The FBI Stumbles

For John, BLUF:  We all forget that when J Edger Hoover was Director of the FBI, not all the actions were Kosher.  On the other hand, I have always had faith in the FBI as portrayed by Inspector Lewis Erskine.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FBI Diagnosed With CIA Disease

Here is the sub-headline:

An inspector general’s report underscores how the FBI departed from its tradition of professionalism and honesty in pursuit of domestic political influence.

From American Greatness, by Prof Angelo Codevilla, 28 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Justice Department’s inspector general this month reprimanded the FBI for the manner in which it recruits and supervises its “confidential human sources.”  To the layman, this seems about technicalities.  In fact, it shows that one of the CIA’s deadliest dysfunctions now infects the FBI as well.

This disease consists of choosing and rejecting sources for the purpose of indulging the agencies’ and their leaders’ private agendas rather than to further intelligence work on the public’s behalf.

Necessarily, the language of the inspector general’s November 19 report is vague:  “Ineffective management and oversight of confidential sources.”  This means the FBI has failed to use “adequate controls” in its validation of human sources, which has resulted in “jeopardizing FBI operations, and placing FBI agents, sources, subjects of investigation, and the public in harm’s way.”

The inspector general’s concern with the FBI’s source management stems from the investigation into the FBI’s involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign, including by taking seriously the infamous Steele dossier that it knew was a fabrication as well as, likely, some Russian communication intercepts that also should have been rejected on strictly professional grounds.  In short, the FBI departed from its tradition of professionalism and honesty in pursuit of domestic political influence.

Angelo M. Codevilla is a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University and the author of To Make And Keep Peace (Hoover Institution Press, 2014).  Mr Codeville's experience includes Service on the Senate Intelligence Committee staff.

Here is the Report.  Footnote 10, or what it is footnoting, is quite interesting.

At least it isn't as bad as China.  Mr Zak Doffman, in Forbes writes "China Has Weaponized The Smartphone:  Here’s Why You Should Be Concerned".  Yes, Bureaaucrats can believe their mission justifies the abrogation of human rights, because the Bureaucrats are doing what is right, what is best for the People.

Once upon a time the Democrats were sensitive to these kinds of shenanigans, but apparently no more.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hacking the Election

For John, BLUF:  Maybe this problem is down in the noise level.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Obama cyber chief confirms 'stand down' order against Russian cyberattacks in summer 2016

From Yahoo News, by Mr Michael Isikoff, Chief Investigative Correspondent, 20 June 2018.

This is not "new" news, having been revealed earlier.  President Obama’s “stand down” order and decision to confront Putin directly about Russian election interference at the Sept 2016 G20 meeting in Singapore has been in the public domain for some time.  Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper describes these circumstances in a similar manner in his recent memoir of his career.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Obama White House’s chief cyber official testified Wednesday that proposals he was developing to counter Russia’s attack on the U.S. presidential election were put on a “back burner” after he was ordered to “stand down” his efforts in the summer of 2016.

The comments by Michael Daniel, who served as White House “cyber security coordinator” between 2012 and January of last year, provided his first public confirmation of a much-discussed passage in the book, “Russian Roulette:  The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump,” co-written by this reporter and David Corn, that detailed his thwarted efforts to respond to the Russian attack.

They came during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing into how the Obama administration dealt with Russian cyber and information warfare attacks in 2016, an issue that has become one of the more politically sensitive subjects in the panel’s ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and any links to the Trump campaign.

The view that the Obama administration failed to adequately piece together intelligence about the Russian campaign and develop a forceful response has clearly gained traction with the intelligence committee.  Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the panel, said in an opening statement that “we were caught flat-footed at the outset and our collective response was inadequate to meet Russia’s escalation.”

This is about the previous Administration.  Why were the Russians allowed to conduct a continuous meddling in our elections?  The understanding of the situation was reinforced here:

That conclusion was reinforced Wednesday by another witness, Victoria Nuland, who served as assistant secretary of state for Europe during the Obama administration.  She told the panel that she had been briefed as early as December 2015 about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee — long before senior DNC officials were aware of it — and that the intrusion had all the hallmarks of a Russian operation.

What this testimony and Clapper’s recollection do not do is explain why, after confronting Putin and Russia about standing down its election interference efforts, the US did not employ its cyber capabilities in an escalating manner against the Russians.  I am blaming Governor Mitt Romney.

Or, maybe, the previous Administration was concerned that this might escalate into a shooting war, as in Ukraine, although where the shooting might break out is a mystery.

In the mean time, the current Administration seems to be following the lead of its predecessor.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Back to Paper Ballots

For John, BLUF:  This is a move in the proper direction.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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State election officials across country returning to paper ballots

From The Boston Globe, a story by Mr Matt Viser, 19 February 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

Hoping to counter waves of Russian Twitter bots, fake social media accounts, and hacking attacks aimed at undermining American democracy, state election officials around the country are seizing on an old-school strategy: paper ballots.

