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☆ What might the Espionage Act mean for Donald Trump?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

June 13 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person ever to face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for the unlawful retention of sensitive national defense records. WHAT IS THE ESPIONAGE ACT? The Espionage Act is an anti-spy law enacted by Congress shortly after the start of World War One. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act, and is fighting extradition to the United States. HOW DOES THE ESPIONAGE ACT APPLY TO TRUMP?

Persons: Donald Trump, Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, Department's, Chelsea Manning, Manning, Barack Obama, Winner, Julian Assange, Jack Smith's, Trump, Sarah N, Lynch, Scott Malone, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Former U.S, Trump, Justice Department, Pentagon, National Security Agency, Obama, WikiLeaks, Wikileaks, TRUMP, FBI, Prosecutors, U.S . National Archives, Records Administration, White, Thomson Locations: Former, United States, Florida

☆ What is the Espionage Act and what might it mean for Donald Trump?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person to ever face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for the unlawful retention of sensitive national defense records. WHAT IS THE ESPIONAGE ACT? The Espionage Act is an anti-spy law enacted by Congress shortly after the start of World War One. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act, and is fighting extradition to the United States. HOW DOES THE ESPIONAGE ACT APPLY TO TRUMP?

Persons: Donald Trump, Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, Department's, Chelsea Manning, Manning, Barack Obama, Winner, Julian Assange, Jack Smith's, Trump, Sarah N, Lynch, Scott Malone, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Former U.S, Trump, Justice Department, Pentagon, National Security Agency, Obama, Wikileaks, TRUMP, FBI, Prosecutors, U.S . National Archives, Records Administration, White, Thomson Locations: Former, United States, Florida

☆ Why Doesn’t Anyone Care About the Discord Leaks? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Serge Schmemann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In April, secret documents allegedly photographed by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard began making their way into the mainstream media. Many were briefings prepared by military intelligence services, and much of it dealt with the Russia-Ukraine war. They offered Americans a rare window into the government’s most valuable intelligence on one of Europe’s deadliest conflicts since World War II. The Pentagon did say that the latest disclosures — widely known as the “Discord Leaks” — present a “very serious risk to national security.” But there has been curiously little public interest in the spilled secrets. Reaction to the indictment of Donald Trump has followed a similar pattern, though the case revolves around a former president’s handling of classified files, not leaked secrets.

Persons: We’ve, Hillary Clinton, Edward Snowden, Barack Obama, Jack Teixeira, Donald Trump Organizations: Massachusetts Air National Guard, WikiLeaks, Army, National Security Agency, Pentagon Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, United States

Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive U.S. nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack, the federal indictment said. Unauthorized disclosure of classified documents posed a risk to U.S. national security, foreign relations, and intelligence gathering, prosecutors said. Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., April 27, 2023. The indictment also alleges Trump conspired with Nauta to keep classified documents Trump had taken from the White House and hide them from a federal grand jury. The case does not prevent Trump from campaigning or taking office if he were to win the November 2024 presidential election.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, John Rowley, Jim, Walt Nauta, Jack Smith, Smith, General Merrick Garland, Trump’s, Matt Bennett, Joe Biden, Biden, Brian Snyder, Lago, Nauta, Aileen Cannon, Cannon, Sarah N, Lynch, Jonathan Stempel, Jack Queen, Jacqueline Thomsen, Karen Freifeld, Nathan Layne, Heather Timmons, Nandita Bose, Andy Sullivan, Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller Organizations: U.S, White House, The Justice Department, Trump, Republican, Reuters, Democratic, Former U.S, REUTERS, White, Mar, Pentagon, CIA, National Security Agency, Department of Energy, Prosecutors, Defense Department, FBI, TRUMP, AS, Democrat, Biden, Thomson Locations: Lago, Florida, Miami, United States, U.S, Former, Manchester , New Hampshire, New Jersey, Mar, New York, Georgia

The documents, according to the indictment, included details about U.S. nuclear weapons, spy satellites and the U.S. military. Here are some of the documents mentioned in the indictment:- A document marked TOP SECRET//[redacted]/[redacted]//ORCON/NOFORN that the indictment says concerned "nuclear capabilities of a foreign country." - A document marked SECRET//FORMERLY RESTRICTED DATA that the indictment says concerned "nuclear weaponry of the United States." - Six top-secret documents marked TK, standing for Talent Keyhole, a classification for materials related to U.S. spy satellites. The indictment says these documents concerned the military capabilities of foreign countries.

