1:28 PM 9/20/2022 - US needs to reform efforts to stop enemy spies, report says posted at 17:24:07 UTC via apnews.com

Michael Novakhov (Mike Nova) 9/20/2022 01:39:00 PM

Michael Novakhov's favorite articles -1:28 PM 9/20/2022

US needs to reform efforts to stop enemy spies, report says

posted at 17:24:07 UTC via apnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new Senate study warns that U.S. spy agencies’ efforts to stop China and other adversaries from stealing secrets are hampered by

miscommunication and a lack of money and staff at the office intended to coordinate those efforts.

The report comes amid warnings that Chinese and Russian attempts to obtain sensitive data and meddle in elections are on the rise.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report released Tuesday says the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which is supposed to coordinate efforts by the U.S. government, doesn’t have a clear mission and is limited in its authority. NCSC cannot fund or mandate programs for many government agencies or private companies that hold secrets prized by foreign spy services.

There’s also disagreement among intelligence officials about who should lead responses to cyberattacks and campaigns trying to influence Americans — and whether those efforts should be categorized as counterintelligence, the report says.

Washington has long accused Beijing in particular of sanctioning wide-ranging campaigns to steal secrets through spying, cyberattacks, and corporate espionage, as well as spreading disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and considering efforts to influence American democracy. The FBI has said it opens a new counterintelligence investigation involving China every 10 hours on average.

“The Chinese government is set on stealing your technology — whatever it is that makes your industry tick — and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told business leaders in a recent speech in London. “And they’re set on using every tool at their disposal to do it.”

The Senate report primarily focuses on NCSC, an element of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

ODNI was created in the 2004 reforms following the Sept. 11 attacks and revelations that agencies did not share information about some of the hijackers involved.

ODNI was intended to coordinate priorities across the rest of the 18-member U.S. intelligence community and ensure better information sharing through centers like NCSC, which would coordinate the counterintelligence work done by the FBI, CIA, and other spy agencies.

But the counterintelligence center is itself hamstrung by bureaucracy, the report argues.

Among its hurdles is

an inability to hire new employees quickly;
not having the authority to implement national strategies;
and not being able to fund counterintelligence programs outside of the spy agencies, either elsewhere in the U.S. government or in the private sector.

President Joe Biden also still hasn’t nominated a director for NCSC, which is currently led by acting director Michael Orlando. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the lack of a nomination.

“The United States faces a dramatically different threat landscape today than it did just a couple of decades ago,” said Sen. Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement. “New threats and new technology mean that we have to make substantial adjustments to our counterintelligence posture if we are going to protect our country’s national and economic security.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman, noted that China and other adversaries are “targeting all sectors of society.” The committee wants to make sure intelligence agencies have “the authorities and resources necessary to effectively confront these new counterintelligence threats,” he said.

A spokesperson for NCSC said the center appreciates the committee “identifying multiple recommendations to improve NCSC’s ability to lead the counterintelligence mission.”

The report notes experts don’t agree on a solution. Some want the U.S. to have its own counterintelligence agency that would take some of the responsibilities held by the FBI, CIA, and other spy agencies.

Others think a new agency would simply impose a new layer of bureaucracy and undermine the original goals of creating it. A new agency would also likely face opposition across the intelligence community and supporters of those agencies in Congress.

Frank Montoya, a retired former chief counterintelligence executive and FBI agent, said he was most successful through establishing personal relationships with other officials and persuading businesses to be proactive in their security programs. Creating new requirements would end up being counterproductive, he said, because “people will do everything they can to do the minimum required and not the maximum.”

“It’s the simple, on the ground reality that you can’t mandate everything,” he said. “And even if you did, people would find their way around it.”

Trumpworld theorizes that Mar-a-Lago special master's involvement in previously botched FBI case makes him the best bet to help out the embattled former president

posted at 17:17:28 UTC via news.yahoo.com

b9aa1bf54eb6d729e8451dfff364f3d7

Mar-a-Lago special master Raymond Dearie's work on the bungled Carter Page surveillance case may have soured him on the FBI, Trump advisors hope.

PM gives chief of staff Mark Fullbrook her ‘full support’ amid FBI probe

posted at 15:18:51 UTC via perspectivemag.co.uk

20 September 2022

Liz Truss has given her “full support” to chief of staff Mark Fullbrook after it emerged he was questioned as a witness as part of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry into alleged bribery in Puerto Rico.

Mr Fullbrook has not travelled to the United Nations summit in New York with the Prime Minister, but No 10 insisted it is because he was working on government business, which this week includes announcements on help for businesses with their energy costs and a mini budget.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Prime Minister stands 100% behind Mr Fullbrook and “he has her full support”.

The FBI probe relates to allegations that financier and Tory donor Julio Herrera Velutini promised to help the former governor of Puerto Rico get re-elected if she dismissed an official investigating a bank he owned there.

He has denied the charges against him.

Downing Street chief of staff Mark Fullbrook (PA)

Mr Velutini is alleged to have paid CT Group, a political consultancy firm in which Mr Fullbrook was a senior figure, 300,000 US dollars (almost £263,000) for work intended to help Wanda Vazquez Garced’s ultimately unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2020.

A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook said: “As has been made repeatedly clear, Mr Fullbrook is committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which he works and is confident that he has done so in this matter.

“Indeed, Mark Fullbrook is a witness in this matter and has fully, completely and voluntarily engaged with the US authorities in this matter, as he would always do in any circumstance in which his assistance is sought by authorities.

“The work was engaged only by Mr Herrera and only to conduct opinion research for him and no one else.

“Mr Fullbrook never did any work for, nor presented any research findings to, the governor or her campaign. There has been no engagement since.

“Mr Fullbrook understands that there are active legal proceedings against other individuals and entities. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.”

Latino Rebels: Fiona Dumps More Rain on Puerto Rico, Hundreds Rescued

posted at 14:57:10 UTC by Admin via The Jibaro News – jibaronews.com

Hurricane Fiona unleashed more rain on Puerto Rico on Monday, a day after the storm knocked out power and water to most of the island, and National Guard troops rescued hundreds of people who got stranded.

The post Fiona Dumps More Rain on Puerto Rico, Hundreds Rescued appeared first on Latino Rebels.

Latino Rebels

The post Latino Rebels: Fiona Dumps More Rain on Puerto Rico, Hundreds Rescued first appeared on The Jibaro News - jibaronews.com.

PM gives chief of staff Mark Fullbrook her ‘full support’ amid FBI probe – Perspective Magazine

posted at 14:57:10 UTC by Admin via The Jibaro News – jibaronews.com

PM gives chief of staff Mark Fullbrook her ‘full support’ amid FBI probe Perspective Magazine

The post PM gives chief of staff Mark Fullbrook her ‘full support’ amid FBI probe – Perspective Magazine first appeared on The Jibaro News - jibaronews.com.

1. Russian Press from Michael_Novakhov (80 sites): Российская газета: Рост цен на продовольствие в мире привел к обнищанию 70 млн человек