Security & Defense

Confidential Report: US Weapons System Designs Compromised by Chinese Cyberspies

By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post

From Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post:  Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

New Rules Will Allow Military Commanders to Counterattack Foreign Cyber Threats

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News

From Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News:  After three years of grueling internal debate, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs is poised to approve new rules empowering commanders to counter direct cyberattacks with offensive efforts of their own — without White House approval.

Win Wars Not Battles

By Harlan Ullman

If there is one strategic weakness or Achilles’ heel in U.S. geostrategic thinking, it is a fixation with winning battles and not winning wars. The North Vietnamese famously crowed, “America won every battle and lost the war.” In Afghanistan and Iraq four decades later, the same critique applied. America and the coalition won virtually every […]

Romanian Ambassador Chosen to be New NATO Assistant Secretary General

By Foreign Ministry of Romania

From Foreign Ministry of Romania:  Foreign Minister Titus Corlăţean welcomes the designation of Ambassador Sorin Ducaru as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Risks.

Iran’s Escalating Cyber Campaign Edging US Closer to Retaliation

By Siobhan Gorman and Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal

From Siobhan Gorman and Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal:  Iranian-backed hackers have escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations by launching infiltration and surveillance missions against the computer networks running energy companies

German Armed Forces Equipping for Cyber War

By Michael Fischer, DPA

NATO Faces About Ten Serious Cyber Incidents Each Month

By Paul Ames, Global Post

From Paul Ames, Global Post:  The Boolea attack is fiction, the center-piece of operation Locked Shields, a "live fire" cyber exercise run by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in late April, to test the rapid response capabilities of allied cyber units.

Crisis in the Sahel: Mali Terrorism Threat Growing

By Rudolph Atallah

Over the past year, things have escalated dramatically in Mali, causing further instability in the Sahara and the Sahel. Many skeptics underestimated the Islamist threat and claimed that the Saharan branch of Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) was only focused on kidnappings for ransom and illicit trade, rather than jihadist activities.