In Virginia, election officials have gone back to a paper ballot system, as a way to prevent any foreign interference.  Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolfe this month ordered county officials to ensure new election equipment produces a paper record.  Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation to replace a touch-screen voting system with paper.

I am not sure how paper ballots will impact twitter bots or fake social media accounts, but in this time of Russiagate that is what passes for news reporting.

The good news is going back to paper ballots.  Kudos to the states that do it.

Incidentally, this is a theme that the InstaPundit hammers away at this frequently.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hackers Abounding

For John, BLUF:  Why can't she just admit it was a mistake.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This is from Reporter Chris Smith of Boy Genius Report (BGR)—"Teen who hacked CIA director’s email hits Director of National Intelligence next".

Remember the teenage hackers who managed to break into CIA director John Brennan’s email account several times?  It looks like they’re back doing the same sort of activity, and this time they’ve targeted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The news comes from Motherboard, which has been in contact with members of the “Crackas With Attitude” hacker group.  A hacker identified at “Cracka” said he broke into various accounts connected to Clapper, including home telephone, Internet, personal email, his wife’s Yahoo email, and Verizon FiOS account.

OK, so if some hacker took down the Director of Central Intelligence, what are the odds some hacker took down the Secretary of State's home system?♠  Some Hacker who hacks for the fun of it, or the challenge, would be good news.  Not so good news would be a hacker from Russia or China or North Korea or Daesh, or France.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Hint:  High.

Cyber Warfare Testing

For John, BLUF:  If you are connected to anything but your own generator and your own well you are vulnerable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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While people here in the United States complacently think that our electric power grids and communications (and water, unless you live in Flint, Michigan) are safe and sound, others are observing that Russia appears to be using Ukraine as their cyber testing range.  While I am doubtful of a Cyber Pearl Harbor, I have no doubt that the Russians and the Chinese are working on ways to knock out our systems.

From the on-line presence, The Register, we have Kiev airport goes dark after 'BlackEnergy-linked' power outage.

Quoting:

IT systems at Kiev's main airport were floored over the weekend, sparking a renewed warning from Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) about further BlackEnergy malware-based attacks.

“Attention: system administrators present a short list of indicators [that] network systems and networks [have been] compromise[d] with BlackEnergy malware,” CERT-UA said in an advisory (according to Google translation of Ukrainian language original here).

“We recommend checking the log files and information flows for the presence / absence of these indicators,” it added.

Malware similar to the BlackEnergy pathogen that reportedly affected three Ukrainian power utilities last month was detected last weekend on computers at Kiev's main airport, Boryspil, according to the airport's press service, Reuters reports.

The BlackEnergy malware and hackers were “clearly” behind power outages in western Ukraine, a SANS expert recently concluded.

Given the way sensitive data on millions of Federal Employees, and their families, has been exposed from the computers of the Office of Personnel Management, it is time to get serious about cyber security.  Some have been talking about it for several decades, but it appears few are doing anything about it.  Perhaps we need new senior managers, with a new awareness of the current situation.

Regards  —  Cliff

Immigrants Working While Others Are On Welfare

For John, BLUF:  We can't get out of our own way.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From Channel 10 in Sacramento we have a news report on how the California Unemployment Office provides employment to immigrants to it can process unemployment checks.

It's nearly 8 p.m., and inside a state office building two dozen computer experts design and troubleshoot a system that will take and process millions of unemployment claims each year.

It's a $200 million Employment Development Department project, but with the exception of two managers, everyone inside the office is from outside of the U.S.  They are employed by Deloitte, a major U.S. IT company hired by the state to create and manage its Unemployment Insurance Modernization project.  The mostly Indian nationals are allowed to work here under a visa program called H-1B.

Tech companies like Microsoft, Intel, Google and Facebook say they need hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to fill jobs here because American colleges can't crank out computer science grads fast enough.  In 2013, the industry lobbied Congress on the issue to the tune of almost $14 million.

At least they aren't illegals.

Maybe within those billions of dollars the Federal Government spends there could be found a small amount to create a "National Defense Cyber Education Fund" to provide tuition to men and women who wish to get a BS or an MS in certain realms of Computer Science.  The rationale would be that we need a large pool of cyber-experts from which DoD can draw to provide the cyber-force of the future.♠

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Of course there is the underlying question of if the issue is education or if it is work ethic.  Is it a case that the Indians just want it more?

The Third Amendment

For John, BLUF:  Government, and government snooping, should be limited.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds looks at the application of the Third Amendment—

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

—to Cyberspace.

I believe his column from USA Today, "Quartering spyware troops in the digital age", is pretty interesting, and it is an easy read.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

nKorea Shows Us The Future

For John, BLUF:  We need to push back on this Sony Hacking thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Kim Jong-un to Host 87th Annual Oscars

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff