cyber/space\war: nuking hackers & hacking the nukers

'unified quest 2009': army war games for future conflicts

doj budget details high-tech crime fighting tools
from abcnews: The release of the 2010 budget request has shed more light on some FBI surveillance programs the bureau is currently developing and testing. While the FBI has been criticized at times for its slow reforms after the 9/11 attacks, which revealed the FBI did not have adequate computer resources, some of the new programs sound like something out of a high-tech cloak and dagger film. The budget request shows that the FBI is currently developing a new "Advanced Electronic Surveillance" program which is being funded at $233.9 million for 2010. The program has 133 employees, 15 of whom are agents. According to the budget documents released Thursday, the program, otherwise known as "Going Dark," supports the FBI's electronic surveillance intelligence collection and evidence gathering capabilities, as well as those of the greater Intelligence Community.

'democratic' sanchez defends imprisoning hostile bloggers

general calls for new thinking on cyberspace
from defencetalk: The Air Force's top cyber official told a mostly industry-based audience here May 8 that the cyber arena is filled with new business opportunities, and some very hard challenges. "In an Air Force that is a lot of times focused on kinetic activity - read that as F-16 (Fighting Falcons) and 2,000-pound bombs - not at warfare conducted in a different manner at the speed of light, cyber operations require some new thinking," said Maj. Gen. William Lord, commander of Air Force Cyber Command (Provisional). Speaking to about 125 people at the Hanscom Representatives Association meeting here, he noted that it's very difficult to find out who the attackers are or even what their attributes and intentions are. He also noted that existing laws and policies often hamper the ability of U.S. cyber experts to find the answers or to launch an attack of their own. "It's easier for us to get approval to do a kinetic strike with a 2,000-pound bomb than it is for us to do a non-kinetic cyber activity," General Lord said. Yet while law, policy and culture all present potential barriers to effectively controlling cyberspace, technology needs are just as vital. "Our trouble today is that we're always shooting behind the rabbit... We wait for the latest exploit, and then when something bad happens, we figure out how to fix it."

nasa approves partial privatization of the space program

china developed its own operating system for cyber war with US
from world tribune: A leading cyber security specialist said last week that China has developed its own ultra-secure operating system for a strategic edge in its cyber warfare with U.S. computer systems. Kevin G. Coleman, a specialist with the Technolytics Institute and consultant to the office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in congressional testimony that the United States is woefully unprepared to counter cyber attacks on its electronic infrastructures. Part of the cyber arms race includes China’s creation of Kylin, a new "hardened" operating system. It began converting systems to it in 2007, according to the current edition of East-Asia-Intel.com.

teenage bomb threat suspect was a 4chan prankstar
(the one not being held under the patriot act)

flight simulation site avsim 'destroyed' by hackers
from wikinews: The flight simulation website Avsim has recently been "destroyed" after an attack by hackers. The website was used for all types of computer flight simulation, but it was mainly devoted to Flight Simulator X. The site was launched thirteen years ago, in 1996.

electronic police state 2008

information-sharing platform hacked
from fcw: The Homeland Security Department’s platform for sharing sensitive but unclassified data with state and local authorities was hacked recently, a DHS official has confirmed. The intrusion into the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) was confirmed to Federal Computer Week by Harry McDavid, the chief information officer for DHS’ Office of Operations Coordination and Planning. McDavid said the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team reported an intrusion into the system in late March. The initial hack was brief and limited, and it was followed by a more extensive hack in early April, McDavid said.

US warns of 'military' response to hackers

general: we just might nuke those cyber attackers
from danger room: How would the American military respond to an attack on its networks? If we take the commander of U.S. strategic forces at his word, they’d nuke those hackers, if need be. Speaking to reporters at a press breakfast last week, Gen. Kevin Chilton, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said the president retained the option to retaliate with military force in the event of a serious cyber attack against U.S. networks. Global Security Newswire’s Elaine Grossman has the key quote: “I think you don’t take any response options off the table from an attack on the United States of America... Why would we constrain ourselves on how we respond?”

