I’m sure many of you have become addicted to the TV show, Homeland.   Personally, I find it a bit of a bus man’s holiday and rather unrealistic in its characterizations.   But in terms of style, I guess taste is … Read more »

Earlier this week, I posted a short note about the National Intelligence Council and its projection of alternate futures for the year 2030.  While I would never say the work was derivative :-), I should have noted that it bears … Read more »

I may be exiled from the blog for saying this, but the New York Times has an excellent analysis of the recently concluded WCIT treaty meeting in Dubai in today’s paper.  It begins:

At the global treaty conference on

… Read more »

As you may have read by now (reports from the New York Times and Washington Post are pretty good),  that the WCIT conference has ended in disarray.  The United States and a number of other Western countries have refused to … Read more »

The Times has an op-ed today on the WCIT conference in Dubai.  Who knows, maybe this is one Ben will agree with. :-).  Here’s the opening:

Representatives of 193 countries are meeting in Dubait o update a treaty known

… Read more »

For those who have been following the ITU’s conference in Dubai on international internet governance (about which both Jack and I have written previously), this interesting bit of news:  Apparently the most far reaching of the regulatory proposals, … Read more »

Every reader of Lawfare (and indeed, most non-readers) should be interested in this new report from the National Intelligence Council, “Global Trends 2030: Alternate Worlds.”  The analysis identifies a series of “mega-trends” such as individual empowerment”” and the … Read more »

A colleague just pointed this out to me today.  Buried in the Senate-approved NDAA is Section 936, which would require the Pentagon to “establish a process” for defense contractors that have classified information on their networks to report any … Read more »

It doesn’t strictly fit into the Lawfare domain, but this episode was interesting enough that it seemed worthy of a blog post:  The Republican Study Committee (a very conservative caucus within the House GOP) published a policy paper entitled “Three … Read more »

One of the things that has struck me about the debate concerning cybersecurity legislation is that we don’t have a really good baseline of existing legal authorities for the protection of cyberspace.  Slowly, that is changing.  Here is one offering … Read more »

Readers of Lawfare must sometimes wonder what all the cyber fuss is about.  How, after all, does cyber conflict occur.  Current events in Syria give a good sense of how conflict is happening.  Here is an excerpt from a recent … Read more »

One of the issues we discussed regarding the proposed cybersecurity bills in the Senate was the question of a regulatory system to identify best practices and require them for critical infrastructure.  I was then, and remain, skeptical of the idea.  … Read more »

Here it is … this version is dated November 21, 2012, so it seems to be the current iteration:  White House Draft Executive Order (Dated 11-21-12).  Analysis to follow …..

Send to Kindle… Read more »

You can probably tell that I’m catching up on my reading tonight!  My other offering is this fascinating article on The Hackers of Damascus.  For those who are warriors in our readership, the article offers a detailed description of … Read more »

Readers will recall our earlier discussion of the House Intelligence Committee report that called two Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE threats to American information security.  Well, it hasn’t taken long for a Chinese response — though an unofficial one.  As … Read more »

I keep meaning to write a blog post on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the upcoming Dubai meeting, but so many other folks are writing good analysis that it almost isn’t necessary.  Today’s entry is a report by Richard … Read more »

As we all recover from Thanksgiving, I wanted to share with Lawfare readers this video.  It’s the trailer from a forthcoming movie entitled Veteran Nation that is being produced by Coldwater Media and a charity with which I am affiliated, … Read more »

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, my friend Orin Kerr has a fascinating post on the case of US v. Stanley.   It isn’t strictly cybersecurity but the case itself is still worth reading.  For those who want a quick summary:… Read more »

As close readers of Lawfare will be aware (but many others will not) the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will be meeting next month in Dubai.  The ITU, a relative backwater of the UN, has long had ministerial responsibilities for telecommunications … Read more »

In the category of shameless self-promotion, I am quite pleased to announce the publication of National Security Law in the News: A Guide for Journalists, Scholars, and Policymakers. The book is a joint publication of the ABA Standing Committee on … Read more »

While the Senate was making a feint at legislation yesterday, far more significant cyber news was disclosed.  According to the Washington Post President Obama has signed a new Presidential Policy Directive that assigns roles and responsibilities for military and civilian … Read more »

As I noted, yesterday the Senate returned, briefly to consideration of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012.  The rather half-hearted effort (I think that’s a fair characterization) ended as was inevitable — in fact, the motion to proceed to full consideration … Read more »

As I noted yesterday, Senator Reid has announced that the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 will return to the floor for consideration sometime before Thanksgiving (possibly as early as tomorrow).   According to the Senate the procedure is that “a motion to … Read more »

In remarks today on the Floor, Senator Reid promised that the Lieberman-Collins cybersecurity bill would return to the floor before Thanksgiving.  Here is the rough transcript of what he said:

WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A VOTE ON

CYBERSECURITY. I SPOKE

… Read more »

I was struck by this report of a recent oral argument in the 2nd Circuit involving a terrorism prosecution.  The defendant (and his co-conspirators) were convicted of having plotted to blow up a synagogue in New York and sentenced to … Read more »

I’ve had a chance to read the draft Executive Order on cybersecurity now and several thoughts spring to mind.

