NSA Unveils "Artificial Intelligence Security Center"

The National Security Agency is establishing a new “Artificial Intelligence Security Center” to help spur on the secure development and adoption of AI capabilities, and defend AI advancements from foreign adversaries.

NSA Director and Cyber Command chief Gen. Paul Nakasone broke the news during an event at the National Press Club on Thursday.

“The AI Security Center will become NSA’s focal point for leveraging foreign intelligence insights, contributing to the development of best practices guidelines, principles, evaluation methodology, and risk frameworks for AI security, with an end goal of promoting the secure development, integration, and adoption of AI capabilities within our national security systems and our defense industrial base,” Nakasone said...

The news about the center comes as the NSA also plans to establish a new “innovation pipeline” focused on China. more

Weekend Read: “Spymaster’s Prism: The Fight Against Russian Aggression”

November 1, 2023

by  Jack Devine  (Author)

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars      73 ratings

I am pleased to announce that the paperback edition of my second book “Spymaster’s Prism: The Fight Against Russian Aggression” comes out today.

When the book was first published in the middle of the pandemic in 2021, there was only an emergent acknowledgement of the real threat posed by Russian "active measures" and espionage to Western interests. Though I devoted an entire section to Ukraine called "New Berlin", I could not have foretold how much the world would change only a year later, on 24 February 2022...

I hope that the release of the paperback of "Spymaster's Prism: The Fight Against Russian Aggression" will give you an opportunity to discover or revisit a thorough accounting of the Russian intelligence services relentless and unending campaign against the West and what we must continue to do to arrest it. Good Hunting! 

China Is Becoming a No-Go Zone for Executives

Foreign executives are scared to go to China. 

Their main concern: They might not be allowed to leave. 

Beijing’s tough treatment of foreign companies this year, and its use of exit bans targeting bankers and executives, has intensified concerns about business travel to mainland China. Some companies are canceling or postponing trips. Others are maintaining travel plans but adding new safeguards, including telling staff they can enter the country in groups but not alone.

“There is a very significant cautionary attitude toward travel to China,” said Tammy Krings, chief executive of ATG Travel Worldwide, which works with large employers around the world. “I would advise mission-critical travel only.” Krings said she has seen a roughly 25% increase in cancellations or delays of business trips to China by U.S. companies in recent weeks. more

Where The Spies Are

There are about 80 Russian spies in Switzerland, which is about one-fifth of the total number of Russian agents in Europe. Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, citing the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, as reported by European Pravda

Details: European states have been actively countering the Russian intelligence network, expelling employees of Russian embassies since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

However, Switzerland did not resort to such a step due to the long tradition of neutrality. The estimates of the intelligence service, shared with members of parliament in September, indicate that there are currently about 80 Russian agents in the country.

A representative of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs in an interview with NZZ emphasized that the country's government "does not impose any sanctions in the form of expelling diplomats", adding that communication channels with Russia should be preserved. more

FutureWatch - What the Well-Dressed Spy Will be Wearing

 ...SMART e-PANTS

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is throwing $22 million in taxpayer money at developing clothing that records audio, video, and location data.

THE FUTURE OF wearable technology, beyond now-standard accessories like smartwatches and fitness tracking rings, is ePANTS, according to the intelligence community.

The federal government has shelled out at least $22 million in an effort to develop “smart” clothing that spies on the wearer and its surroundings. Similar to previous moonshot projects funded by military and intelligence agencies, the inspiration may have come from science fiction and superpowers, but the basic applications are on brand for the government: surveillance and data collection.

Billed as the “largest single investment to develop Active Smart Textiles,” the SMART ePANTS — Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems — program aims to develop clothing capable of recording audio, video, and geolocation data, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced in an August 22 press release. Garments slated for production include shirts, pants, socks, and underwear, all of which are intended to be washable. more

Next up... Stylish wear by Faraday.

Putin's Millionaire Wiretapping Boss, 40, Found Dead...

 

...in suspicious circumstances.

Anton Cherepennikov, 40, was found dead in his office in Moscow.

Further investigations are yet to be carried out, however, his cause of death was confusingly listed as “cardiac arrest” prior to any post-mortem.

His longtime pal Vasily Polonsky has since insisted: “I do not believe [he died of] cardiac arrest,” casting further doubt over the circumstances of the death.

Media outlet Baza has reported that “the exact cause of the entrepreneur's death will be determined later”. more

"Wireman" by Pat Spatfore (book)

“Wireman,” from Newman Springs Publishing author Pat Spatafore, invites readers to look through the lens and become part of a profession that connects them to electronic surveillance, presidential assassins, counterintelligence, and criminal investigations.

The former president and chief executive officer of Secure Communications Service Inc., has completed his new book, “Wireman”: a revealing memoir that gives readers an inside look into a career in law enforcement.

