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US To Create the Independent US Cyber Command, Split Off From NSA (pbs.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PBS: After months of delay, the Trump administration is finalizing plans to revamp the nation's military command for defensive and offensive cyber operations in hopes of intensifying America's ability to wage cyberwar against the Islamic State group and other foes, according to U.S. officials. Under the plans, U.S. Cyber Command would eventually be split off from the intelligence-focused National Security Agency. The goal, they said, is to give U.S. Cyber Command more autonomy, freeing it from any constraints that stem from working alongside the NSA, which is responsible for monitoring and collecting telephone, internet and other intelligence data from around the world -- a responsibility that can sometimes clash with military operations against enemy forces. Making cyber an independent military command will put the fight in digital space on the same footing as more traditional realms of battle on land, in the air, at sea and in space. The move reflects the escalating threat of cyberattacks and intrusions from other nation states, terrorist groups and hackers, and comes as the U.S. faces ever-widening fears about Russian hacking following Moscow's efforts to meddle in the 2016 American election.
This was actually something that was started at the end of last year by Obama, and has been needed for a very long time. It has just taken this long for the meetings and paperwork to be completed.
Russian language skills definitely a plus.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Is a pocket protector part of the uniform?
First law of people: People are generally stupid.
Agreed, comrade
The goal, they said, is to give U.S. Cyber Command more autonomy, freeing it from any constraints that stem from working alongside the NSA...
[sarcasm] Great... A government agency with less accountability than the NSA. Just what we all needed more of. [/sarcasm]
"... following Moscow's efforts to meddle in the 2016 American election." Rubbish!
This is not news, or even fact. You are parroting and perpetuating misinformation. After significant effort and expense and, oh, over six months of exhaustive digging, zero evidence can be produced to support this statement. If you're just going to parrot CNN or some other ratings-focused "news" rag, then I can just go there instead of slashdot when I want to be mislead. Seriously, for all the good work you publish here, this kind of drivil really doesn't do you justice and only serves to diminish the credibility of your other posts. You do yourself a grave injustice and insult the intelligence of the slashdot reader. Spare us the thinly disguised and feeble attempt at political commentary.
Cyber Show, Idiot
It's questionable the Russians did anything. What was done could have been done by a handful of 15 yearolds. The real story in all this is the people in positions of power that we trust to run government don't have a clue about security and don't take it seriously enough. Lax security.
Stop blaming others when your using the equivalent of Roman locks and wax seals for security.
There are too many intelligence agencies in the US. If politicians were serious about eliminating government waste, they would consolidate all of those agencies into one, Central Intelligence Agency.
Having a bunch of isolated intelligence gathering agencies is how we ended up with Pearl Harbor, and 9/11.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
So we are definitely going to need the Gun Emoji , perhaps a missile and nuke Emoji too.
Perhaps a gravestone Emoji with "Byte the Dust" would be appropriate too.
"As far as the cyber, I agree to parts of what Secretary Clinton said. We should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we’re not. I don’t think anybody knows that it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She’s saying Russia, Russia, Russia—I don't, maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay?
...
We came in with the Internet. We came up with the Internet. And I think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much, when you look at what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they’re beating us at our own game. ISIS.
So we had to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare. It is a huge problem. I have a son—he’s 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers. It’s unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe, it's hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that’s true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better, Lester. And certainly cyber is one of them."
I for one, am relieved that we have this person making the tough decisions. He'll fix everything with cyber.
I don't respond to AC's.
Well, the head of the NSA refused to pledge loyalty to our current President, so...
#DeleteChrome
We need to be protected from this. Cybercommand *Is* a good idea, but let us set it up so 1st it does US no harm.
Believe it or not, spinning it off into a new branch of the military is a GOOD thing for American civilians. Why? The military operates under constraints, scrutiny, and civilian oversight that increasingly seem to NOT apply to "mere" law enforcement agencies (especially post-9/11).
"Widely debunked" by whom? We know the Russians did manage to break into some election systems in some states. We know that artfully timed email leaks probably had a significant effect on the election results, and we've seen the Russians trying similar stunts with recent European elections.
Just claiming "it's debunked" doesn't make the claims of Russian interference false. All it says is that you have willfully bought into a false narrative, and I'd be curious as to why you have bought into that narrative, considering we now know of at least three recent elections where the Russians were intentionally trying to give their preferred candidate the advantage.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
He'll fix everything with THE cyber.
FTFY
Rather than have one group that has to be the sword and the shield both trying to keep codes safe and break encryption.
Think of it as a new cyber CIA that can support freedom fighters all over the globe.
Free of any 1970's FISA oversight and budget questions.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Well, the head of the NSA refused to pledge loyalty to our current President, so...
Which is a good thing, in the US no-one ever pledges loyalty to any individual. They might make a pledge to uphold the Constitution, but as far as I can tell the current President is the first to need personal loyalty from his officeholders.
