NEWS INTERNATIONAL
29 January 2020
(Route Fifty)
The District of Columbia and 20 states are challenging what they see as the easing of federal controls on “ghost guns”, untraceable firearms manufactured with 3D printing. President Donald Trump’s administration says that effective in March, the requisite software controlled by the Department of State’s through the U.S. Munitions List will become a Department of Commerce jurisdiction.
29 January 2020
(Fifth Domain)
The British government’s decision to allow limited use of Huawei 5G technology has prompted a group of Republicans in the U.S. Congress to introduce a bill designed to curtail intelligence sharing with the U.K. One says Britain’s decision gives China a “foothold” to conduct espionage as well as more economic and political leverage.
28 January 2020
(Yahoo)
An 80-page plan for Israeli-Palestinian place was unveiled in Washington 28 January by U.S. President Donald Trump during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among other things, it would recognize most Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land and would offer some sort of Palestinian statehood without an army and with overarching Israeli security control in some areas. Palestinian leaders had already rejected the proposal which Netanyahu lauded as “a great plan.
28 January 2020
(Nextgov)
A bipartisan group in the U.S. Congress want to reform legislation used by the National Security Agency and other bodies to gain access to telephone records and other domestic communications. The access through the Patriot Act was facilitated mostly in the aftermath of the September 2011 terrorist attacks in the U.S. However, the proposed Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act would constrain that access.
28 January 2020
(BBC)
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei is being allowed by the British government to continue providing 5G service but will be prohibited from supplying hardware for “sensitive parts” of the network. Britain and other allies, including Canada, are being pressed by the U.S. to block Huawei on grounds that it could compromise national security but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the government’s decision would not affect its intelligence-sharing relationship.
28 January 2020
(Consumer Affairs)
Commercial air travel has never been safer and, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, the trend should continue. Based on a review of 2008-2017 flight data, it concluded that the risk of fatality was less than half the risk during the previous 10 years.
27 January 2020
(Defense One)
Artificial intelligence, already in widespread use in gathering data for a range of purposes, needs to be hardened against attack if the intelligence community is to exploit its full potential. Dean Souleles, a key technology advisor within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in Washington examines, among other things, how Open Source Enterprise can be used to keep pace with developments.
27 January 2020
(Nextgov)
Despite the “expenditure of substantial resources,” the U.S. State Department stands accused by internal auditors of continued failure to secure itself against cyberattacks. Its Office of the Inspector General says in a new report that “significant” shortcomings put sensitive information at risk at home and abroad.
27 January 2020
(The Atlantic)
A new analysis of U.S. involvement in Middle East affairs states that more than 60 years after it declared that it was willing to use military force to defend its “national interests” in the region, Washington’s policies seem to have come full circle.
27 January 2020
(C4ISRNET)
Capella Space Corp. has released the design for a new satellite which would use synthetic aperture radar to provide imagery regardless of weather or cloud cover, unlike other platforms with optical sensors. The San Francisco-based startup’s technology is expected to provide valuable data not only to natural disaster and search and rescue responders but also the military and intelligence communities.
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