the first major solar flare of 2009:
is this a sign the sun will return to normal?*
pentagon preps soldier telepathy push*
bomb detection ceo could be new darpa chief*
pentagon & congress square off over unconventional war shift*
the (supposed) reasons behind google & ibm being ahead of the competition*
famed ufo historian: humanity may be targeted by predatory reptilian extraterrestrial species*

cyber/space\war: stratcom, solar storms, weatherwars

cybersecurity act: heavy restrictions on internet freedoms

US military prepares for 'cyber command'
from afp: The US administration is planning to create a new military command to counter cyber attacks on the country's sensitive computer networks, a US defense official said on Wednesday. The move would be part of a planned overhaul of cyber security policies now being weighed by the White House, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. The "cyber command" would likely fall under the US Strategic Command, which already leads efforts within the military to safeguard computer networks from hackers and cyber attacks, the official said, confirming media reports. Plans to reorganize the US government's approach to information technology security come amid a growing threat of cyber spying and attacks, including a breach reportedly of the US electricity grid and of the F-35 fighter jet program.

cyber criminals industrialize to increase effectiveness

a hurricane-killing, space-based power plant
from wired science: How's this for crazy?: A company files a patent to destroy hurricanes as they form by beaming them with energy from a space-based solar plant. Maybe it is crazy, but that same company, Solaren, took a first step in that direction this week when it inked a deal with the northern California utility, PG&E, to provide 200 megawatts of power capacity transmitted from orbit in 2016. Apparently, sending up billions of dollars worth of solar collectors and using microwaves to send the energy onto two square miles of receivers in the desert is a little ho-hum to Solaren's wild minds. "The present invention relates to space-based power systems and, more particularly, to altering weather elements, such as hurricanes or forming hurricanes, using energy generated by a space-based power system," Jim Rogers and Gary Spirnak write in their 2006 patent application... Attempts at weather modification have taken many forms over the decades from cloud seeding to the strange fans that vineyards use for hyperlocal weather modding. Some analysts have even speculated that geoengineering techniques could allow countries to weaponize the climate by subtly turning an enemy country's breadbasket into a desert, for example. Hurricanes have also been a target of dozens of plans to alter their courses or slow their winds.

a solar storm warning

are we ready for a solar katrina?
from abcnews: More than a million people without power. The distribution of drinkable water disrupted. Transportation, communication and banking upset. Trillions of dollars in damage. Hurricanes, blizzards and other earthly tempests aren't the only natural forces with the potential to sow catastrophe. Severe weather in the sun's outer atmosphere could knock out much of the country's power grid, incapacitate navigational systems and jeopardize spacecraft, scientists say. While the odds of a solar disaster are relatively small, scientists warn that we need to ramp up our defenses against solar storms, especially given our increasing dependence on technology that is so susceptible to radiation from the sun. "It's one of those events that is of low probability but high consequence," Dr. Roberta Balstad, a research scientist with Columbia University's Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. "The consequences could be extreme."

discovery of smallest exoplanet yields 'extraordinary' find*
ex-astronaut edgar mitchell: man not alone in universe*
uk govt secretly studies crop circles & ufo connection*
brazil’s secret govt ufo files revealed*

debris falling in texas could be from satellite collision

from ap: The Federal Aviation Administration has received numerous reports of falling debris across Texas, which could be related to a recent satellite collision. Some of the callers around midmorning Sunday reported what looked like a fireball in the sky. FAA spokesman Roland Herwig says officials suspect the debris could be related to the collision, but that has not been confirmed.

update: US military says 'fireballs' spotted over texas are not related to satellite collision
from wikinews: The United States military Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has said that the 'fireballs' spotted over areas of Texas in the United States on Sunday February 15, are not related to the collision of a U.S. and Russian satellite in space. According to spaceweather.com, NASA says the object was a meteor. "There is no correlation between the debris from that collision and those reports of re-entry," said STRATCOM military spokeswoman Major Maj. Regina. "It's a natural meteor, definitely," said Bill Cooke, an astronomer at NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

police state int'l: bioterror, bigbro, behavioral screening & more

a slew of warnings on nuclear, chemical & biological terrorism prompt worries of fearmongering (or fears of worrymongering)
from usnews: After a series of dire new warnings about possible terrorist threats—capped by a government commission's report that terrorists are likely to stage a biological or nuclear attack somewhere in the world during the next five years—some experts are urging officials "to retire the fear card," as California Rep. Jane Harman puts it. "We need to educate and inform the American people, not terrify them with alarming details about possible threats to the homeland," she said, reacting to the 132-page report from the Commission for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism released this week. Harman, who heads the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Terrorism Risk Assessment, added, "It's time for the rhetoric about that threat to calm, instead of inflame, an anxious public."

