Thursday, December 26

Tag: national security

Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program
10Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program

For the third time since December, House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to wrangle support for reauthorizing a critical US surveillance program, raising questions about the future of a law that compels certain businesses to wiretap foreigners on the government’s behalf.Johnson lost 19 Republicans on Tuesday in a procedural vote that traditionally falls along party lines. Republicans control the House of Representatives but only by a razor-thin margin. The failed vote comes just hours after former US president Donald Trump ordered Republicans to “Kill FISA” in a 2 am post on Truth Social, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, under which the program is authorized.The Section 702 surveillance program, which targets foreigners overseas while sweeping up a large amount of U...
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A TikTok Whistleblower Got DC’s Attention. Do His Claims Add Up?
4Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

A TikTok Whistleblower Got DC’s Attention. Do His Claims Add Up?

Despite not holding a senior position, Goziker claims that his main job at TikTok was “overseeing” Project Texas to ensure the social media app’s plan to secure US user data would be effective. The goal was to implement a set of safeguards that would satisfy the ​​Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency body charged with evaluating national security risks associated with foreign firms acquiring or taking major stakes in US companies. CFIUS has the power to force companies to unwind deals it considers risky, and since 2019 has been investigating ByteDance’s 2017 purchase of a lip-syncing app called Musical.ly, which was later merged into TikTok.Goziker claims that he interviewed more than three dozen people at TikTok and ByteDance about Project Texas, according...
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Xenophobia Drives Foes of Nippon Steel’s Deal
1Jan By adminNo Comments
Health

Xenophobia Drives Foes of Nippon Steel’s Deal

Election-year jitters have the Biden administration and a few swing-state members of Congress from both parties parroting union concerns about Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel. The United Steelworkers union favored Cleveland-Cliffs’s offer, which was almost 50% lower than Nippon’s $14.1 billion bid. There is no real cause for concern other than xenophobia and the damage it could do to Cleveland-Cliffs’s position as the sole U.S. producer of electrical steel for transformers and electric vehicles. The rest is imported.Nippon’s steelmaking is at least as advanced as U.S. Steel’s, so technology export control isn’t an issue. National security could be a concern if American mills were shutting down due to unfairly subsidized Japanese exports to the U.S. But Nippon never used gimmicks to ...
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Worldwide, 2024 Elections Promise a Whirlwind
28Dec By adminNo Comments
Health

Worldwide, 2024 Elections Promise a Whirlwind

Dec. 28, 2023 12:49 pm ETIt’s (almost) election year, baby! Every year is important in its way, and most elections matter to someone. Even so, 2024 promises to be unusually electorally exciting due to the sheer amount of voting across the democratic world—and over what issues.What seems likely to be an awful U.S. presidential election in November is only part of the story. Hyperventilation about Donald Trump’s supposedly authoritarian instincts and well-founded concerns over Biden family corruption will motivate the major parties’ bases. But don’t lose sight of the global significance of this contest, given the security and economic threats and challenges confronting the winner. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 ...
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Biden’s Foolish Snub of Nippon Steel
23Dec By adminNo Comments
Health

Biden’s Foolish Snub of Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel’s proposed $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel “appears to deserve serious scrutiny,” the White House said Thursday. The statement came after an outcry from protectionist lawmakers, including Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), who have cited union and national-security concerns and vowed to block the sale. The anti-Japanese business rhetoric is reminiscent of the 1980s, when U.S.-Japan trade tensions threatened to undermine a critically important bilateral alliance during the Cold War.U.S. politicians’ unjustified criticisms of the deal could strain relations between the U.S. and Japan and weaken their collaboration on trade and economic security. The White House should work with allies on economic and military cooperation, not criticize them.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Com...
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Raimondo Says Commerce Needs More Money to Halt China Chip Drive
2Dec By adminNo Comments
Money

Raimondo Says Commerce Needs More Money to Halt China Chip Drive

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said her department needs more money to stop China from catching up on cutting-edge semiconductors.“We cannot let China get these chips. Period,” she said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday. “We’re going to deny them our most cutting-edge technology.”
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When It Comes to January 6 Lawsuits, a Court Splits Donald Trump in Two
2Dec By adminNo Comments
Technology

When It Comes to January 6 Lawsuits, a Court Splits Donald Trump in Two

The civil case is separate from the federal criminal trial in the district, which was led by special counsel and former acting US attorney Jack Smith and concerns not only Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, but allegations that he unlawfully retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Earlier this week, former vice president Mike Pence reportedly told the special counsel that Trump’s advisors—“crank” attorneys, as Pence put it—pushed the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis. The case is set to go to trial this March.The siege began shortly after Trump delivered a 75-minute speech at a park south of the White House, known as the Ellipse. A House select committee investigating the riot last year said that Trump was aware the attack on the Capitol was...
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The Startup That Transformed the Hack-for-Hire Industry
19Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

The Startup That Transformed the Hack-for-Hire Industry

If you’re looking for a long read to while away your weekend, we’ve got you covered. First up, WIRED senior reporter Andy Greenberg reveals the wild story behind the three teenage hackers who created the Mirai botnet code that ultimately took down a huge swath of the internet in 2016. WIRED contributor Garrett Graff pulls from his new book on UFOs to lay out the proof that the 1947 “discovery” of aliens in Roswell, New Mexico, never really happened. And finally, we take a deep dive into the communities that are solving cold cases using face recognition and other AI.That’s not all. Each week, we round up the security and privacy stories we didn’t report in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories, and stay safe out there.For years, mercenary hacker companies like NSO G...
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Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 Seeks to End Warrantless Police and FBI Spying
8Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 Seeks to End Warrantless Police and FBI Spying

In 1763, the radical journalist and colonial sympathizer John Wilkes published issue no. 45 of North Briton, a periodical of anonymous essays known for its virulent anti-Scottish drivel—and for viciously satirizing a British prime minister until he quit his job. The fallout from the subsequent plan of the British king, George III, to see Wilkes put in irons for the crime of being too good at lambasting his own government reverberates today, particularly in the nation whose founders once held Wilkes up as an idol, plotting a revolt of their own.Wilkes’ arrest boiled the Americans’ blood. Reportedly, the politician-cum-fugitive had invited the king’s men into his home to read the warrant for his arrest aloud. He quickly tossed it aside. At trial, Wilkes explained its most insidious feature:...
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