juniper Networks got into hot water over Dual EC two years later. At the end of 2015, the maker of internet switches disclosed that it had detected malicious code in some firewall products. Researchers later determined that hackers had turned the firewalls into their own spy tool here by altering Junipers version of Dual EC.

Juniper said little about the incident. But the company acknowledged to security researcher Andy Isaacson in 2016 that it had installed Dual EC as part of a customer requirement, according to a previously undisclosed contemporaneous message seen by Reuters. Isaacson and other researchers believe that customer was a U.S. government agency, since only the U.S. is known to have insisted on Dual EC elsewhere.

Juniper has never identified the customer, and declined to comment for this story.

Likewise, the company never identified the hackers. But two people familiar with the case told Reuters that investigators concluded the Chinese government was behind it. They declined to detail the evidence they used.

Okay, lots of unsubstantiated claims and innuendo here. And Neuberger is right; the NSA shouldnt share specific processes and procedures. But as long as this is a democratic country, the NSA has an obligation to disclose its general processes and procedures so we all know what theyre doing in our name. And if its still putting surveillance ahead of security.

Recent Articles By Author

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Schneier on Security authored by Bruce Schneier. Read the original post at: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/10/the-nsa-is-refusing-to-disclose-its-policy-on-backdooring-commercial-products.html

Read the original post:
The NSA is Refusing to Disclose its Policy on Backdooring Commercial Products - Security Boulevard

from the build-them-or-we'll-just-build-our-own dept

It's been more than a half-decade since it made headlines, but the NSA's hardware manipulation programs never went away. These programs -- exposed by the Snowden leaks -- involved the NSA compromising network hardware, either through interception of physical shipments or by the injection of malicious code.

One major manufacturer -- Cisco -- was righteously angered when leaked documents showed some of its hardware being "interdicted" by NSA personnel. It went directly to Congress to complain. The complaint changed nothing. (Cisco, however, changed its shipping processes.) But even though the furor has died down, these programs continue pretty much unhindered by Congressional oversight or public outcry.

One legislator hasn't forgotten about the NSA's hardware-focused efforts. Senator Ron Wyden is still demanding the NSA answer questions about these programs and give him details about "backdoors" in private companies' computer equipment. The DOJ and FBI may be making a lot of noise about encryption backdoor mandates, but one federal agency is doing something about it. And it has been for years.

Not only has the NSA installed its own backdoors in intercepted devices, it has been working with tech companies to develop special access options in networking equipment. This allows the agency to more easily slurp up communications and internet traffic in bulk. Senator Wyden wants answers.

The agency developed new rules for such practices after the Snowden leaks in order to reduce the chances of exposure and compromise, three former intelligence officials told Reuters. But aides to Senator Ron Wyden, a leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, say the NSA has stonewalled on providing even the gist of the new guidelines.

Secret encryption back doors are a threat to national security and the safety of our families its only a matter of time before foreign hackers or criminals exploit them in ways that undermine American national security, Wyden told Reuters. The government shouldnt have any role in planting secret back doors in encryption technology used by Americans.

No one knows what's in the guidelines and whether they forbid the NSA from backdooring hardware or software sold to US buyers. All the NSA is willing to say is it's trying to patch things up with domestic tech vendors by, um, giving them more stuff to patch up.

The agency declined to say how it had updated its policies on obtaining special access to commercial products. NSA officials said the agency has been rebuilding trust with the private sector through such measures as offering warnings about software flaws.

This is a welcome change after years of exploit hoarding. But there's no reason to believe the NSA isn't holding useful flaws back until they've outlived their exploitability. As for the built-in backdoors, the NSA refuses to provide any details. It won't even answer to its oversight. And if it won't do that, it really needs to stop saying things about "robust oversight" every time more surveillance abuses by the agency are exposed.

There's more to this than potential domestic surveillance. Any flaw deliberately introduced in hardware and software can be exploited by anyone who discovers it, not just the agency that requested it. The threat isn't theoretical. It's already happened. In 2015, it was discovered that malicious hackers had exploited what appeared to be a built-in flaw to intercept and decrypt VPN traffic running through Juniper routers. This appeared to be a byproduct of the NSA's "Tailored Access Operations." While Juniper has never acknowledged building a backdoor for the NSA, the circumstantial evidence points in No Such Agency's direction.