The drumbeat started last month, when Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said that the potential for a WMD attack in the coming decades is growing. The probability is increasing, he said, that the world will see "large casualty terrorist attacks using chemical, biological, or, less likely, nuclear materials." And the U.S. intelligence community recently released a study warning of an increased risk of the use of mass-casualty weapons by 2025.

bioterror, nano shields, tactical dew, mumbai attack summary




stratcom urges quick nuclear weapons modernization
from washington post: The leader of the U.S. Strategic Command said yesterday that "time is not on our side" to modernize the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile, particularly as China and Russia upgrade their nuclear warheads and delivery systems. "The path of inaction is a path leading toward nuclear disarmament. . . . The time to act is now," Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton told an audience of government, military and civilian arms experts attending the Nuclear Deterrence Summit in Washington. But Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic weapons, told the same audience that the nation's nuclear modernization program was in a "holding pattern" until the Obama administration could review studies that are to be completed next year. Chilton said he was concerned that Congress had effectively killed the Bush administration's Reliable Replacement Warhead program, which is designed to provide a modern, safer warhead with no new capabilities before the end of this decade. Expressing concern that the nation's Cold War stockpile is aging, Chilton said that "a reliable [nuclear] inventory supports nonproliferation goals."

iran war games, northrop abm, nuclear terror +

uk's big brother police to get 'war-time' powers
from daily mail: State officials are to be given powers previously reserved for times of war to demand a person's proof of identity at any time. Anybody who refuses the Big Brother demand could face arrest and a possible prison sentence. The new rules come in legislation unveiled in today's [dec3] Queen's Speech. They are presented as a crackdown on illegal immigration, but lawyers say they could be applied to anybody who has ever been outside the UK, even on holiday. The civil rights group Liberty, which analysed clauses from the new Immigration and Citizenship Bill, called them an attempt to introduce compulsory ID cards by the back door.


german police get powers to hack into home computers
from telegraph: Under a compromise between the hardline Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and dissenting MPs, Germany's Parliament is put unprecedented power in the hands of the Federal Criminal Police (BKA). New laws, some of the toughest in Europe, will also allow police to bug and photograph suspect's homes, tap their phones and track the location of their mobile calls. Under the compromise, the police will need a judge's approval before using the Trojans, even in an emergency. Trojans will carry "Remote Forensic Software" that can search hard drives and send evidence back to investigators without their having to enter the suspect's home.

berlusconi plans to use g8 presidency to 'regulate the internet'
from the register: Italian president and media baron Silvio Berlusconi said today that he would use his country's imminent presidency of the G8 group to push for an international agreement to "regulate the internet". Speaking to Italian postal workers, Reuters reports Berlusconi said: "The G8 has as its task the regulation of financial markets... I think the next G8 can bring to the table a proposal for a regulation of the internet." Italy's G8 presidency begins on January 1. The role is taken by each of the group's members in rotation. The holder country is responsible for organising and hosting the G8's meetings and setting the agenda. Italy's last G8 presidency in 2001, also under Berlusconi, was marred by riots at the annual meeting in Genoa.

bush fcc chairman considering 'porn-free Internet'
from raw story: Bush Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is still considering a proposal to create a free, porn-free Internet, according to today's Wall Street Journal: "The free Internet plan is the most controversial issue the agency will tackle in December. Mr. Martin shelved plans to consider a wider variety of sticky issues pending at the agency, including a request by the Hollywood studios to hobble TVs and set-top boxes so studios can offer copy-protected theatrical releases sooner. The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a proposal to auction off a chunk of airwaves. The winning bidder would be required to set aside a quarter of the airwaves for a free Internet service"... Martin was Deputy General Counsel for the Bush-Cheney 2000 recount.

courtroom showdown: bush demands spying telecom amnesty
from threat level: The Bush administration on Tuesday will try to convince a federal judge to let stand a law granting retroactive legal immunity to the nation's telecoms, which are accused of transmitting Americans' private communications to the National Security Agency without warrants. At issue in the high-stakes showdown... are the nearly four dozen lawsuits filed by civil liberties groups and class action attorneys against AT&T, Verizon, MCI, Sprint and other carriers who allegedly cooperated with the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program in the years following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The lawsuits claim the cooperation violated federal wiretapping laws and the Constitution. (28kb PDF) In July, as part of a wider domestic spying bill, Congress voted to kill the lawsuits and grant retroactive amnesty to any phone companies that helped with the surveillance; President-elect Barack Obama was among those who voted for the law in the Senate. On Tuesday, lawyers with the Electronic Frontier Foundation are set to urge the federal judge overseeing those lawsuits to reject immunity as unconstitutional. At stake, they say, is the very principle of the rule of law in America.