Persons: Donald Trump, Jonathan Landay, Daniel Wallis Organizations: U.S ., Pentagon, CIA, National Security Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, United States, Department of Energy, FISA, Foreign Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Florida, United States, U.S

☆ Analysis: There is now some public evidence that China viewed TikTok data
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Multiple security experts told CNN that this appears to be the first reported instance of the CCP accessing actual TikTok user data. TikTok announced its withdrawal from Hong Kong in 2020 after China imposed a national security law there. There have been isolated reports of improper access to TikTok data in the past. The improper access, company officials have said, was a misguided attempt at identifying the source of leaks to the press. TikTok has also said it is implementing a plan to store US user data on third-party US-based servers, with access to that data controlled by US employees.

Persons: Yintao Yu, Yu, ByteDance, —, ” Yu, ’, Yu’s, Flipagram, “, TikTok, James Lewis, John Scott, Rob Joyce, ” Joyce, ”, Shou Chew, Chew Organizations: CNN, Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong, Wall Street, Flipagram, CCP, Center for Strategic, International Studies, University of Toronto’s, National Security Locations: TikTok’s Beijing, Hong Kong, California, Beijing, Hong, China

"The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement. The FSB said the plot showed "close cooperation" between Apple and the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. agency responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. The FSB provided no evidence that Apple cooperated with, or had any awareness of, the spying campaign. "The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said all officials in the presidential administration knew that gadgets such as iPhones were "absolutely transparent."

Persons: Russia Apple, NSA Kaspersky, Apple, Eugene Kaspersky, Igor Kuznetsov, Kaspersky, Dmitry Peskov, Guy Faulconbridge, Raphael Satter, James Pearson, Zeba Siddiqui, Mark Potter, Andrew Heavens, Matthew Lewis, Diane Craft Organizations: NSA, Apple, Federal Security Service, FSB, Apple Inc, Soviet, National Security Agency, Twitter, Reuters, NATO, Harvard University's, Federal Guards Service, Kremlin, Kommersant, San, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, MOSCOW, Soviet Union, U.S, Israel, Syria, China, States, United Kingdom, Australia, Washington, London, San Francisco

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers. "The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices," the FSB said in a statement. 'SOFTWARE VULNERABILITIES'The FSB said the plot showed the close relationship between Apple and the NSA, the U.S. agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. "The hidden data collection was carried out through software vulnerabilities in U.S.-made mobile phones," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. Officials in Russia, which Western spies says has constructed a very sophisticated domestic surveillance structure, have long questioned the security of U.S. technology.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Sergei Kiriyenko, Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones, Mark Potter Organizations: NSA, Apple, Russia Apple, Russia, Federal Security Service, . National Security Agency, FSB, Soviet, NATO, U.S, Harvard University's, Officials, Kremlin, KGB, Kommersant, Thomson Locations: Russia, Russian, Soviet Union, Israel, Syria, China, U.S, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine

☆ CrowdStrike shares tumble as revenue shows signs of slowing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CrowdStrike reported first-quarter earnings results for its fiscal 2024 year Wednesday, beating consensus estimates on the top and bottom lines but sending shares down more than 11% after hours on slowing revenue growth. : 57 cents, adjusted, vs. 51 cents expected. Revenue: $692.6 million, vs. $676.4 million expected. CrowdStrike swung to a profit of $500,000, or breakeven per share, compared with a loss of $31.5 million, or 14 cents a share, a year ago. The company offered current quarter guidance of $717.2 million to $727.4 million, compared with a consensus range of $698 million to $742 million.

Persons: CrowdStrike, George Kurtz, Burt Podbere, Kurtz Organizations: Revenue, Nasdaq, Microsoft, U.S . Navy, National Security Agency, U.S . Department of Justice Locations: cybersecurity, China, U.S, Guam

☆ Chinese state-sponsored hackers infiltrated U.S. naval infrastructure, secretary of the Navy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Navy has been hit by the Chinese state-sponsored hack that Microsoft disclosed Wednesday, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told CNBC's Morgan Brennan on Thursday. The warnings alerted corporate and public enterprises that a sophisticated Chinese state-backed hacking group had successfully exploited a vulnerability in a popular cybersecurity suite. The vulnerability, which was exploited by a group codenamed "Volt Typhoon," affects critical cyber infrastructure across a range of industries, Microsoft said Wednesday. The company said the Chinese hackers had targeted communications and maritime sectors in Guam, which is home to a key U.S. military base. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and state-controlled press dismissed the findings from Microsoft and the intelligence community as "disinformation."

