It’s Getting Late in the Cyber War – Rachel Ehrenfeld – Promises to increase the United States cyber defenses are nothing new, though lately they are made more frequently. On June 9, 2015, just one day after President Obama vowed to “aggressively bolster” our cyber defenses, the U.S. Army official website was hacked and defaced, apparently by a hacktivist group, supporting Bashar Assad, the “Syrian Electronic Army,” while the massive attack on the Office and Personal Management has been attributed to China…more…

Securing the GPS – Dr. Gene H. McCall – Recently, there has been a considerable interest shown in the fact that the nation has become very dependent on the GPS signals and the capabilities that they enable. There have been many presentations by those who claim that GPS signals are weak enough to provide a significant vulnerability to interference and jamming. Government committees have received briefings on the subject, papers have been presented at professional society meetings. Many presentations have been oriented toward the establishing of an eLoran system in the U. S. to serve as a backup system if the GPS signal were unavailable. All of the attention to the subject has resulted in what I describe as a sky is falling attitude in some groups…more…

ISIS Update, June 4-11, 2015 – Rachel Ehrenfeld – The longer the U.S. and its allies dwell on how best to react to the Islamic State, the more time this Islamic plague has to take over territory, treasure, weapons and fighters. The more ISIS terrorists are “martyred” by the limited aerial bombing campaign, the more foreigners flood to Iraq, Syria and Libya. Alas, as many have noted, bombing is not enough to lessen ISIS’s appeal to many radicalized Muslims the world over. Instead of preventing the jihadi ideological plague from spreading, the West maintains its political correctness, even helps disseminate it. Only after the British newspaper, the Daily Mail, reported that copies of ISIS’s English-language publication, Dabiq, could be purchased on Amazon.uk at the price GBP 27 per copy, sent to buyers without shipping costs (along with a gift), did Amazon stopped selling the issues of Dabiq…more…

Cyber Insecurity on the Rise – Rachel Ehrenfeld – How damaging was/is the (presumably) latest hacking of the United States government’s Office of Personal Management data is unknown. According to the OPM website, the hacked information “could include name, Social Security Number, date and place of birth, and current and former addresses [as well as] additional [Personally Identifiable] Information.” Reports on this hacking also indicate that the OPM is uncertain as to who was the perpetrator and how long the hacking had been going on. The OPM hacking effected at least 4 million current and former government employees, whose unencrypted  information was stolen, apparently not for the first time. Yet, no one in government has taken responsibility for the insufficient cybersecurity that puts its employees at risk and keeps an open door to our national secrets…more…

News & Analysis

What is Code? – Paul Ford, Bloomberg

FBI Alert Reveals Groups Behind OPM Hack. President says cyber attack
threat accelerating – Bill Gertz

The Worm Turns: Virus Hunter Kaspersky Becomes the Hunted – Spiegel
International

Testimony on Iran, June 10, 2015 – Lt. General Michael T. Flynn, USA (Retired), Joint Foreign Affairs and HSAC Committees

UN: U.S. Failed to Report Iran’s Violations of Sanctions – Lee Smith

Davutoglu: Turks Have Rejected Presidential System – The American Interest

Rumsfeld: Bush was wrong about democracy in Iraq – David Goldman

Erdogan’s Approaching Downfall and a Kurdish Revolution – Svante Cornell

The would-be sultanas existential war – Burak Bekdil

ISIS is booming everywhere America’s left a void – Benny Avni

Who Is IS? I think the Russians are involved, in tandem with the Iranians,
who have had their own troops on the Syrian battlefield for years. – Michael
Ledeen

The Islamic State (or someone pretending to be it) is trying to raise funds
using Bitcoin – Washington Post

The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Iraqi Sheik – Eli Lake

Post-Soviet Russians Began Looking for Enemies Under Yeltsin – Paul Goble

Saakashvili’s Presence Makes Odessa Likely Target of Russian Provocations,
Kirillova Says – Paul Goble

Swimming with Sharks – Lilia Shevtsova

In Macedonia and the Balkans, Russia Throws Down the Gauntlet. Does the U.S.
have a plan? – Jeffrey Gedmin

How Isolated is Israel? – Elliott Abrams

Capitol Hill

House:
Iran’s Enduring Ballistic Missile Threat – Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa – June 10, 2015

The Federal Information Technology Reform Act’s Role in Reducing IT
Acquisition Risk – Oversight Committee, Subcommittee on Information
Technology, Subcommittee on Government Operations – June 10, 2015

Defense Support of Civil Authorities: A Vital Resource in the Nation’s Homeland Security Missions – Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications – June 10, 2015

Iran’s Enduring Ballistic Missile Threat – Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa – June 10, 2015

GAO Reports

Civil Support: DOD Is Taking Action to Strengthen Support of Civil Authorities – GAO-15-686T, June 10, 2015

Information Technology: Additional Actions and Oversight Urgently Needed to Reduce Waste and Improve Performance in Acquisitions and Operations – GAO-15-675T, June 10, 2015

Screening Partnership Program: TSA’s Cost and Performance Independent Study – GAO-15-612R, June 10, 2015

Aviation Security: TSA Has Taken Steps to Improve Oversight of Key Programs, but Additional Actions Are Needed – GAO-15-678T, June 9, 2015