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☆ Ukraine gained ground inside Ukraine as Russia faced off against Russia inside Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian forces spent Saturday preparing to defend Moscow from a paramilitary uprising. But Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his fighters to turn around just before reaching the capital. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy minister of defense, said Saturday that Ukrainian forces launched new counter-offensives in the country's east and were holding Russian forces in defensive positions in the south. While Ukraine continued its efforts to retake territory, Russia was forced to defend itself from itself. Before the Wagner Group fighters turned back, Russian security officials were gearing up to defend Moscow.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin —, Vladimir Putin —, Prigozhin, Ukraine's, Hanna Maliar, Wagner Group's, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sergei Shoigu, Sen, Mark Warner of, Marco Rubio Organizations: Service, Wagner, Russian, Twitter, BBC, Wagner Group, Moscow, Russian Defense, Senate Intelligence, CBS Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia, Russian, Mark Warner of Virginia, Marco Rubio of Florida

☆ President Trump's arraignment on federal charges is a grave moment for the nation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

For the first time in history, the nation is seeking to put on criminal trial a person who was elected to lead it as president. His indictment, brimming with details on Trump’s disastrously lax handling of classified materials, shocked many government veterans. (The DOJ has closed its investigation into Pence, while the special counsel probe of Biden’s handling of classified documents is ongoing.) “If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Haley said on Fox News. Typically, federal ranking officials are highly protective of classified material, knowing that even a lapse in the handling of one document could get them in trouble with the law, or land them in jail.

Persons: CNN —, Donald J, Trump, Utah Sen, Mitt Romney, “ I’m, ” Romney, it’s, He’s, Joe Biden’s, Jack Smith, ”, John Bolton, “, …, Donald Trump’s, ” Trump, Waltine, –, Smith, General Merrick Garland, Kevin McCarthy, Biden, Mike Pence, Pence, Nikki Haley, ” Haley, he’s, “ Donald Trump, Carolina Sen, Lindsey Graham, Florida Sen, Marco Rubio, Garland, ” Rubio, It’s, Donald Trump, Valerie Plame, Bush, Joseph Wilson, Plame, Jake Tapper Organizations: CNN, Trump, Republican, Trump didn’t, “ CNN, Justice Department, Biden, Republicans, GOP, DOJ, South Carolina Gov, Fox News, United Nations, ABC, Senate Intelligence, CBS, CIA Locations: United States, America, Miami, Utah, Manhattan, Georgia, Carolina, Florida, Lago, Bedminster, Iraq

☆ Chinese apps remain hugely popular in the U.S. despite efforts to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

But while TikTok has been the one in the spotlight, other Chinese apps that present similar issues are also experiencing massive popularity in the U.S. Gorman said as the U.S. considers the threat posed by TikTok, it will also need to develop a framework for how to evaluate the relative risk of Chinese apps. But in the meantime, U.S. consumers continue to turn to Chinese apps. "And then of course, there's the early growth of Lemon8, which suggests that the appetite for Chinese apps in the U.S. is still growing." And some say the most effective long-term solution for curbing the use of Chinese apps may be fostering an environment for robust alternatives to grow.

☆ Defense personnel alarmed after memos reveal Air Force leadership warned about accused Pentagon leaker but let him continue working
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Haley Britzky Sean Lyngaas Zachary Cohen Natasha Bertrand | Haley Britzky | Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Teixeira was arrested on April 14 and has been charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials. His defense lawyers have argued he didn’t expect classified information that he posted on Discord to be further spread around the internet. According to one current US service member who handles classified intelligence, the memos read as if Teixeira’s leadership was building a case for disciplinary action against him. Jobs under the 1N0 and 1N4 job codes would have given him more hands-on responsibilities with intelligence, the current service member and a former enlisted intelligence airman told CNN. But the current service member said it would not be unusual for senior non-commissioned officers to handle disciplinary matters with a junior enlisted airman like Teixeira.

☆ Special counsel issues report criticizing FBI for launching Trump-Russia investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ken Dilanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The special counsel who spent four years investigating the Trump-Russia probe accused the FBI of acting negligently by opening the investigation based on vague and insufficient information in a sweeping 300-page report made public Monday. The FBI responded to the report, indicating that the missteps identified by Durham have already been addressed. Durham's report examines in painstaking detail various aspects of the now infamous FBI investigation code-named "Crossfire Hurricane," which led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Durham's investigation found that at the time, neither the FBI nor CIA had any intelligence suggesting an improper relationship between Trump and Russia. Durham appears to suggest that the intelligence information should have given the FBI pause in its pursuit of allegations involving the Trump campaign.