☆ Meta warned that its record $1.3 billion fine sets a 'dangerous precedent' when the internet is already 'fracturing under pressure from authoritarian regimes'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta was handed a record $1.3 billion fine by the European Union on Monday. That was over concerns that Facebook data transferred to the US could be used to spy on European citizens. Meta warned that its record $1.3 billion fine "sets a dangerous precedent" related to online freedoms in a statement released Monday. "At a time where the internet is fracturing under pressure from authoritarian regimes, like-minded democracies should work together to promote and defend the idea of the open internet," the statement added. Meta has been given a five-month grace period to stop transferring Facebook users' data to the US.

☆ Meta hit with a record-breaking $1.3 billion fine over data privacy breaches
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta has been fined $1.3 billion, the Irish Data Protection Commission announced Monday. It was previously warned about transferring Facebook users' data to the US. In a record for European Union privacy violations, Meta has been fined $1.3 billion over its handling of users' data, Ireland's Data Protection Commission announced Monday. Meta was previously warned by the EU for transferring Facebook users data to US servers, saying that it was not sufficiently protected from American spy agencies. Companies have been in limbo over data protection rules since 2020, when the EU banned a pact which regulated data transfers across the Atlantic.

☆ Meta hit with record $1.3 bln fine over data transfers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Padraic Halpin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The fine, imposed by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), came after Meta continued to transfer data beyond a 2020 EU court ruling that invalidated an EU-U.S. data transfer pact. It tops the previous record EU privacy fine of 746 million euros handed by Luxembourg to Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in 2021. "Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos," Meta said. Europe's top court, the European Court of Justice, threw out the two previous pacts over concerns about U.S. surveillance. Unless U.S. surveillance laws gets fixed, Meta will likely have to keep EU data in the EU," he said in a statement.

☆ FBI broke rules in scouring foreign intelligence on Jan. 6 riot, racial justice protests, court says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when they searched a vast repository of foreign intelligence for information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a heavily blacked-out court order released Friday. The violations were detailed in a secret court order issued last year by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has legal oversight of the U.S. government's spy powers. At issue are improper queries of foreign intelligence information collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the government to gather the communications of targeted foreigners outside the U.S. That program expires at the end of the year unless it is renewed. FBI searches must have a foreign intelligence purpose or be aimed at finding evidence of a crime. The order says the FBI had maintained that the queries were likely to return foreign intelligence, though the reasons given for that assessment are mostly redacted.

☆ Factbox: Why does the US want to ban TikTok? The allegations against it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Members of Congress in March complained that the Chinese government has a "golden share" in ByteDance, giving it power over TikTok. He asserted the TikTok platform could enable sweeping influence operations because TikTok could proactively influence users and could also "turn off the message." TikTok says it "does not permit any government to influence or change its recommendation model." -TikTok will hand American's data over to Chinese government officialsLawmakers have alleged that the Chinese government, under a 2017 National Intelligence law, can force ByteDance to share TikTok user data. "-TikTok spies on journalistsIn December, ByteDance said some employees improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists.

☆ Special counsel John Durham concludes FBI never should have launched full Trump-Russia probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Zachary Cohen Devan Cole Tierney Sneed Evan Perez Hannah Rabinowitz Jeremy Herb Marshall Cohen | Zachary Cohen | Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

“Strzok, at a minimum, had pronounced hostile feelings toward Trump,” Durham wrote, while quoting in a footnote previously known texts between Strzok and Lisa Page, then an FBI attorney. Witness testimony exposed the FBI’s overreliance on the dossier as it sought court approval to wiretap a former Trump campaign adviser in 2016. Mixed results over 3+ yearsBarr tapped Durham in 2019 to review the origins of the Russia probe, and the scope of Durham’s work grew over the years. Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which inherited the initial Russia probe, released a detailed accounting of Russia’s effort to interfere in the 2016 election. Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but investigators documented numerous contacts between Trump associates and Russians.

☆ Austin lambasts ‘irresponsible’ and ‘unprecedented’ Republican hold on military nominations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Haley Britzky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter strongly criticizing an ongoing hold on senior military promotions and nominations in the Senate led by Republican lawmakers, saying it would create a “perilous precedent” for the military and impose “unconscionable” burdens on military families. The Senate approves thousands of civilian and military nominations every year, typically through unanimous consent. But Austin warned in his letter to Warren that the nominations need to be approved as quickly as possible. The United States military relies on the deep experience and strategic expertise of our senior military leaders,” he said. “The longer that this hold persists, the greater the risk the US military runs in every theater, every domain, and every service.”