[Juniper] acknowledged to security researcher Andy Isaacson in 2016 that it had installed Dual EC [Dual Elliptic Curve] as part of a customer requirement, according to a previously undisclosed contemporaneous message seen by Reuters. Isaacson and other researchers believe that customer was a U.S. government agency, since only the U.S. is known to have insisted on Dual EC elsewhere.

This is the danger of relying on deliberately introduced flaws to gather intelligence or obtain evidence. Broken is broken and broken tools are toys for malicious individuals, which includes state-sponsored hackers deployed by this nation's enemies. It's kind of shitty to claim you're in the national security business when you're out there asking companies to add more attack vectors to their products.

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Filed Under: 4th amendment, backdoors, nsa, ron wyden, surveillanceCompanies: cisco, juniper

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Senator Wyden Wants To Know If The NSA Is Still Demanding Tech Companies Build Backdoors Into Their Products - Techdirt

The National Security Agency (NSA) issued a cybersecurity advisory warning that Chinese state-sponsored actors have increased their attacks on American companies, including those that work closely with the U.S. government. The NSA warned that one of the great threats to the U.S. National Security Systems (NSS), the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (DIB), and even the Department of Defense (DoD) information networks remains hackers in China who work at the behest of Beijing.

The same process for planning the exploitation of a computer network that is used by sophisticated cyber criminals for profit is being used by Chinese-sanctioned hackers. The same types of efforts are employed, and this often involves identifying a target, gathering technical information, identifying any vulnerabilities, developing or even re-using an exploit to access those vulnerabilities, and then launching the attack.

This warning highlights the trend of nation-state actors expanding their focus, from the .gov and .mil domains to prioritizing the exploitation of companies in the defense industrial base or with any connection to U.S. government data, said John Dermody, counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of international law firm OMelveny & Myers and member of the firms Data Security & Privacy Group, in an email to ClearanceJobs.

Hackers can now choose from a menu of readily-deployable malware, already-developed access to victims, network exploitation services, and post-breach monetization services, added Dermody. This has resulted in entrepreneurial cyber-actors going out and developing access to a broad scope of companies and offering to sell it to the highest bidder, whether that be cyber criminals or nation states.

Along with its warning, the NSA published an in-depth report that detailed the top 25 vulnerabilities that are currently being scanned, targeted, and exploited. All of these bugs are actually well known, and they all have patches. However, because of the continued targeting of these exploits, the NSA has called greater attention and highlighted the need to address these vulnerabilities as soon as possible.

The NSA advisory identified 25 known vulnerabilities that state or state-sponsored attackers from China are known to actively use, or have scanned for, explained cybersecurity expert Saryj Nayya, CEO of Gurucul. Its important to realize that this list is only the ones they know of. These attackers have considerable resources that they can, and do, dedicate to finding and developing attacks against a broad range of systems. They have exploited vulnerabilities in network equipment, servers, and mobile devices, and will continue to do so.

While many of the vulnerabilities have been known to cybersecurity professionals, this is the first time that the NSA the nations premier electronic intelligence agency has specifically described them as prime targets for Chinese state-sponsored attacks.

State sponsored attackers are nothing new, Nayya told ClearanceJobs. Governments have always employed researchers to find vulnerabilities and developed attacks that exploit them to further their own agendas. Given the current geopolitical situation, it is no surprise we are hearing more about attacks originating from China.

However, state and state-sponsored threat actors will remain a serious challenge for civilian targets.

The attackers are effectively immune from prosecution and, as civilians, the victims cant return fire even when they know who is attacking them, warned Nayya. We have to rely on our own defenses to mitigate these attacks, and hope the government agencies responsible for protecting our vital infrastructure will extend that protection to other areas under threat.

The NSA noted that most of the vulnerabilities that it listed could be exploited to gain initial access to a victim network by utilizing products that provide either remote access or are for external web services, and these products should be patched accordingly. The NSA also offered tips to mitigate from such attacks:

Cybersecurity due diligence should remain a priority, and this should include regular backups, watching for social engineering, and keeping devices at all levels patched and up to date.

Our best defense is to deploy best-in-breed security solutions, including behavioral analytics that can adapt to new threats, and to follow industry best practices across the board, said Nayya. Patch management, user education, etc.

A full list of the threats is available on the NSA Cybersecurity Advisory.

Originally posted here:
Per NSA, DoD Networks in the Crosshairs of Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers - ClearanceJobs

John Judkins Contributing columnist

Your federal government is spying on you. Every post on Facebook. Every text message. Every email. Every website visited. You have essentially no privacy online.