For those who like the bottom line up front: I am, honestly, of two minds about this effort.  On the one … Read more »

Well, here’s the “publicly circulating” draft of the executive order on cybersecurity, helpfully entitled: White House Draft Executive Order (Publicly Circulating Copy – 11-1-12).  Note however that is dated SEPTEMBER 28, 2012 (i.e. more than a month ago) and … Read more »

One  last post on Hurricane Sandy.  President Obama seems to get it even if the New York Times doesn’t. As he said on Monday:

The most important message that I have for the public right now is, please listen to

… Read more »

I guess the NY Times op-ed has me a bit worked up.  So I went and did a bit more digging around on the basic question of whether or not Big Storms Require Big Government.  Here’s what I … Read more »

I do not normally share Ben’s disdain for the New York Times editorial page.  They are who they are and you know what you are going to see on their page before the publish it.  But today’s editorial on Hurricane … Read more »

All of DC is closed today as Hurricane Sandy comes ashore.  But the Old Guard continues its vigil.  I thought Lawfare readers might appreciate this photo:

Send to Kindle… Read more »

Majority Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement today:

REID: SENATE WILL HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE TO PASS CYBERSECURITY LEGISLATION

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued the following statement following a speech by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

… Read more »

As you’ve by now read, Congress issued a report the other day condemning Huawei and ZTE for potential security concerns in the telecom hardware they manufacture.  Others have, not inaccurately, suggested that the report was strong on reporting about the … Read more »

Senator Lieberman has an op ed in the Washington Post today calling for a move forward on his cybersecurity legislation.  Meanwhile, Senator Collins (one of the cosponsors of Lieberman’s bill) has called on the President NOT to issue an executive … Read more »

Last Friday, in an interview, Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted that she never, ever used email.  The Internet cognoscenti are shocked.  They think it either means that she knows that the Internet is not secure or that she is a luddite … Read more »

In response to my post last night about the countermeasure I wish I’d thought of, Ben asked me if it would really be effective.  Specifically, he asked:

How could you have fried the kids’ computer and Android cell phone

… Read more »

Well, as you might imagine, our defeat at the hands of the Wittes cyberwarriors has had me doing some thinking.  In truth, we actually considered the possibility of cyber war but rejected it as beyond our competence.  I wish I’d … Read more »

Well, as everyone knows by now, my grandsons and I got waxed in the Drone Smackdown.  I’ll have a few more substantive thoughts in a little bit but for now, I thought I would add to the corpus of “knowledge” … Read more »

At the risk of tooting my own horn a bit, I am pleased to announce the publication of “Drones in U.S. Airspace: Principles for Governance” a paper I co-authored with three other colleagues at The Heritage Foundation (where … Read more »

Some of them, apparently swim.  DHS is looking to develop a robotic tuna for missions in the maritime domain.  Talk about your Moments of Zen.  Happy Friday.

Send to Kindle… Read more »

OK.  I admit it.  I made up the quote that is the title of this post.  Senator Rockefeller never said any such thing.  But he did almost as much by demonstrating (probably by accident) why industry fear the specter of … Read more »

I attended a conference yesterday at Ft. Meade, sponsored by the Staff Judge Advocate for US Cyber Command.  I’ll have more on the conference as time permits, but for now, here is a nice summary by Ellen Nakashima of the … Read more »

Here is the letter sent today from the White House (courtesy of John Brennan) to Senator Rockefeller.  It begins:

The executive branch national security team – including civilian, military and intelligence professionals – agrees that inadequate cybersecurity within our critical

… Read more »

Several weeks ago I noted that Iran had announced its intention to sue the developers of the Stuxnet virus.  As I said, it was an almost perfect Lawfare type question — in what court? under what theories? etc.?   I … Read more »

Last week, Stewart Baker at Skating on Stilts described the leaked draft Executive Order on Cybersecurity (which he had not seen) as “focused.”  Maybe so, but at 19 pages it seems rather less so to me.  I’ll have more analysis … Read more »

Senators McCain, Hutchinson and Chambliss have an op ed in the Wall St. Journal today, urging President Obama to refrain from issuing a cyber Executive Order.  Here’s a taste (I fear the full text is behind a registration wall — … Read more »

Like Jack, I was struck by the Defense Science Board’s report on the autonomy of military systems, but it was a different aspect of the report that caught my eye – enough so that I thought it was … Read more »

Details available from Skating on Stilts — HT: Stewart Baker.  I’ll have some analysis and thoughts later this weekend.

Send to Kindle… Read more »

In a series of posts (here, here, and here) fellow Lawfare blogger John Bellinger has written about the difficulties with the STOCK Act — what the Washington Post calls a “Laughing Stock.”  Readers will recall that … Read more »

This from Secretary Clinton in China:

I also raised the growing threat of cyber attacks that are occurring on an increasing basis. Both the United States and China are victims of cyber attacks. Intellectual property, commercial data, [and] national

… Read more »