China Gets Pass from Obama on ‘Devastating’ OPM Hack to Preserve Strategic Dialogue and Summit
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Xi Jinping / AP
BY: Bill Gertz
The Obama administration continues to play down one of the nation’s most damaging Chinese cyber espionage operations in order to maintain a dialogue with China and host a summit for its leader this fall.
Weeks after the discovery that millions of personal records on federal workers was stolen by Chinese hacker in an intelligence operation, the president and his advisers failed to condemned the state-sponsored security breach whose damage continues to worsen almost weekly.
The Obama administration, in a sign of its apparent unwillingness to take any steps against China for the hacking, will go ahead with the hosting this week of the latest Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington. The dialogue is known for producing little in the way of tangible results of regular meetings between senior U.S. and Chinese officials. The questionable diplomacy is said its supporters to advance U.S. interests. However, keeping secret the Chinese connection to the cyber attack is likely to encourage further attacks.
Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, made no mention in a briefing for reporters whether the Chinese role in the OPM hack would be discussed at the dialogue, which begins Tuesday.
Instead, he said cyber security would be discussed in the Strategic Security Dialogue that he said, “really is germane to building a relationship of trust between the U.S. and China. It’s an important common concern.”
China has denied any role in the OPM attack, as it has done in the past when Chinese hacking has been exposed on numerous occasions.
“We don’t always see eye to eye, but the fact is that global challenges require that we cooperate,” Russel said.
The talks are being led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew who will meet a large Chinese delegation headed by Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
The Pentagon ignored the OPM hack in allowing China’s senior general to visit sensitive U.S. facilities, another sign the administration has not taken the threat of Chinese cyber espionage seriously.
Additionally, Obama has no plans to cancel the scheduled summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September. It will be the first state visit by the communist leader to the United States. Canceling the visit would have sent a powerful signal to the Chinese. Instead, allowing the visit is clear sign the president and his advisers are not concerned about the data loss affecting the security of the country in fundamental ways.
The latest news reports from Washington indicate that China’s intelligence services were behind the hacking and had access to personal information on tens of thousands of federal employees who have access to secrets.
White House Homeland Security Director Lisa Monaco has no response when asked this week why President Obama during remarks in Germany had failed to condemn the cyber attack on OPM.
Monaco, following administration talking points not to identify China as the culprit, would say only that the administration may impose sanctions or take other unspecified legal, diplomatic or intelligence activities in response.
On Capital Hill, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the OPM hack perhaps “the most devastating cyber attack in our nation’s history.”
OPM Director Katherine Archuleta, a political appointee, came under fire during a Committee hearing for failing to protect federal data from the Chinese hacking. Archuleta said her main priority since taking over OPM in late 2013 was to improve information security.
“Well, you have completely and utterly failed in that mission if that was your objective,” Chaffetz said. “The information was vulnerable and the hackers got it. I don’t know if it’s the Chinese, the Russians, whoever, else, but they’ve got it. And they’re going to prey upon the American people. That’s their goal and objective.”
During the hearing it was disclosed that the hackers first penetrated OPM’s central personnel data file.
Investigators then learned that data contained in a different database used for screening the 700,000 federal works who have security clearances and must undergo period reviews was also compromised.
Investigators then learned that data contained in a different database used for screening the 700,000 federal works who have security clearances and must undergo period reviews was also compromised.
Estimates of the number of employees whose data was stolen could range as high as 14 million.
Other details from the hearing included that a zero-day vulnerability was used in the operation.
Archuleta and other officials declined to provide details in the open hearing.
Archuleta and other officials declined to provide details in the open hearing.
The National Security Agency, the nation’s premier cyber security and intelligence gathering agency, also has joined the investigation of the cyber attacks, along with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
DHS assistant secretary Andy Ozment said investigators “have assessed that they have fully removed the adversary from these networks, but it is extremely difficult to have 100 percent certainty in these cases.”