In 2006, a consumer advocacy group obtained previously sealed sworn statements from a former AT&T technician Mark Klein, who testified that AT&T installed a fiberoptic splitter at one of its facilities in San Francisco. This splitter makes copies of all emails, web searches, and other internet traffic to and from AT&T customers and sends copies of all of the data to a room operated by the National Security Agency (NSA). This room has a dedicated line transmitting data out of AT&Ts facility to the NSAs own servers. Later testimony revealed that this splitter was one of dozens of devices installed at many different facilities owned by AT&T.

The Washington Post and several other media outlets have run various stories about the NSA spying on our own citizens from time to time. Through the work of these journalists, it has been revealed that the NSA has utilized provisions located in Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect metadata of phone traffic from virtually every American. Additionally, we have learned that the NSA spent over 1.5 billion dollars to build a massive data collection center in Utah five times the size of the U.S. Capitol Building complete with its own power plant. An article by Forbes estimated the power requirements of the spying facility at approximately 65 megawatts costing about $40 million per year to generate. Further, it was estimated that the facility used 1.7 million gallons of water per day to cool the massive computers used to conduct surveillance on all Americans.

Nearly all public officials swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, and any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution would hold the NSAs domestic spying as unconstitutional. I do not believe that there is any valid interpretation of the Fourth Amendment that permits the government to collect and store U.S. citizens online communications. Yet still, the NSA continues to do this without any suspicion of wrongdoing by citizens, and without any court or congressional oversight. This kind of surveillance of citizens begs to be abused in the long run. It does not matter if we trust the individuals in office at a particular moment. Allowing the government to collect our data without reason or cause is absurd and unconscionable.

Now it appears that this domestic spying program may devastate our international trade with Europe. Under European Union law, citizens of the EU have a fundamental right to privacy, with most online activities protected by something called the General Data Protection Regulation. A German privacy activist named Max Schrems has undertaken a series of lawsuits beginning in 2013 to challenge the adequacy of U.S. law to protect EU privacy rights. Recently, an EU court agreed with Mr. Schrems holding that the U.S. governments ability to collect data on EU residents without proper procedural protections makes it impossible for U.S. firms to be generally capable of complying with EU law.

In July the Office of Information and Data Protection Commissioner ruled that European countries cannot use contracts to work around data privacy laws, and essentially all data transfer to the United States is now illegal. This ruling has been stayed pending further appeal, but unless a compromise can be reached, nearly all internet traffic with Europe could be halted.

The costs of this trade disruption will be enormous. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Transatlantic trade generates upward of $5.6 trillion, of which at least $333 billion was related to digitally-enabled services. The truth is that likely far more of that overall commerce is facilitated in some way by cross-border data transfers.

All of these concerns could be obviated if Congress were to apply ordinary due process requirements to our nations surveillance programs. There is no reason for our government to spy on all Americans at all times. The NSA domestic spying of internet activity violates our constitution, and it appears to violate European law, too. It might just crash our economy if something isnt done soon.

John Judkins is a Greenfield attorney.

John Judkins Contributing columnist

See the original post:
Big Brother is spying on you - Hillsboro Times Gazette

FT. MEADE, Md. --

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), so we have been celebrating cybersecurity all month long!

The Science of Security (SoS) & Privacy program recently sponsored the Hot Topics in Science of Security (HoTSoS) Conference. This premier event brings NSA and other researchers together in an unclassified environment along with practitioners and thought leaders from government, industry, and academia, to discuss scientific foundations of cybersecurity.

HoTSoS was created as a public venue to grow and enhance the cybersecurity mission value from NSAs unclassified research engagements and partnerships with academia and private industry. While this year marked the 7th HoTSoS, it was the first to be held virtually and recorded the highest-ever attendance!

Originally scheduled to be held in-person this past spring at the University of Kansas, which is one of six universities in the country hosting a Lablet*, the HoTSoS conference was rescheduled to the fall. Ongoing COVID-19 restrictions led to reconfiguring the conference for virtual attendance and waiving registration fees for attendees. These changes, along with the new ability for participants to log in from the comfort of their homes, led to record participation.

Going virtual has had some benefits even as people missed face-to-face interactions, said Dr. Adam Tagert, SoS Technical Lead at NSA. Anyone interested could participate without a need to travel and payment of registration fees. This enabled far greater participation than in past years.