Author Pat Spatafore served in the U.S. Navy as a communications technician and has been a sworn member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. His specialties include electronic surveillance, criminal investigations, and security administration.

Mr. Spatafore worked for a District Attorney’s Office located in New York State and served as a criminal investigator, a senior criminal investigator, and director of the district attorney’s Narcotics Initiative Task Force, retiring at the rank of deputy chief criminal investigator. He was responsible for electronic surveillance and criminal investigations. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree. more

Britain's Intelligence Chief Invites Russians Opposed to War to Spy for MI6

Britain's intelligence chief has made a proposal to Russians opposed to Moscow's ongoing war in Ukraine: share any secrets about Moscow, and you'll be kept safe.

During a rare public speech on Wednesday, Richard Moore, chief of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6), drew parallels between present-day Ukraine and the 1968 "Prague Spring," a period of political liberalization and freedom movements that was ultimately crushed by a Soviet Union invasion — triggering defectors to the West. more

South Korean Spy Luck, or Pearls of Wisdom

For weeks, counterintelligence officials at South Korea's spy agency struggled to crack a tiny adversary — a locked USB stick that they believed was the key to proving that a South Korean labor activist followed orders from the North to foment unrest in the South...

The solution to this dilemma was randomly discovered by a NIS agent, who stumbled upon a string of gibberish written in the Latin alphabet that read, “rntmfdltjakfdlfkehRnpdjdiqhqoek,” in another data storage device owned by Seok. 

When the NIS agent typed out Korean letters in the same locations on a computer keyboard as these Latin letters in the same order, they spelled out, “Even three sacks of pearls only turn into treasure if you weave them together.”

The Korean proverb proved key to uncovering the cipher officials needed to crack the USB and the word document inside it. more

France Set To Allow Police To Spy Through Phones

French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late Wednesday.

Part of a wider justice reform bill, the spying provision has been attacked by the left and rights defenders as an authoritarian snoopers' charter, though Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti insists it would affect only "dozens of cases a year".

Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail.

Devices could also be remotely activated to record sound and images of people suspected of terror offenses, as well as delinquency and organized crime. more

NJ Makes It Harder for Police to Snoop on Social Media

New Jersey is known for many things, from delicious bagels to the heated pork roll vs. Taylor ham debate... But the Garden State deserves a new accolade: defender of digital privacy rights.

In an important decision that has seemingly flown under the radar, late last month the Supreme Court of New Jersey decided Facebook Inc. v. State, which puts much-needed guardrails on police conduct in the state when it comes to law enforcement’s access to digital communications. more

Tasmanian Government Blocks Radio Network Eavesdropping

Australia - The days of people listening to the police scanner are numbered, with the Tasmanian Government officially launching their new ‘secure’ Government Radio Network today.

Telstra were contracted to commission the $763 million dollar initiative, which the State Government say is one of Tasmania’s largest infrastructure projects ever.

TasGRN has ‘been purpose-built’ and will be used all Government agencies – including Tasmania Police, Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania SES, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, TasNetworks and Hydro Tasmania.

Police & Emergency Services Minister Felix Ellis says the new network is “secure” and will allow Tasmania’s key organisations “to better serve the community with fully encrypted voice communications, limiting exposure to criminals covertly accessing the network”. more

US Spies Issue Warnings Over Risks of Doing Business in China

US intelligence officials renewed warnings for American companies doing business in China, citing an update to a counterespionage law that’s due to take effect (today, July 1, 2023).

A bulletin issued by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center on Friday warns executives that an update to China’s counterespionage law, which comes into effect on July 1, has the “potential to create legal risks or uncertainty” for companies doing business in China.

It adds that the law broadens the scope of China’s espionage law and expands Beijing’s official definition of espionage. “Any documents, data, materials, or items” could be considered relevant to the law due to its “ambiguities,” the bulletin says. more

North Carolina House Speaker Installs Spy Cameras

Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) allegedly used his political influence to bed former Apex Town Councilman Scott Lassiter’s wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter, over the course of their three-year extramarital relationship, according to a lawsuit filed June 18.

After Lassiter, 36, confronted the Republican legislator about the infidelity, Moore allegedly hired an unidentified goon to install a camera on the Lassiters’ Raleigh property earlier this month in an effort to keep the tryst under wraps.

“Defendant Tim Moore and Defendant John Doe willfully and wantonly interfered with [Lassiter’s] property rights and right to privacy by entering upon [Lassiter’s] property in the middle of the night and installing equipment intended to surreptitiously record [Lassiter’s] private actions in his own home,” the lawsuit states.