DHS assistant secretary Andy Ozment said investigators “have assessed that they have fully removed the adversary from these networks, but it is extremely difficult to have 100 percent certainty in these cases.”
Concerns remain that Chinese hackers may have left behind clandestine software that could be used in cyber warfare or cyber intelligence gathering.
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· · · · ·
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter will focus on NATO issues for the next week. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
BERLIN — As NATO forces continue a slew of large-scale military exercises that have included amphibious operations and airborne drops across Eastern Europe and the Baltics, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter will spend the next week in the region pushing the alliance to ditch the Cold War playbook these exercises seem ripped from.
“The new playbook is to respond to the new security situation in Europe, including the situation posed by Russia’s own behavior,” Carter told reporters. “It’s not like it was in the old days. We are looking at a NATO response that is much more mobile [and] much more agile.”
Carter’s comments come as the United States weighs whether to place heavy weapons — including tanks and infantry fighting vehicles — and up to 5,000 troops in Poland, amid a precarious security situation in eastern Ukraine and escalating tensions with Russia.
The troops in Poland would augment NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, known as the “spearhead force,” whose units have been placed throughout the region as a crisis-response force.
“This is another step toward building a greater U.S. presence in Poland and the region,” Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak told the Polish news agency PAP last week.
Carter, who will witness the task force’s capabilities firsthand during a new set of exercises in the coming week, stressed that the force will be part of a strong and balanced approach to dealing with the new challenges facing NATO, including “hybrid warfare” of the likes seen in Crimea last year as well as the extremist threat percolating in northern Africa.
Hybrid warfare “is one of the dimensions of our adaptations and very important [for] countries surrounding Russia that don’t want to be susceptible to the kind of thing that happened in Crimea,” Carter said.
About 65,000 U.S. troops are stationed throughout Europe, down from about 400,000 at the height of the Cold War.
“This is not the Europe of the Cold War; this is the Europe of today, and we are trying to make sure NATO is prepared to deal with the threats of today,” said a senior defense official, who was not permitted to talk to the media and so spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Yet the notion of placing more U.S. troops and equipment in Poland, which would be one of the more aggressive moves by the Pentagon since the Cold War, has antagonized Russia. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the addition of 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles to his country’s already large stockpile.
“We hope that reason will prevail and the situation in Europe will be prevented from sliding into a new military confrontation which may have dangerous consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement last week.
Carter’s visit to the region coincides with the tail end of BALTOPS, a massive NATO exercise that began earlier this month and involves almost 6,000 troops from 17 countries, on land and sea and in the air.
The trip is an “opportune time to go to Europe and take stock of the very changed security environment, threats coming from the east and from the south, to make sure NATO is poised to meet those threats in the best possible way,” said another official, who was also not allowed to speak to the media and discussed the visit on the condition of anonymity.
The BALTOPS exercise, which ended Saturday, peaked last week with a practice amphibious landing in Ustka, Poland — 100 miles west of Russia’s strategic warm-water naval base in Kaliningrad.
In moves that appeared to coincide with the exercises, Russian aircraft buzzed participating U.S. warships, with one jet coming within a few hundred feet of the USS Jason Dunham, a destroyer. Additionally, NATO jets based in Estonia have intercepted Russian aircraft flying near restricted airspace more than 10 times since the jets were first stationed there seven weeks ago.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff is a Washington Post contributor and a former U.S. infantry Marine.
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A former CIA director says the Obama administration hasn’t done nearly enough to protect the nation from attacks to America’s information and critical infrastructure systems.
“The president has to put this first on his list because we are very vulnerable, and we will stay vulnerable until some key things get fixed. So far, I have not seen anywhere near enough commitment from the White House or any place else in getting this done,” said R. James Woolsey, who served as director of the Central Intelligence in the Clinton administration. Woolsey is now chairman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
The concern is rising again after reports last week that as many as 14 million current and former federal employees had their personal data compromised. That news follows numerous reports of alleged Chinese and Russian infiltration into various government networks.