Key presentations at this years conference included: Public Trust in 5G (fifth generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks); Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazons on-demand cloud computing platform; and Evaluating Fuzz Testing (techniques used to discover coding errors and security loopholes).

*What is a Lablet?

Funded by NSA, Lablets are small university laboratories that conduct cybersecurity research on a variety of topics ranging from governance of Big Data to Internet of Things security and predictions on the ability of hackers to compromise systems.

There are currently six universities hosting Lablets: Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley (The International Computer Science Institute), University of Kansas, North Carolina State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Vanderbilt University.

To support engagement with additional schools with wide-ranging cybersecurity researcher talent, the SoS team recently designated some schools from within the Ivy League, Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs), womens colleges, and military colleges as Associate Lablets. Although not funded by the agency, professors and students from Associate Lablets present and discuss research at SoS meetings and collaborate with NSA and Lablet researchers to solve the SoSs 5 Hard Cybersecurity Problems Scalability & Composability, Metrics, Human Behavior, Policy, and Resilient Architectures.

The 8th Annual HoTSoS Conference is scheduled for April 13-15, 2021. It will again be virtual and registration fees will be waived. Proposals for presentation are being accepted by the SoS team through January 8, 2021. Registration to attend the event will open early next year.

Visit https://sos-vo.org to learn how to engage with the SoS research program.

Read more here:
Science of Security's Annual Security Conference Goes Virtual and Gets Record Attendance - 62nd Airlift Wing

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The US and India are seizing the moment with the 2+2 dialogue between their external affairs and defence ministers in the hope that the growing partnership will outlast a possible change in the US administration next week. But back here in South Asia, a visit by the head of Indias external intelligence agency, R&AW, to meet Prime Minister K.P. Oli of Nepal last week tells us interesting new things.

First things first, the person picked to break the ice with Nepal since the political row over Nepals map was the head of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and not a political person. This speaks reams of the foreign policy power structure in New Delhi. Increasingly, it seems as if National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his secretariat are asserting themselves in Indias neighbourhood, leaving large parts of the rest of the world the US, for example, and therefore the 2+2 dialogue to the responsibility of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Remember that Indias most difficult foreign policy question, the unsettled border with China, is run by Doval, who isIndias Special Representative on the boundary talks although, on Chinas side, foreign minister Wang Yi is his interlocutor.

Also read: Nepalese PM Oli faces flak for not visible Indian areas in tiny Dussehra greeting map

Interestingly, R&AW seems to have quite a few Nepal specialists. So, along with chief Samant Goel on the Nepal trip was Arun Jain, earlier posted there as an intelligence officer. In the MEA, however, several Nepal hands have moved on. Slowly, Vinay Kwatra, Indias newest ambassador to the Himalayan republic, who knows Modi better than most diplomats having served as his unofficial interpreter in the early years, is getting to know this hugely complex and multi-layered country.He is now believed to be meeting all the players, who his predecessor had pointedly ignored.

Its not been easy. The last several years have been shaped by one folly or another. First, New Delhi decided to support the Madhesis in their fight towards egalitarianism, which led to the informal blockade of goods, thereby upsetting the Kathmandu elite. When then-Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited Nepal at the time, seeking to broadbase the Constitution, he was roundly snubbed, including by the erstwhile pro-India president Ram Baran Yadav. Oli went on to decisively win the elections on an anti-India platform.

Alongside, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) tried to run the Nepal policy, because the country remains a Hindu-majority republic, but it soon burnt its fingers too. After the 2017 election in Nepal, New Delhi swallowed its pride and reached out to Oli but tilted so much in his direction that it forgot that in a democracy other key players co-exist and play equally important, balancing roles.

So the Nepali Congress whose early democratic aspirations were forged in the hot plains of India as well as the Madhesi leaders, who until recently had been the darlings of Delhi, were pretty much ignored. Calls werent returned. Old friends first turned indifferent, then hostile. Oli, of course, was not above manipulating New Delhi.

Meanwhile, in the flush of its romance with Donald Trump in the US, roller-coaster ties with China and the race to the bottom with the Pakistan relationship India, sort of, forgot Nepal. Indias diplomats have become so used to being feted in Western capitals or enjoy its cushy comforts, that prickly nations like Nepal are almost shunned.

That, of course, suited the Chinese just fine. As Chinas ambassador Hou Yanqi feted the Kathmandu elite, India stared at the vast abyss of lost ground. And when the Chinese made aggressive moves into Ladakh, Army chief M.M. Naravane responded with an undiplomatic statement of his own.