Lassiter claims to have found the camera inside his flowerbed in the early hours of June 1, on what would have been his and Jamie’s 10th wedding anniversary. more

The US Presidential Race Gets More Interesting

Former CIA clandestine officer and GOP Rep. Will Hurd has announced he is joining the Republican race to be president. The Texan and Donald Trump critic announced he is jumping into the growing GOP field with 14 rivals during an interview with CBS on Thursday morning. 'This is a decision that my wife and I decided to do because we live in complicated times and we need common sense,' he said. more

Fishy Spy News, or Flipper Flips Sides

Russia's navy is using trained dolphins to step up security at its Sevastopol Black Sea fleet base, according to UK intelligence. The mammals are intended to "detect and counter" enemy divers, British intelligence reported.

Last month, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries advised beachgoers to "avoid contact" with a well-known beluga whale that's suspected of being used for Russian espionage. The warning came in response to the whale's travels to a densely populated area, putting him at far greater risk of injury or death. The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, became famous in 2019 after it was spotted wearing a specially made harness with mounts for a camera, leading to the "Russian spy" allegations. more

China’s Corporate Spy War

CNBC Documentaries examines the case of a Chinese government spy who tried to steal secrets from some of America’s biggest companies and delves into the shadowy world of economic espionage that could endanger millions of U.S. jobs. more

Notable US Spies Fast Facts

Timeline Summaries* of Spies Who Failed

Aldrich Ames
1962 - Aldrich Ames, son of a CIA analyst, joins the agency as a low-level documents analyst. 

David Boone
1970-1991 - David Boone serves in the US Army as a signals intelligence analyst. During the late 1980s, he is assigned to the National Security Agency as a senior cryptologic traffic analyst. 

Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins
1996 - Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins makes visits to Russia to meet with their intelligence agents. He is given a code name and signs a settlement “attesting that he wanted to serve” them.

Noshir Gowadia
1968-1986 - Noshir Gowadia is employed by Northrop Grumman where he works on technology relating to the B-2 Spirit Bomber, aka the “Stealth” bomber.

Robert Hanssen
January 12, 1976 - Robert Hanssen joins the FBI.

Ana Montes
1984 - Ana Montes is recruited to spy for Cuba. She is never paid for her spying.

Walter Kendall Myers
1977 - Walter Kendall Myers begins working for the US State Department on contract, as an instructor.

Harold James Nicholson
1980 - Harold Nicholson joins the CIA after serving in the United States Army.

Ronald Pelton
1965-1979 - Ronald Pelton works for the National Security Agency, with top-level security clearance.

Earl Pitts
1983-1996 - Earl Edwin Pitts works at the FBI.

Jonathan Pollard
1979 - Pollard is hired to work at the Navy Field Operational Intelligence Office. He had been rejected previously from employment at the CIA due to drug use. His specialty is North America and the Caribbean.

George Trofimoff
1969-1994 - George Trofimoff, a naturalized American citizen of Russian parentage, works as a civilian for the US Army at the Joint Interrogation Center in Nuremberg, Germany. He also attains the rank of colonel in the Army reserve.     *Complete timelines for each spy.

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And, one successful spy hero...

VA - The local FBI agent who cracked the notorious Walker spy ring in the 1980s has died. Robert "Bob" Hunter was the lead investigator in the 1985 arrest of master spy John Walker, who led what U.S. officials called the most damaging espionage case in American history. The Walker spy ring operated for nearly two decades, spanning five presidencies, stealing top-secret information from the Navy and selling it to the Soviet Union. In 1999, Hunter wrote a book about his experiences: "Spy Hunter: Inside the FBI Investigation of the Walker Espionage Case." more

Cuba to Host Secret Chinese Spy Base Focusing on U.S.

Beijing agrees to pay Havana several billion dollars for eavesdropping facility...

China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, in a brash new geopolitical challenge by Beijing to the U.S., according to U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence. 

An eavesdropping facility in Cuba, roughly 100 miles from Florida, would allow Chinese intelligence services to scoop up electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., where many military bases are located, and monitor U.S. ship traffic. 

Officials familiar with the matter said that China has agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars to allow it to build the eavesdropping station, and that the two countries had reached an agreement in principle. more

Taiwan Raids 8 Companies for Alleged Tech Espionage

The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) raided eight technology companies with ties to China between May 22-25 for allegedly seeking to steal technology from Taiwanese companies and poach IT staff.

To counter attempts by China to engage in industrial espionage, the MJIB sent 112 investigators to raid eight companies allegedly posing as firms backed by Taiwanese or foreign investors, reported CNA. After investigators searched 25 locations in Taipei City, New Taipei City, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Chiayi County, and Taichung City, a total of 49 individuals were taken in for questioning...

The bureau vowed to continue cracking down on the illegal poaching of talent and theft of trade secrets to maintain the country's competitive advantage. more