behavioral screening: the future of airport security?
from cnn: Keep your shoes and belts on: Waiting in long airport security lines to pass through metal detectors may soon be a thing of the past. Security experts say focus is shifting from analyzing the content of carry-ons to analyzing the content of passengers' intentions and emotions. "We are seeing a needed paradigm shift when it comes to security," says Omer Laviv, CEO of ATHENA GS3, an Israeli-based security company. "This 'brain-fingerprinting,' or technology which checks for behavioral intent, is much more developed than we think." Nowhere is the need for cutting-edge security more acute than Israel, which faces constant security threats. For this reason, Israel has become a leader in developing security technology.

norad & northcom run 'vigilant shield' drills on nov12-18

from northcom: North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command will participate in Exercise Vigilant Shield 09 Nov. 12 - 18.

The focus of VS09 is on homeland defense and civil support. The exercise will include scenarios to achieve exercise objectives within the maritime, aerospace, ballistic missile defense, cyber, consequence management, strategic communications, and counter terrorism domains.

VS09 will run concurrent with other Department of Defense-sponsored and international exercises to more realistically test the synchronized response of federal, state, local and international mission partners in preparation for homeland defense, homeland security and civil support missions in the United States and abroad.

Concurrent exercises include U.S. Strategic Command GLOBAL LIGHTNING 09 and BULWARK DEFENDER 09; Canada Command DETERMINED DRAGON; California National Guard VIGILANT GUARD; and the State of California GOLDEN GUARDIAN.

VS09 is a Command Post Exercise. During a CPX, many of the forces involved in the exercise are notional and most of the real forces and equipment are not deployed from their home bases.

NORAD is the bi-national command charged with aerospace warning and control, missile warning as well as maritime for the United States and Canada.

Formed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, USNORTHCOM is responsible for Homeland Defense and civil support missions.

flashback: national level exercise: 8 straight days of terror drills

nuclear attack on london & US - between nov12-18th?
from icanhastruth: I post this here not to install any fear but to raise the consciousness frequency higher so that people can avert anything dodgy going on that will cause severe humanitarian and/or ecological loss. Please only read this if you love the planet and its life. If you’re fearful of the above headline please don’t be. I’ll explain why you shouldn’t at the end. Let’s hope I’m entirely wrong on this one but I think that all the signs are there for a global false flag attack of some sort between the 12th and 18th November 2008.

update: californians duck & cover & for largest-ever quake drill

from dpa: Over 5 million Californians ducked for cover and held Thursday as they took part in what was billed as the largest public emergency drill in US history.

Some 5,000 first responders and emergency managers were also involved in The Great ShakeOut drill, which was designed to simulate the effects of a 7.8 magnitude quake on the San Andreas Fault across the densely populated area of Southern California.

If it actually occurred, a quake of this strength could kill about 1,800 people and injure 53,000. Damages would reach an estimated 213 billion dollars.

The drill began at 10 am Thursday throughout the greater Los Angeles and San Diego urban areas and beyond, where radio and television stations and school public address systems played a sound track of rumbling and crashing, along with a man's voice.

'If this were the magnitude 7.8 earthquake we're practicing for today, you would be experiencing sudden and intense back-and-forth motions of up to 6 feet (2 metres) per second. The floor or the ground would jerk sideways out from under you. Look around and imagine,' the voice said.

The drill - in which people were supposed to dive under their desks, cover their heads and hold on - was to be followed by a 'Get Ready Rally' in which people would learn about other aspects of quake preparedness. There was also a three-day conference of earthquake experts planned and even two computer games - one called After Shock, and another called Beat the Quake.

Some 3 million students in Los Angeles and Riverside county schools are among the 5.2 million participants in the drill.

According to research published in April there is a 99.7 per cent chance that a magnitude 6.7 or stronger quake will shake California within the next 30 years. The southern end of the San Andreas fault hasn't moved in 300 years, yet historically it moves on average every 150 years.