“I think we’ve seen the beginning, but there will be more,” Woolsey said. “We have not done a half-way decent job as a government or a society in protecting our infrastructure that’s part of the Internet.”
Woolsey sees multiple reasons for why security has not been a higher priority.
“There’s a certain kind of flower children [mentality of], ‘Hey, what could possibly go wrong? We’re all going to talk to one another, and won’t that be great?’” Woolsey said.
“The government has not taken nearly enough care with security. They always put it at the bottom of the list and say, ‘We’ve got to have a check mark beside security. Somebody go hire a firewall.’ The ablest, best, smartest and shrewdest people have not been paying attention to security for the grid, and we’re starting to pay the price.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with R. James Woolsey:
While the most recent reports of private data being hacked is very troublesome, Woolsey said it’s the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s also the case that they can hack into the control systems, the so-called SCADA systems or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, SCADA systems of our infrastructure, whether it’s dams, railroad trains [and] turn things off and turn things to the reverse of what they’re supposed to do,” he said.
Woolsey said compromising one system could lead to a domino effect in many others.
“We’re an Internet of things now as people say, and they seem to think that’s a great idea, but one reason that it’s not a great idea is that all the things – computers, railroad, signals, etc. – talk to one another,” Woolsey said. “If you can get one going wrong and you can do it smartly, you can foul up everything it’s connected to. That could be a massive disaster, particularly with something like the electric grid.”
Woolsey said protecting the power grid in the U.S. is of the utmost importance. He said the U.S. has 18 “critical infrastructures” in the U.S., but 17 are reliant on electricity. If the power grid goes down, Woolsey said everything from food delivery to water purification to banking to prescription drugs is at risk.
He reiterates that the Obama administration must get serious about this now.
“The president needs to say this is the country’s No. 1 priority,” he said. “It’s not just cyber. An electromagnetic pulse could take down the grid and take down a lot of other systems. This needs to be a mobilization of the very best and brightest. We need to be able to break rules and move fast.”
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· · ·
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter termed Russian President Vladimir Putin a “malign influence” in Eastern Europe and said the Russian leader’s vow to expand Moscow’s cache of nuclear missiles was “loose rhetoric.”
Amid continuing tensions over the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. will “keep the door open” for Russia to choose better relations, Carter said, something he indicated was a long shot in remarks to reporters aboard his Pentagon jet on Sunday.
“Russia might not change under Vladimir Putin or even thereafter,” Carter said.
The Pentagon chief criticized Putin’s announcement on June 16 that Russia intends to field 40 additional intercontinental ballistic missiles able to outwit anti-missile defenses. Carter said it was “not appropriate behavior in my judgment.”
Carter spoke at the start of a week-long trip to Europe intended to highlight NATO’s efforts to adapt to a new- generation Russian threat.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, now in its seventh decade, is drawing up a “new playbook” to counter unconventional Russian techniques that were employed in the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Carter said.
Russia’s mix of information warfare, irregular military forces and covert cross-border arms shipments, which Carter labeled “hybrid warfare,” continues to fuel a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. Senator John McCain, speaking in Kiev on Sunday, said it was in the interest of the U.S. and Europe to “reverse” Putin’s aggression. The Russian leader “may continue to pursue a strategy of just biting off small chunks of Ukraine,” said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Saber-Rattling Slammed
The NATO alliance, which just a few years ago appeared adrift, is also confronting Islamic extremism and refugee flows from chaotic regions of North Africa, Carter said.
While slamming Putin’s saber-rattling, Carter said the U.S. still seeks Russian cooperation on issues such as the Iranian nuclear program and a settlement of the Syrian civil war, now into a fourth year. The U.S. is taking a “strong but balanced approach” to relations with its former Cold War adversary, Carter concluded.
Carter on Monday will become the first U.S. defense secretary in more than a decade to visit Berlin, where he is expected to give more details about NATO’s “new playbook” during a speech in the German capital.
