national security

By Caleb Skeath

This past Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities held a hearing on military cybersecurity issues.  The hearing focused on the most pressing cyber threats to the nation’s security, as well as the need to grow the military’s cybersecurity workforce while maintaining high levels of skill and training.

Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, described four different types of cyber threats that the U.S. faces:

  1. Autocratic governments, such as North Korea, that “view today’s open Internet as a lethal threat to their regimes;”
  2. Theft of intellectual property by states, individuals, and criminal organizations;
  3. Disruptive activities, such as denial-of-service attacks, malware, and network traffic manipulation; and
  4. States developing the capabilities and system access for hostile activities in cyberspace, either as a deterrence measure or in preparation for future attacks.

Continue Reading Military Cybersecurity Hearing Discusses Cyber Threats, Information Sharing

By Caleb Skeath

This Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities will hold a hearing on military cybersecurity issues, entitled “Cyber Operations: Improving the Military Cyber Security Posture in an Uncertain Threat Environment.”  The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the hearing:

  • Navy Adm. Michael Rodgers, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command
  • Army Lt. Gen. Edward C. Cardon, Commander, U.S. Army Cyber Command
  • Navy Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, Commander, Navy Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet (FCC/C10F)
  • Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Daniel J. O’Donohue, Commanding General, Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command
  • Air Force Maj. Gen. Burke E. Wilson, Commander, 24th Air Force

The hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 2118 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Continue Reading House Hearing Scheduled on U.S. Military Cyber Operations

By Randall Friedland

Yesterday, the USA Freedom Act (S. 2685), a bill aimed at curbing the National Security Agency’s (“NSA”) data collection practices, fell two votes short of the 60 votes necessary for cloture in the Senate.  The bill was largely blocked by Senate Republicans who expressed concern…
Continue Reading Bill Restricting the NSA’s Data Collection Practices Blocked in the Senate

By Jim Garland, David Fagan, and Alex Berengaut

On January 27, 2014, the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence announced that the U.S. government will allow Internet companies and telecommunications providers to disclose more information about government demands for customer data in national security investigations.  The government’s new transparency policy addresses legal demands served under two distinct statutory authorities.  First, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”), the government can apply to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) for orders compelling providers to disclose both the contents of their customers’ communications as well as non-content “metadata” relating to such communications.  Second, under the National Security Letter (“NSL”) statute, the FBI can compel companies to disclose certain non-content information about their customers.

Under the new policy announced on January 27, technology companies now have two options for reporting on the number of FISA orders and NSLs they receive:  Continue Reading Justice Department Allows More Transparency on Government Demands for Customer Information in National Security Investigations

In his State of the Union message on Tuesday, President Obama announced that he had signed an Executive Order addressing the cybersecurity of  critical infrastructure.  President Obama emphasized that in the face of threats to corporate secrets, the power grid, and financial institutions, among others, “We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.”

The Executive Order follows legislative efforts in the last Congress to pass comprehensive cybersecurity bills.  After the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S. 3414) failed to pass in August 2012, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan mentioned in an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations that the President was considering issuing an Executive Order to implement portions of the cybersecurity legislation.  In the subsequent months, the White House sought industry input on the Order.

The Order has two main components: increasing information sharing from the government to the private sector and establishing a Cybersecurity Framework to buttress the security of critical infrastructure. Continue Reading President Obama Issues Cybersecurity Executive Order