Hrm. I'm all for fighting our adversaries, and at least perceptionally, Russia seems to be getting our goat & Isis is doing better than they should. But, I also hope we're doing this right. Anything Trump touches ends up being horribly planned and rushed, bad for common American public, horribly implemented, and eventually all the details get leaked by back-stabbing political underlings. I see Ash Carter and Obama started the Command, and Mattis is pushing it now, so I have hope. And the only thing Trump should do is sign on the dotted line w/out saying a word. I'd like to know the details that have been negotiated recently - at least that they don't unnecessarily intrude on friendly common people's privacy and other rights. And to parent's point - how exactly do military operation rules have more constraints & scrutiny than law enforcement agencies?
That sounds like what he discussed with Putin:
"Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded."
Donald Trump, July 9th, 2017
https://twitter.com/realDonald...
The next day he said tweeted "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't..." But maybe it can. Perhaps Putin's role in it is one of the "Details [that] are still being worked out, but officials say they expect a decision and announcement in the coming weeks."
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Which is a good thing, in the US no-one ever pledges loyalty to any individual.
I completely agree with you. I was pointing it out because it's only recently become an alleged issue.
#DeleteChrome
You mean the one on March 26 when Putin was told that he would do more what Putin after the next election?
It means there are some things even the NSA will not do.
So they want a new group combining the tech skills of the NSA with the morals of the CIA.
...it's only recently become an alleged issue...
Not a huge surprise though.
Usually the question goes the other way: do you have a reason to *trust* them. Anyhow, there are a few things that make me question them, yes.
They've helped destabilize or backed coups in Iran, Guatemala, North Vietnam, Hungary, Laos, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Zaire, Brazil, Indonesia, Greece, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, Afghanistan, and probably other places. They've run operations like Operation Mockingbird, they helped with Watergate, etc.
The current operation is about like the lies over the WMD. Secret evidence, tons of stories with nothing in them but anonymous quotes.
And even the ODNI report you allude to is getting inflated. It merely said that hacking the election was something Russia might like to do, it didn't give any actual evidence if you read the damned thing. But what the heck does the Coast Guard know about this, anyhow? Oh, right, you probably didn't know who the members of that were. Or that the people who signed this report were just a couple of political appointees.
Same way you guys probably never read the Trend Micro report which everyone talked about and I think only Ars actually bothered to link to.
But sure, please feel free to show me the 'mountain of evidence' of CNN/WaPo stories that all cite each other, anonymous/secret sources, or the ODNI, Crowdstrike or Trend Micro reports that have jack all in them but an old copy of P.A.S. freeware and some Tor exit nodes. But hey, that Advanced Persistent Threat Fancy Bear is everywhere.
... on the same footing as more traditional realms of battle on land, in the air, at sea and in space ...
Which America is losing, bigly.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
You sad motherfucker. You signed a non-disparagement agreement when you voted for Trump.
Pay $5 million now.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
in the US no-one ever pledges loyalty to any individual.
Unless you're a GOP Congressperson and you want some of Grover Norquist's money
Then you pledge fealty and do as you are told
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/08/13/nearly-all-the-gop-candidates-bow-down-to-grover-norquist/?utm_term=.62e6c72ca7d3
You're a moron APK. Trump is a traitor and that has NOTHING to do with welfare, food stamps, education/healthcare cuts or anything else.
Stop being Putin's bitch you cunt.
Sorry, he's still busy swirling Donald's balls with his tongue, because Donald's penis doesn't come close to filling his mouth.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
For Fuck's Sake: "cyber" is a prefix, it is not a noun all on its own!
I think the first time I heard it used that way was by - no surprise here - then-candidate Donald Trump during a debate. And, as you can hear in that clip, using "cyber" as a noun sounds about as coherent as saying the internet is a series of tubes. Perhaps people have been misusing "cyber" all this time, and I'm only just now noticing. Maybe that moment of idiocy, broadcast to the whole world, just heightened my senses to it, but now I seem to read and hear it all the time. I prefer to think that stupidity is contagious, and Donald Trump is just an index patient.
Oh, sorry. A cheque is on it's way.
Ty, neighbour.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
> The intelligence on WMD was accurate, professional, and appropriately skeptical. It was GWB's team that rushed to judgment and pushed the narrative of WMD.
That's the trick, though. The ODNI report isn't so bad... it just doesn't actually say anything, nobody actually read it, and stories very rarely ever bother to link to it. It's the rest of the people all pushing stories about how 17 agencies say Russia hacked the election (something NOT in the damned report!).
FWIW, I don't seriously believe they "rushed to judgement" either. From what I can tell, they had an answer they wanted and they looked for any justification, however flimsy, to support that. This is the same thing you see with the Russia story today, where they push utter crap like the "Trump server secretly communicating with Russian bank!" story. Which, when you actually investigated, turned out to be a 3rd party marketing server associated with some Trump business making DNS queries due to Russian phishing scams against said bank. The real story there would be "who is spying on their DNS traffic?" but you won't find any stories in the media about that because few people ever read more than the headline of that story.
The media was actually against the GWB regime (for good reason, it turned out) so you heard more of the dissenting voices than you ever will vs. the Trump hysteria, but similar voices exist now and are going unheard. Heck, I can't even submit to Slashdot any more without getting bots marking me as "SPAM." If you go look at my submissions, you'll see this one got falsely marked as "SPAM" even though it's nothing of the sort. Slashdot published that exact story from someone else a day or so later.
I've never had ANY story flagged as spam before that and I have quite a lot of published Slashdot submissions.