"That combination of overclassification and then too many people having clearances has led us to this problem," Warner told a news conference. He said more than 4 million people in the United States now have security clearance. Attorney General Merrick Garland has also appointed special counsels to investigate the handling of classified records by Republican former President Donald Trump and the handling of classified records from his time as vice president by current Democratic President Joe Biden. The path forward for the bills was not immediately clear but the senators said they hoped the recent attention on the clearance issue would help. "This is a piece of legislation that can become law and it is desperately needed for that to happen," Moran said.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will meet with congressional leaders Tuesday as Washington scrambles to lift the debt ceiling with less than a month before the federal government is set to run out of money. Lifting the debt ceiling is necessary for the government to cover spending commitments already approved by Congress and the president and prevent default. But House Republicans have said they will not lift the limit if Biden and lawmakers do not agree to future spending cuts. The White House has stressed that while it is open to discuss spending cuts, it will not negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling. If the meeting is indeed a negotiation, then the bill House Republicans passed last month effectively serves as the GOP's opening offer to the White House.

☆ Confused about the debt ceiling? Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

What is the debt ceiling? Unlike a credit card, though, the expenses were already approved by Congress, so the debt ceiling does not pertain to new spending. The debt ceiling was last raised in December 2021 by $2.5 trillion, capping the limit at $31.381 trillion. If Congress does not agree to lift the debt ceiling, the government will not have money to pay its bills and will default on its debt. The White House has remained steadfast that it is Congress's responsibility to raise the debt ceiling without conditions, as was done three times under the Trump administration.

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on "Worldwide Threats" at the U.S. Capitol in Washington May 10, 2022. In January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress that the U.S. government started to use extraordinary measures to fend off default. Since 1960, Congress has raised the debt ceiling 78 separate times under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Read more: What is the debt ceiling? Such brinksmanship weakens our national security," the former Pentagon chiefs wrote in a letter.

☆ US Senator Rubio seeks probe of Ford's Chinese partnership on nickel plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senator Marcio Rubio on Wednesday asked the Biden administration to investigate Ford Motor Co's (F.N) plan to partner with PT Vale Indonesia (INCO.JK) and China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in a $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Indonesia. Indonesia, which has the world's biggest nickel reserves, has been trying to develop downstream industries for the metal, ultimately aiming to produce batteries and electric vehicles. Vale and Huayou began construction of the plant in November and commercial operation is expected to start in 2026. He had already asked the Biden administration to review the deal to use technology from CATL. Rubio wants to block tax credits for electric vehicle batteries produced using Chinese technology, in a bid to prevent Chinese companies from benefiting.

☆ 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.

☆ Elon Musk talks AI, economy with Democratic leader Schumer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA.O) and social media platform Twitter, discussed artificial intelligence issues with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday. "We talked about the future," Musk told reporters after exiting the meeting that lasted about an hour. Earlier this month, Schumer said he had launched an effort to establish rules on artificial intelligence to address national security and education concerns, as use of programs like ChatGPT becomes widespread. Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner sent major AI CEOs a letter Wednesday asking them to take steps to address concerns. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters Wednesday the Biden administration is working "as aggressively as possible to figure out our approach" to AI.

☆ US senator urges AI company CEOs to take steps to address risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday urged CEOs of several artificial intelligence (AI) companies to prioritize security measures, combat bias, and responsibly roll out new technologies. Democratic Senator Mark Warner raised concerns about potential risks posed by AI technology. "Beyond industry commitments, however, it is also clear that some level of regulation is necessary in this field," said Warner, who sent letters to the CEOs of OpenAI, Scale AI, Meta Platforms (META.O), Alphabet's Google (MSFT.O), Apple, Stability AI, Midjourney, Anthropic, Percipient.ai, and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 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.

☆ Classified documents mishandled by Trump, Biden, and Pence handed over to Congressional 'Gang of Eight'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Classified documents were found in the possession of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and former Vice President Mike Pence in the past six months. A group of lawmakers known as the "Gang of Eight" have been asking for access to the docs. That process recently got underway, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private interactions between the Justice Department and Congress. Another special counsel, Robert Hur, is also investigating the improper retention of documents from Biden's time as vice president that have been located in his Delaware home and his pre-presidential think-tank office. The Justice Department had said that it wanted to be cooperative with the lawmakers' demands within the confines of the ongoing investigations.

☆ Top Democrat gives 'failing grade' to Biden administration on classified documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Ginger Gibson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, chided the Biden administration Wednesday for the lack of information being shared about classified documents that were found at the homes of current and former presidents. "This is where the Biden administration gets an absolute failing grade," Warner said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports." Lawmakers have become increasingly critical of administration officials ignoring requests to be briefed on the classified documents that have been found. Hundreds of pages of documents with classified markings were recovered from Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump's Florida home and private club. Months later, a handful of documents were found at an office used by current President Joe Biden before he was elected.

