Senior advisors to U.S. President Trump reportedly persuaded him last week not to order an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Their meeting followed an International Atomic Energy Agency report that Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of nuclear material. [node:read-more:link]
Senior advisors to U.S. President Trump reportedly persuaded him last week not to order an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Their meeting followed an International Atomic Energy Agency report that Iran had significantly increased its stockpile of nuclear material. [node:read-more:link]
Michael Flynn, the retired U.S. Army General who pleaded guilty twice to lying to FBI investigators about interaction with Russian contacts during Donald Trump’s transition into power in 2016, has received a full presidential pardon. Flynn, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2021 to 2014 and became Trump’s National Security Advisor, was fired in February 2017. [node:read-more:link]
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has been told by Federal Court that it needs a warrant when using a particular technology to “learn about an individual's private activities and personal choices” from mobile sources as part of its intelligence-gathering mandate. Information about the technology was redacted from the just-released ruling handed down last summer. [node:read-more:link]
Code developed by the U.S. National Security Agency evidently has been used by Chinese hackers, according to an Israeli company. Check Point Software Technologies reports that some aspects of “Jian” malware linked to China were so similar they could only have been stolen from National Security Agency software leaked in 2017. [node:read-more:link]
Sensitive documents released by the Canada Border Services Agency in an immigration case before the Federal Court were ostensibly redacted. However the CBSA wants the documents back because when the documents’ format was changed, the redaction “could be lifted to reveal confidential and sensitive information.” [node:read-more:link]
More than two years after he and another Canadian, Michael Kovrig, were detained in China for alleged espionage, Michael Spavor’s closed-court “trial” today in Dandong lasted only two hours. Spavor and his lawyer appeared for the hearing but other parties, including Canadian consular officials, were not permitted on national security grounds. The court will eventually set a day for issuing a verdict but Chinese courts have a conviction rate of more than 99 per cent. Kovrig’s trial is set for March 21. [node:read-more:link]
A report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies warns that even if the U.S. manages to keep its allies from using Chinese telecommunications technology, Beijing’s “digital silk road” strategy enables China to burrow into those countries' economies and infrastructure, creating dependencies that may ultimately weaken alliance ties. [node:read-more:link]
President Joe Biden’s nominee for the U.S. governments chief information office is Clare Martorama. She began her public career in 2016 at the U.S. Digital Service, working with Veterans Affairs. [node:read-more:link]
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is discounting reports that China had banned his companies automobiles from military facilities due to fears that onboard cameras could be used to gather intelligence. “There's a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” he says. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.” [node:read-more:link]
Twenty-six persons, including 16 former Turkish Aerospace Industries employees and a former member of the government’s defence procurement agency, were detained today on suspicion of espionage. They also are accused of what Turkey says is a terrorist organization run by an exiled Muslim cleric. [node:read-more:link]
An Italian navy officer identified as a frigate captain has been arrested while allegedly handing over classified documents to a Russian officer posted at his country’s embassy in Rome. A national police special operations unit carried out the arrests March 30 “during a clandestine meeting between the two” at which money changed hands. [node:read-more:link]
A power failure apparently caused by a planned explosion struck Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment site April 11 in what Iranian officials was sabotage. Israeli and U.S. intelligence sources have said Israel was involved. [node:read-more:link]
A surge in Chinese companies’ investment in U.S. defence suppliers has prompted the Pentagon to approve more than $311 million in potential partnerships with the private sector in a bid to contain Beijing;s influence. The Trusted Capital program targets, among others, companies involved in artificial intelligence and biotechnology. [node:read-more:link]
The Canadian Security Intelligence Services says last year saw the highest level of foreign espionage and interference directed at Canadian targets since the end of the Cold War. “The fluid and rapidly evolving environment caused by COVID-19 has created a situation ripe for exploitation,” CSIS Director David Vigneault says in his latest annual report. “Violent extremism, foreign interference, espionage and malicious cyber activity, accelerated, evolved and in many ways became much more serious.” [node:read-more:link]
