“If they pursue the maximalist plan, we judge it will be especially challenging for the Russians to hold and control Ukrainian territory and install a sustainable pro-Russian regime in Kiev in the face of what we assess is likely to be persistent and significant insurgency,” said Avril Haines, director of national intelligence.
By Andrew Eversden“I think before you hand off the ball, let’s make sure there won’t be a fumble — and the Space Force has a lot on it’s plate right now,” Rep. Jim Cooper says.
By Theresa HitchensThe president’s personal intervention was “highly improper,” one arms export expert says, concluding that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act “appears to have been criminally violated here.”
By Colin ClarkIn the next six to 12 months, country after country is deciding what companies get to build new 5G networks. India and Italy remain open to a Huawei bid, at least for now; Britain, Canada, and Germany are on the fence; while France, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand have said no.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Ever since the day of its creation, critics have slammed the Office of Director of National Intelligence as an expensive and unnecessary bureaucracy, a threat to the longtime primacy of the Director of Central Intelligence and a toothless tiger. Much of that changed during the joint tenures of DNI Mike McConnell and SecDef Bob Gates…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: The next Director of National Intelligence may be Pete Hoestra, the Dutch-born former head of the House Intelligence Committee, and the next Army Secretary is likely to be Van Hipp, head of consulting firm American Defense International, according to a source who advises President-elect Donald Trump on national security issues. Van Hipp, a former Army officer, first…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. It’s a standard military prescription for dealing with a sometimes hostile and usually unpredictable world. It’s also what an African-American chum told me this morning was his plan for life under President Trump. This guy is a fellow Chicagoan and Cubs fan, so he knows how to…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: The persistent grumbles from the CIA and other bastions of the Intelligence Community that the Director of National Intelligence is just an unneeded layer of bureaucracy has caught the ear of House Intelligence chairman Rep. Devin Nunes. He promised to try and pass legislation to change this but admitted it would be “tough” to get…
By Colin ClarkCAPITOL HILL: In a rare public event, the No. 2 member of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee (HPSCI), Rep. Adam, said a cyber attack on a US satellite could be considered an act of war. While this may sound like common sense to some, the question of whether using cyber to interfere with or disable…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: The hysteric delivery on North Korea’s official news channel about her country’s attempt to explode a hydrogen bomb doesn’t mean the crippled land south of China actually succeeded. The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said, “the initial analysis is not consistent with the North Korean claims.” It does mean that China, its most important neighbor and…
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: No one really knows what they’re doing in cyberspace: It’s all too new and it changes too fast. So it was refreshing — if unnerving — for two top intelligence officials to admit this morning that the US government’s lack of clarity makes it more difficult both to deter adversaries’ cyber operations and to conduct…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: The House Armed Services Committee will be led through the shoals of sequestration, military pay, weapons costs and a volatile world by a reform-minded and dynamic legislator. I’ve covered Rep. Mac Thornberry since before the turn of the century (that hurt) and have always found compelling his willingness to delve beneath the surface of what the…
By Colin ClarkCOLORADO SPRINGS, NATIONAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM: Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee, met recently with China’s equivalent of the NSA director. The head of the PLA’s General Staff Department’s Third Department told the congressman — in whose district the NSA’s headquarters sit — he wanted to cooperate with the United…
By Colin Clark
Few espionage experts speak publicly. Even fewer experts in Chinese espionage do. I first met Nick Eftimiades at the airport when he was a top space intelligence expert. I was en route to my first Space Symposium and knew very little. Nick taught me a bit and was very tolerant of this new space puppy who didn’t know…
By Nicholas Eftimiades