☆ US lawmaker says FBI briefed him on Trump's rhetoric over New York probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Senator Mark Warner said on Sunday he was briefed by the FBI on Donald Trump's rhetoric after the former president verbally lashed out at a New York prosecutor overseeing a grand jury investigation into alleged hush-money payments. "They have seen no specific threats but the level of rhetoric on some of these right-wing sites has increased." Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said on Sunday that some of Trump's online attacks against Bragg were ill-advised. "I'm not his social media consultant. New York City Mayor Eric Adams also said on Sunday the city was prepared for any fallout from a potential Trump indictment.

☆ A GOP congresswoman says TikTok CEO's testimony made it clear to her that the app is 'an immediate threat' from China and that she supports a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers called TikTok "an immediate threat" and wants it banned in the US. McMorris Rodgers said she's deeply concerned about the user data of millions of US TikTok users. "I would say there's an immediate threat via TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party. "What the hearing made clear to me was that TikTok should be banned in the United States of America to address the immediate threat and we also need a national data privacy law," she added. McMorris Rodgers pointed to Tiktok and parent company ByteDance as having ties to the Chinese government, which she said is a major risk to Americans.

☆ TikTok's ad business is growing around live sports as platform faces possible U.S. ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The social media platform has been under scrutiny from the U.S. government and faces a possible ban. But the company is nonetheless attracting billions of dollars in advertising revenue as major companies look to reach a younger audience. Hyundai prioritized TikTok this year as many automakers bypassed TV advertising during the Super Bowl to preserve cash or spend on ads elsewhere. TV ads drew more than $7 million for 30-second spots during this year's Super Bowl on Fox's broadcast network. While this makes up about 2% of overall digital advertising spending, the growth of the spending for the platform has been rapid.

☆ TikTok hits 150 mln U.S. monthly users, up from 100 million in 2020
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - TikTok said on Monday the short-video sharing app now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, up from 100 million it said it had in 2020. On Friday, six more U.S. senators backed bipartisan legislation to give President Joe Biden new powers to ban TikTok on national security grounds. Last week, TikTok said the Biden administration demanded that its Chinese owners divest their stake in the app or it could face a U.S. ban. "This notional idea that the data can be made safe under (Chinese Communist Party) law, just doesn't, doesn't pass the smell test." Some TikTok content creators will come to Washington this week to make the case why the app should not be banned.

☆ New Zealand to become the latest country to ban TikTok in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —New Zealand will ban TikTok on all devices with access to its parliament by the end of this month, becoming the latest country to impose an official bar on the popular social media platform owned by a Beijing-based tech conglomerate. Led by the United States, a growing number of Western nations are imposing restrictions on the use of TikTok on government devices citing national security concerns. The United States, UK and Canada have ordered the removal of the app from all government phones, citing cybersecurity concerns. The short video sharing app has more than 100 million users in the United States alone. China has accused the United States of “unreasonably suppressing” TikTok and spreading “false information” about data security.

☆ Watch live: U.S. spymasters testify on global threats before House Intelligence Committee
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

[The hearing is slated to start at 10 a.m. Please refresh the page if you do not see a video above at that time.] The nation's top spymasters will testify before the House Intelligence Committee on their annual report of global threats faced by the United States. The U.S. spy chiefs testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Both hearings offer a rare opportunity for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from intelligence chiefs, whose agencies do not offer routine press briefings on their activities.

☆ China’s Refusal to Help Probes of Covid-19 Origins Leaves Critical Gap, Spy Chief Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Dustin Volz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘China has not fully cooperated,’ Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. WASHINGTON—The Chinese government’s refusal to cooperate on investigations into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic has hindered the U.S.’s ability to determine whether the virus emerged naturally or was the result of a lab leak, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday. “China has not fully cooperated, and that is a key critical gap that would help us understand what, exactly, happened,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

☆ Google, Meta, and Snap would be the biggest winners if TikTok is banned, with shares set to rise on billions in new ad revenue, CFRA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some US lawmakers are working to ban TikTok. The research firm says TikTok could make $9 billion-$10 billion in US revenue in 2024. There probability TikTok will be banned is still low but it's gone up significantly over the last six months, the firm said. "We place less than a 50% probability that TikTok will be banned by the end of 2024," Zino said. "A TikTok ban would move the needle more for SNAP than others," said Zino.

☆ Watch live: America's top spymasters testify on global threats before Senate Intelligence Committee
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

[The stream is slated to start at 10 a.m. Please refresh the page if you do not see a video above at that time.] The nation's top spymasters will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on their annual report of global threats faced by the United States. The open hearing will focus on the unclassified 35-page assessment dubbed "Annual Threat Assessment" and feature testimony from the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier. The hearing offers a rare opportunity for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from intelligence chiefs, whose agencies do not offer routine press briefings on their activities.

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