The alliance is trying to beef up its ability to respond quickly to crises, especially in countries bordering Russian territory, and deal with unconventional threats like cyberattacks.
‘Short Timelines’
The U.S. and its European allies must be “able to respond on short timelines because that’s how events today unfold, unlike a quarter let alone a half a century ago,” Carter said.
Tuesday, Carter will visit a cybersecurity center in Tallinn, Estonia, and tour a U.S. warship docked there that recently participated in NATO exercises.
Later in the week he heads to Brussels for talks with NATO defense ministers. Russian intentions and the NATO training mission in Afghanistan, along with NATO modernization, are expected to be on the agenda.
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· ·
Israel’s National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen was invited to join two top US officials for dinner in Washington on June 15 to try and make Israel’s case for amending the disastrous nuclear accord taking shape in Vienna between the six world powers and Iran, before it was too late. This meeting is reported here by debkafile for the first time. It was hosted by US National Security Adviser Susan Rice and senior US nuclear negotiator Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman.
The occasion was arranged by CIA Director John Brennan at the end of his visit to Jerusalem in the first week of June. He had come to offer senior Israelis, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a behind-the-scenes briefing on the provisions the Obama administration had accepted for the final nuclear accord with Iran due to be signed by June 30.
This briefing was greeted in Jerusalem with shock and alarm. Very few of the conditions for a deal stipulated by the US upon embarking on the negotiations had survived: Iran would continue to enrich uranium, be allowed to bar international inspections of military facilities suspected of hosting nuclear research activity (where were Obama's "intrusive inspections?) and - Israeli officials heard this for the first time - the Iranian UCF facility at Isfahan would be expanded. This plant is engaged in the conversion of “yellow cake” to enriched nuclear material.
They also discovered that President Obama, who had originally promised the deal would provide for “snapping sanctions back” in the event of violations, had assured Tehran that once sanctions were lifted, they would not be re-imposed.
Netanyahu asked Brennan for time to digest the full extent of the Obama administration’s retreat in the face of Iran’s nuclear aspirations. He then asked for his national security adviser to be given a chance to propose changes that would allay some of Israel’s concerns.
This briefing was greeted in Jerusalem with shock and alarm. Very few of the conditions for a deal stipulated by the US upon embarking on the negotiations had survived: Iran would continue to enrich uranium, be allowed to bar international inspections of military facilities suspected of hosting nuclear research activity (where were Obama's "intrusive inspections?) and - Israeli officials heard this for the first time - the Iranian UCF facility at Isfahan would be expanded. This plant is engaged in the conversion of “yellow cake” to enriched nuclear material.
They also discovered that President Obama, who had originally promised the deal would provide for “snapping sanctions back” in the event of violations, had assured Tehran that once sanctions were lifted, they would not be re-imposed.
Netanyahu asked Brennan for time to digest the full extent of the Obama administration’s retreat in the face of Iran’s nuclear aspirations. He then asked for his national security adviser to be given a chance to propose changes that would allay some of Israel’s concerns.
Brennan quickly set up a date for Cohen to be received in Washington.
debkafile’s Washington sources reveal that at the dinner in Washington, the Israeli official tried a new tack with his hostesses, Rice and Sherman. On the understanding that the main clauses of the nuclear accord had been finalized and gone past the stage of amendment, he nonetheless suggested a number of insertions in the various clauses that would make it a better deal for American as well as Israeli security.
Rice and Sherman politely allowed him to finish talking and then turned his proposals down flat.
Rice and Sherman politely allowed him to finish talking and then turned his proposals down flat.
US and Israeli official sources agree that the invitation to Cohen had not been intended for any serious discussion between the two governments on the Iranian nuclear issue. The two top American officials dealing with the nuclear question barely heard a word that Cohen said. His journey to Washington was a complete waste of time.
Read the whole story
· ·
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's LOT airline has been forced to cancel around 10 foreign and domestic flights after hackers attacked its computers.
