Congressman goes after Austal USA for former China ties; $3.3b contract hangs in balance

Congressman goes after Austal USA for former China ties; $3.3b contract hangs in balance
Congressman goes after Austal USA for former China ties; $3.3b contract hangs in balance

The accusations stem from a 2016 joint venture with a Chinese shipbuilder that was effectively ended last year.

DHS Cyber Order Signals Shift To ‘Mandatory Measures’

DHS Cyber Order Signals Shift To ‘Mandatory Measures’
DHS Cyber Order Signals Shift To ‘Mandatory Measures’

Today’s pipeline directive is likely just the next in a series of actions to shore up national cybersecurity across the private sector, especially those deemed critical infrastructure. “I know there are a number of discussions on the Hill… of a broader data breach notification,” Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger said today.

DHS: Ransomware Is National Security Threat

DHS: Ransomware Is National Security Threat
DHS: Ransomware Is National Security Threat

The Ransomware Task Force report, a comprehensive effort on this topic, includes 48 recommendations to tackle this growing threat.

SolarWinds Hack: ‘The Truth Is Much More Complicated’

SolarWinds Hack: ‘The Truth Is Much More Complicated’
SolarWinds Hack: ‘The Truth Is Much More Complicated’

SolarWinds threat actor reportedly accessed DHS emails and DoE schedules. Cyberespionage campaigns are “the types of things we should expect [Russia] to do,” one cybersecurity expert observed. “I’m not arguing we shouldn’t have a response. We should respond. …My only argument is that we should not overact.”

WannaCry Worm Highlights Federal & Industry Failures

WannaCry Worm Highlights Federal & Industry Failures
WannaCry Worm Highlights Federal & Industry Failures

The WannaCry worm proves that our collective response to cyber threat continues to churn ineffectively in the same futile rut while threats multiply and grow increasingly serious by the day. Channeling Hobbes, government must assume the role of the Leviathan, establishing a monopoly on cyber violence, in this nascent global commons. We must get behind a…

America Must Decide How To Act After Russian Election Hacks

America Must Decide How To Act After Russian Election Hacks
America Must Decide How To Act After Russian Election Hacks

What are we going to do about the Russian hacks that have wrought havoc across the entire political spectrum and are rapidly shifting from being an embarrassment to, possibly, being strategically crippling? The body count of ruined careers aside, sizeable harm is being done to our political process and a likely intelligence loss as foreign actors rummage…

911: Do We Need A Director of National Intelligence?

911: Do We Need A Director of National Intelligence?
911: Do We Need A Director of National Intelligence?

One of the major shifts in American intelligence after the terror attacks of 911 was the creation of the Director of National Intelligence and a whole new agency to serve him in his task of ensuring America’s 17 intelligence agencies (including the DNI) played well together, effectively shared information and didn’t waste too much in…

Death To (Tiny) Drones: New Technologies Compete At Quantico

Death To (Tiny) Drones: New Technologies Compete At Quantico
Death To (Tiny) Drones: New Technologies Compete At Quantico

The military is devoting more and more attention to the threat of hostile drones on the battlefield, but what to do about the dangers posed by tiny micro-drones, especially in urban areas, where simply shooting them down isn’t usually a good option? Eight finalists in a technology challenge sponsored by the Department of Defense, Department…

Ukraine Power Grid Attack Is Wake Up Call; US Not Ready

Ukraine Power Grid Attack Is Wake Up Call; US Not Ready
Ukraine Power Grid Attack Is Wake Up Call; US Not Ready

A blizzard slams the East Coast and the lights go out. Then they stay off. Is it an attack? How do we figure out who’s behind it? What do we do in retaliation? These are all questions that need answering since what looks like the first successful cyber attack on an entire nation’s power grid. Ukraine says that…

Where Are The Icebreakers?!

Where Are The Icebreakers?!
Where Are The Icebreakers?!

We’ve got something here for Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Angus King and Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft to read before they speak Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on “National Security Challenges and Icebreaking Operations in the Arctic.” Scott Truver, known to most serious students of Navy shipbuilding, argues the case for icebreakers.…

New Navy CIO Is Coming From HHS: Rob Foster

New Navy CIO Is Coming From HHS: Rob Foster
New Navy CIO Is Coming From HHS: Rob Foster

WASHINGTON: A year after the Navy’s last Chief Information Officer left to become CIO of the entire Defense Department, the Navy Department is bringing in new blood to fill its CIO position: Rob Foster. A retired Navy officer with extensive acquisition and IT experience, Foster has served as deputy CIO of both HHS and ICE (Immigration &…

DHS: The Department of Everything?

DHS: The Department of Everything?
DHS: The Department of Everything?

A colleague and I wrote a 10-year retrospective assessment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2011, calling the organization a “colossal, inefficient boondoogle.” Amazingly, that didn’t land us on the no-fly list, probably because — even then — we weren’t the first, last or only critics of DHS. The actions and events that provided fodder for…

Build A ‘Department Of Cyber:’ Former DNI McConnell

Build A ‘Department Of Cyber:’ Former DNI McConnell
Build A ‘Department Of Cyber:’ Former DNI McConnell

PENTAGON CITY: Sen. Susan Collins has a bill about how to improve cyber sharing that should go to markup next week and she spoke about the challenges cyber poses to the government this morning at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance annual conference here. Three former directors of National Intelligence — John Negroponte, Mike McConnell and…

Obama Picks Navy Admiral For NSA; Keeps CyberCom Ties

Obama Picks Navy Admiral For NSA; Keeps CyberCom Ties
Obama Picks Navy Admiral For NSA; Keeps CyberCom Ties

PENTAGON: Vice Adm. Michael Rogers