Sucking up to Dictators Is Harder Than It Looks
September 21, 2009, was a day of blitz diplomacy for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: She had more than eight and a half hours of bilateral meetings to juggle, along with a marathon of press briefings and camera sprays at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. But one of her sit-downs that day required particular finesse. It was with an obscure dictator whose name alone presented a challenge — Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan. He came into the room with an immediate advantage: The United States needed his help. Clinton needed to convince him to let NATO transports through his country, a move that would ease pressure on U.S. supply lines into Afghanistan and probably save some U.S. troops. The usual approach — money — would not work with energy-rich Turkmenistan. It was a test of her skill as a diplomat.
No Russian Combat Troops For Afghanistan
A top Kremlin official Tuesday ruled out sending Russian combat troops to war-torn Afghanistan to help NATO forces counter a rising Taliban insurgency, but said it could train the south-west Asian country’s military and police personnel to bolster its internal security capabilities.
US frees Iraqi Photographer Held for 17 Months
American forces in Iraq have released an Iraqi freelance photographer held in detention for 17 months without charge. Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, who worked for Reuters, was arrested in September 2008 in a dawn raid on his home. The US said the photographer was a “security threat”, but all evidence against him was classified secret.
Marines Plan Major Afghanistan Operation (Photos)
Working in partnership with Afghan soldiers, U.S. Marines are planning a major operation to flush out insurgents and allow the Afghan government to reassert control over an area in southern Afghanistan called Marja.
TPM Security Cracked Wide Open
The previously unassailable Trusted Platform Module – designed to provide cryptographic security to data held on servers and PCs – has been cracked by a California-based hacker.
One-on-one Interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates
“A lot of these people get their training in that border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Gates said. “That is sort of the center, the core, the capital of international terrorism in the sense that’s where the leadership still is.” “This is a very real threat,” Gates said. “These guys are down, but they are far from out, and that’s where they are.”
Obama’s Terrorism Poll Numbers Rise Despite GOP Attacks
This Washington Post/ABC News poll is filled with bad news for congressional Democrats, but it also contains one piece of bad news for congressional Republicans. Look at Obama’s approval rating on handling the threat of terrorism: he gets a 56 percent approval rating, up from 53 percent on November 15, before the attempted attack on the Northwest Airlines flight 253. That’s a three-point increase in approval after a month’s worth of sustained Republican attacks on Obama charging would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in federal court and reading him his Miranda rights.
Teleworkers Keep DISA Humming Despite Snow
Working remotely is commonplace at DISA, where most employees are outfitted with agency-issued laptops with secure linkups and a suite of collaboration software — such as videoconferencing — to enable teleworking. So, despite impassable roads and a government shutdown, DISA is “pretty much business as usual,” said John Garing, the agency’s strategic planning and information director, interviewed from his home in northern Virginia. “It’s our culture to be always on — that means us, not just our networks.”
Blackberry Users Vulnerable to Applications That Spy
Tyler Shields, senior researcher for the application security company Veracode, gave a presentation at ShmooCon 2010 earlier this week that may cause Blackberry owners to double-check what applications they choose to download and install. Shields demonstrated, using only RIM-provided APIs and without leveraging any Blackberry vulnerabilities or software exploits, how an application can be created to pry into just about anything a cyber-snoop would want: eavesdrop on discussions taking place around the phone, grab phone location data, tap text messages, grab contacts, etc.
Worth Watching: bouhammer
Alex Upgraded – Becomes First Hurricane of 2010 Season
Just in from the NHC: …ALEX BECOMES THE FIRST HURRICANE OF THE 2010 SEASON AND THE FIRST JUNE ATLANTIC HURRICANE SINCE 1995… The good news is that this is looking...
Video: 2010 NCO and Soldier of the Year Competition
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Video: Marines Work with Thai Civilians as Part of Cobra Gold 2010
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Video: 2010 Homeland Security S&T Summit Webcast
The 2010 Homeland Security S&T Summit – South Central Region, that was held at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory on February 9-10, 2010 is now posted....