☆ Russian security agents have been using a secret network of corrupted computers to spy on NATO for decades, but the US just busted it open, feds say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

US authorities have busted open a secret computer network run by Russian security agents. FBI agents have neutralized what the Justice Department called "sophisticated malware." "Globally, the FSB has used Snake to collect sensitive intelligence from high-priority targets, such as government networks, research facilities, and journalists." Director of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov attends a meeting of the service's collegium in Moscow, Russia, February 28, 2023. Top Justice Department officials praised the FBI's ability to neutralize the FSB's network.

☆ China probes Capvision in national security warning to consulting firms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chinese authorities have carried out an investigation into consulting firm Capvision Partners, state media CCTV reported on Monday. CCTV said that investigations by Chinese national security authorities had found that overseas institutions have used domestic consulting firms to steal state secrets and intelligence on areas key to China. Chinese authorities have carried out an investigation into consulting firm Capvision Partners, state media CCTV reported on Monday, in a warning to other advisory firms as the country tightens its national security laws. CCTV said that investigations by Chinese national security authorities had found that overseas institutions have used domestic consulting firms to steal state secrets and intelligence on areas key to China. CCTV did not say whether authorities levelled any punishment against Capvision but that the national security agency had dealt with the company "in accordance with regulations."

☆ FBI Warrantless Searches of Americans’ Communications Declined Sharply, Spy Agency Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Dustin Volz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The National Security Agency is allowed to capture without a warrant communications thought to belong to foreigners living abroad., sometimes scooping up Americans’ data in the process. Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated PressWASHINGTON—The number of warrantless searches of Americans’ telephone calls, emails and text messages conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation plummeted last year, dropping from millions of searches to about 120,000, according to a U.S. intelligence report. A senior FBI official attributed the drop in part to better compliance with restrictions on searches of the data after adoption of internal reforms, as well as to variations in national- security investigations. Additionally, a large percentage of the searches in 2021 were related to efforts to identify potential victims of an unidentified Russian hacking campaign that struck critical infrastructure in the U.S., said the report, which was released Friday. Other factors in the decline include changes in suspected foreign spies’ communications practices and advances in technology.

☆ Jack Teixeira: Accused Pentagon leaker's violent rhetoric raises fresh questions about top secret vetting process
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Natasha Bertrand Sean Lyngaas Zachary Cohen Haley Britzky | Natasha Bertrand | Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But that didn’t stop the Pentagon from granting a top-secret security clearance to Jack Teixeira, who prosecutors say had an arsenal of weapons at home and a history of violent online rhetoric. And the Air Force’s Inspector General investigation is specifically examining the Pentagon’s vetting process and whether any procedures were violated or ignored, Pentagon officials said. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Thursday that when vetting someone for a security clearance, the adjudicator examines “a sufficient period” in someone’s life to determine if they are eligible. That program – largely run by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) – aims to continuously vet security clearance holders for warning signs than periodically investigate them every five to 10 years. “Social media is a new world that the government really hasn’t gotten ahold of yet,” said Brad Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security and security clearance law.

☆ Ukrainian officials planned 'mass strikes' on Moscow and other cities 'with everything' they had, but they stood down after US intervention: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Washington Post reports Ukrainian officials had plans for "mass strikes" on Russian cities on the first anniversary's of the war. Ukraine's military intelligence chief directed an officer to hit "with everything" available, but the plan wasn't carried out. Officials in Kyiv have disputed the Post report based on leaked documents, calling it "strange media" and "sensation." Ukraine is also suspected to be behind a number of explosive sea drone attacks on Russian installations. Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea August 9, 2022.

☆ Limit access to most secret US documents, Senate intel panel head says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Too many people have access to the U.S. government's closest secrets and a central entity should oversee the classification process, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Sunday, addressing leaks of documents in an online chat group. The United States has numerous intelligence gathering entities and Warner said the situation needed to be dealt with. "We need somebody fully in charge of the whole classification process and I think for those classified documents there ought to be a smaller universe," he said. As an example, Warner said the National Security Agency has suffered leaks in the past and internal controls limit the copying of documents. Warner also said that not everyone handling a document needs to see the whole document and that just seeing the header could be enough.

This chat room was publicly listed on a YouTube channel and was easily accessible, the newspaper added. The Pentagon declined to comment on the new information reported by the New York Times. The 21-year-old U.S. Air National Guardsman facing criminal charges for leaking top-secret military intelligence records online was arrested last week. The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies, according to the New York Times. The leaks did not come to light until they were reported by the New York Times in early April even though the documents were posted earlier.

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