Also read: R&AW chief on hurricane tour to Nepal, to meet PM Oli as trouble brews in ruling party

It is in this context of India trying to make amends that the Samant Goel visit to Nepal should be seen. Nevertheless, the question remains: Why was Goel picked to go to Nepal and not a political personality? If Jaishankar was busy with 2+2 and China, couldnt someone else be sent? Theres an entire Cabinet of options.

The circumstances of Goels visit are equally intriguing. The man took an Indian Air Force special aircraft to Kathmandu, an unsual act bound to attract notice. Then there was that splashy, public landing in the broad light of day at Kathmandus Tribhuvan airport, in full glare of Nepals intrepid reporters.

Its not as if R&AW chiefs have never taken special aircraft to Kathmandu, or that they havent met its top political leadership not accompanied by the ambassador remember, Vinay Kwatra was in Delhi when Goel was in Kathmandu, preparing the Army chief for his own November visit to Kathmandu, where he will be honoured with the rank of General in the Nepal army. When a R&AW chief wants to do anything secretly, lets be clear, he isnt leaving a trail of crumbs in his wake.

Of course, the story got leaked. Probably someone wanted the story leaked, so as to send several messages, to Oli, the Nepali political elite and opposition as well as to the foreign policy elite back home in India.

Also read: New Delhi must warn Oli govt. Allowing China to use Nepal for anti-India activities has costs

The message to Oli is that New Delhi is well aware of his attempts to fan anti-India rhetoric by unilaterally redrawing an international map that expands Nepals borders into Indian territory. The message is also that India is not going to accept the move, even if the Chinese fete him or anyone else all the way to Beijing.

Goels meeting with Baburam Bhattarai is a second message to Oli no one should forget that Bhattarai, a former JNU student and avowed Communist, lived incognito in Delhi for many years until the repressive monarchy in Nepal gave way to the JanAndolan in 2006 and he returned home a victor.

The message to the Indian foreign policy establishment is that NSA Doval is in charge. That PM Modi wants the Nepal relationship fixed, so Doval and his boysare rising to the occasion.

But lets stop here and smell the coffee. All of the above may read very well in spy thrillers, except for one small fact: Indias very public move of showing the mirror to Oli can backfire. The Nepal PM has given himself several leases of life by successfully playing the anti-India card, but at the same time publicly greeting PM Modi on Independence Day and most recently on Dussehra with a greeting card that did not have the new map printed on it.

If the Samant Goel trip succeeds, then NSA Doval would have pulled off a risky manoeuvre. If not, New Delhi would do well to dwell, as winter closes in, on why its losing its neighbourhood. One aggressive neighbour (China) has taken territory, another (Pakistan)continues with its proxy war, a third (Bangladesh)is upset with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and a fourth (Nepal) is playing the Indian establishment like a tanpura.

Soon, spring will come. Soon, like Bihar, which is next door to Nepal, America will have a new administration. Question is, does India have a plan?

Views are personal.

This article has been updated to correct the news about the R&AW chief meeting Nepals opposition leader Baburam Bhattarai.

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Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it

India needs free, fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism even more as it faces multiple crises.

But the news media is in a crisis of its own. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, yielding to crude prime-time spectacle.

ThePrint has the finest young reporters, columnists and editors working for it. Sustaining journalism of this quality needs smart and thinking people like you to pay for it. Whether you live in India or overseas, you can do it here.

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Why NSA Doval and his men are asserting themselves in Nepal, rather than MEA - ThePrint

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New Delhi: If India senses a threat, it will surely fight, on our soil and on foreign soil, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has said.

Addressing a function at Rishikesh-based Parmarth Niketan ashram Saturday, Doval sought to discuss Indias policy towards threats to national security.

In a video clip of the address, posted to the ashrams Facebook page, he is heard saying, You said we have never attacked There are views about it, that if there was danger from somewhere, we should have done it to save the country it is important

It is not necessary that we only fight where you want to, but where the threat originates, he adds. Doval then says India fights where we feel the threat is coming.

We have never done it for selfish reasons. We will surely fight, on our soil and on foreign soil, but not for our personal interests. But in the interests of parmarth (spirituality), he says.

As the remarks come amid Indias border stand-off with China, some media reports sought to portray Dovals statement as a warning to Beijing.

