Henry Kyle Frese, a Defense Intelligence Agency official in Virginia, has been charged ith leaking classified information to two journalists. Arrested by the FBI Oct. 9 when he arrived for work, the 30-year-old is alleged to have accessed at least five classified reports and provided information about another country’s weaponry to one of the journalists with whom he had a relationship. [node:read-more:link]
A hitherto unknown unit within Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, is reported to be conducting operations to destabilize Europe and its allies. The New York Times quotes a retired GRU officer as saying that Unit 29155 is comprised of agents who carry out assassinations and other missions designed to foment unrest abroad. [node:read-more:link]
Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and the Department of State’s unpaid prt-time special envoy for Ukraine, has stepped down. He reportedly quit because he felt he could no longer be effective due to the mounting controversy over President Donald Trump’s conversations with his Ukrainian counterpart. Volker is expected to appear before a congressional committee this week. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Air Force officer who heads the Joint Artificial Intelligence Centre in the Department of Defense says there is “no stronger proponent” for AI within the DoD. However, as the U.S. begins a multi-billion-dollar modernization of its Nuclear Command, Control and Communications facilities, LGen Jack Shanahan says he pauses when AI is considered for NC3. [node:read-more:link]
The lawyer for Cameron Ortis, the RCMP intelligence director accused of preparing to share classified secrets, says he is waiting for key information. Ian Carter says he only has an initial synopsis of the case against his client but does expect more disclosure by the Crown this week. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. administration evidently is divided over whom to blame for the recent drone attck on Saudi Arabian petroleum installations. The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Johnathan Hoffman, says that while there are indications that Iran was in “some way” responsible, he declined to definitively blame Iran. This was after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it was “abundantly clear” that Iran was responsible. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. National Security Agency is running an experiment designed to test whether the growing number of military and civilian satellites in lower earth orbit have been compromised. The focus, using artificial intelligence technology, is on trying to find out whether orbits have changed and what countermeasures are possible. [node:read-more:link]
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says intrusions into Canadians’ digital privacy have become a crisis and it’s time to stop companies from data-mining for profit. She says it’s a timely issue to raise during an election campaign because democracy is threatened when data are collected, manipulated and used. [node:read-more:link]
Kelvin Droegemeier, the new science advisor to President Donald Trump is moving to bolster U.S. policies on research security. Recent U.S.-China political has spilled into the research community which has been pushing back against federal agencies investigating foreign-born scientists. [node:read-more:link]
Edward Snowden, the Central Intelligence Agency contractor who sought refuge in Moscow, says that while France and Germany are considering granting him asylum, he still hopes to return to the U.S. However, having leaked details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, he says he wouldn’t get a fair trial back home. [node:read-more:link]
Hamza Bin Laden, son of al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden and an increasingly active player in global terrorism, has been killed in a U.S. operation. President Donald Trump confirmed his death but no details on where or when the operation occurred have been released. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. intelligence community is said to be developing biometric identification systems which could single out individuals at a distance. Facial recognition and other biometrics technologies have improved in recent years but evidently are still prone to errors. [node:read-more:link]
The Communications Security Establishment and other intelligence resources are reported to be closely monitoring the possibility that at least six foreign government are working through their diasporas in Canada to influence the results of the Oct. 21 general election. A report cites China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. [node:read-more:link]
Australia, Britain, France and the U.S., Canada’s partners in the Five Eyes intelligence community, are raising questions about the type of information accessible to Cameron Ortis as the director of an intelligence unit within the RCMP. Diplomatic sources say the alliance is concerned that Ortis, who has been arrested and charged, had access to their intelligence information. [node:read-more:link]
All U.S. civil and military organizations will be prohibited, effective Sept. 17, from using cybersecurity products or other software produced by Russia-based Kaspersky Lab. In finalizing the decision, the administration is acting on legislation approved by Congress in response to intelligence community concerns that Kaspersky executives could be forced by Moscow to share information. [node:read-more:link]