However, ANI quoted government officials as saying that the NSA was speaking purely in a civilisational and spiritual context and was not referring to any country or specific situation.

Also Read: Why has Indias China policy been such a failure? Question New Delhis assumptions first

In other parts of his address at the ashram, the NSA described India as a civilisation state not based on any religion, language or sect, saying its foundation is based on its culture.

Seers (rishis and munis) founded the nation (rashtra) exclusive of the state (rajya) of India, he said.

We dont protect the nation, we secure the state. State (rajya) has definite boundaries. The nation (rashtra) is safeguarded by those who founded it. It is founded by you, he added, addressing the spiritual leaders at the ashram.

Even if the state is not around, the nation will continue to be there, he added.

You fight with spirituality, he said.

Also Read: Lesson from Ladakh India & China were both rising together until China just raced away

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Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it

India needs free, fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism even more as it faces multiple crises.

But the news media is in a crisis of its own. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, yielding to crude prime-time spectacle.

ThePrint has the finest young reporters, columnists and editors working for it. Sustaining journalism of this quality needs smart and thinking people like you to pay for it. Whether you live in India or overseas, you can do it here.

Support Our Journalism

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Will fight on foreign soil if there is a threat, says NSA Ajit Doval at Rishikesh ashram - ThePrint

As like so many others, the National Sheep Association (NSA) was bitterly disappointed to cancel its much enjoyed Sheep Events this summer; so with renewed enthusiasm, the association is now proceeding with plans for its line up of spring and summer 2021 events.

The NSA 2021 diary of events is already looking full with the main regional events: NSA Welsh Sheep; NSA Scotsheep; NSA North Sheep; NSA Sheep South West; and NSA Sheep Northern Ireland all set to take place between May and July offering visitors a much needed day out meeting with fellow sheep farmers and industry experts. Bookings for events will now open very soon.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker commented:

Of course we were left with no choice but to cancel our 2020 events. Now, despite some uncertainty of the situation we will find ourselves in next year, we must proceed with optimism that our line-up of events will be able to take place once again next year.

As an organisation that acts as the voice of the UKs sheep sector, a sector likely to be considerably affected in 2021 by our imminent departure from Europe, there will never be a more important time for us to be able to meet with members and colleagues face to face to discuss the changes upon us and the steps needed for our industry to move forward into a new era for the countrys farmers.

We sincerely hope that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will have subsided sufficiently to allow this to happen.

The NSA is formed of nine regions that each have involvement with or organise their own regional sheep event for members residing in that area.

As business-to-business events, NSA Sheep Events offer visitors opportunity to hear from industry leaders in informative seminars, take part in practical workshops and discuss an array of products both new and existing with sheep farming trade stands.

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NSA Sheep Events look forward to 2021 with enthusiasm and hope - Agriland.co.uk

NATIONAL SHEEP Association has said that its hopes are high for 2021, with a full diary of events in preparation.

With the main regional events; NSA Welsh Sheep, NSA Scotsheep, NSA North Sheep, NSA Sheep South West and NSA Sheep Northern Ireland all set to take place between May and July, the association is hoping to offer visitors a much needed day out meeting with fellow sheep farmers and industry experts. Bookings for these events will open very soon.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: Of course we were left with no choice but to cancel our 2020 events. Now, despite some uncertainty of the situation we will find ourselves in next year, we must proceed with optimism that our line-up of events will be able to take place once again next year.

As an organisation that acts as the voice of the UKs sheep sector, a sector likely to be considerably affected in 2021 by our imminent departure from Europe, there will never be a more important time for us to be able to meet with members and colleagues face to face to discuss the changes upon us and the steps needed for our industry to move forward into a new era for the countrys farmers. We sincerely hope that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will have subsided sufficiently to allow this to happen.

NSA is formed of nine regions that each have involvement with or organise their own regional sheep event for members residing in that area. As business to business events, NSA sheep events offer visitors opportunity to hear from industry leaders in informative seminars, take part in practical workshops, discuss an array of products both new and existing with sheep farming trade stands, view competitions and much more.

NSA sheep events are planned for 2021 at the following dates and locations:

Up to date information on all events can be found on the NSA website. It is anticipated that event trade and breed society bookings will open from Monday, November 2, for exhibitors to secure their place at the 2021 events. All measures will be put in place to ensure events will be Covid safe and operate to current government guidance on the day.

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National Sheep Association looks forward to 2021 - The Scottish Farmer