Airline spokesman Adrian Kubicki said the hacker attack temporarily paralyzed LOT's computers at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin airport on Sunday, disrupting the processing of passengers for the flights.
He said some 1,400 passengers, scheduled to fly to Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen and domestic destinations, were affected by the cancellations.
The problem was eventually solved and flights scheduled to depart later Sunday could leave as planned. A commission will investigate the source of the attack, Kubicki said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Poland's LOT airline has been forced to cancel around 10 foreign and domestic flights after hackers attacked its computers.
Airline spokesman Adrian Kubicki said the hacker attack temporarily paralyzed LOT's computers at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin airport on Sunday, disrupting the processing of passengers for the flights.
He said some 1,400 passengers, scheduled to fly to Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen and domestic destinations, were affected by the cancellations.
The problem was eventually solved and flights scheduled to depart later Sunday could leave as planned. A commission will investigate the source of the attack, Kubicki said.
-- This embed didnt make it to copy for story id = 31928601.
Rash of bottle bombs against Israelis in Jerusalem
DEBKAfile June 21, 2015, 11:26 PM (IDT)
Three Palestinians bottle bomb attacks in Jerusalem Sunday night: Several were lobbed at a bus in the northern Jerusalem district of Hizme, slightly injuring the driver. Several passengers went into shock. Other bombs damaged a police cruiser outside Isawiyeh near Mt Scopus. Another police cruiser was targeted on the Mount of Olives, hurting no one.
America has spent decades and trillions of dollars building up the greatest military force the world has ever seen.
But the biggest threat to national security these days comes from not from aircraft carriers or infantry divisions, but a computer with a simple Internet connection. That much became clear after the catastrophic hack — most likely by a foreign power — of sensitive federal employee data stored online.
These 5 stats explain the evolution of cyber warfare, its astronomical costs and its increasingly important role in geopolitics.
1. Government Threats
The massive breach of the Office of Personnel Management a couple weeks ago made headlines, but Washington has been fending off cyber-attacks for years now. The federal government suffered a staggering 61,000 cyber-security breaches last year alone.
This most recent wave of hacks exposed the records of up to 14 million current and former US government employees, some dating back to 1985. Compromised information includes Social Security numbers, job assignments and performance evaluations.
This is dangerous information in the hands of the wrong people, which by definition these hackers are. There is a good reason why the U.S. Director of National Intelligence ranks cyber crime as the No. 1 national security threat, ahead of terrorism, espionage and weapons of mass destruction.
2. Business Threats
Hackers aren’t only in the game to damage governments — sometimes good old-fashioned robbery is enough. The FBI had to notify over 3,000 U.S. companies that they were victims of cyber security breaches in 2013. Victims ranged from small banks to major defence contractors to mega retailers.
An astounding 7 per cent of U.S. organisations lost $US1 million or more due to cyber crime in 2013; 19 per cent of U.S. entities have claimed losses between $US50,000 and $US1 million over the same span. Hacking costs the U.S. some $US300 billion per year according to some estimates. Worldwide that figure is closer to $US445 billion, or a full 1 per cent of global income.
The research firm Gartner projects that the world will spend $US79.9 billion on information security in 2015, with the figure rising to $US101 billion in 2018 — and that still won’t be enough.
3. Social Media Threats
With the rise of social media also comes the rise in social media cyber crime. Social media spam increased 650 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013. Nearly 30 per cent of U.S. adults say one of their social media accounts has been hacked.
That number is only set to grow: an estimated 10 to 15 per cent of home computers globally are already infected with botnet crime-ware, and over 30,000 new websites are corrupted daily with compromising code. In a day and age where your online presence increasingly defines you to the rest of the world, hackers with access to your accounts can cause untold damage to both your personal and professional life.
Back in 2011, Facebook admitted that it was the target of 600,000 cyber-attacks every day. Not wanting to scare off potential users, it hasn’t released official figures since.
4. Russia
Speaking of social media, cyber threats don’t only come in the form of traditional hacking. Moscow has set up a sophisticated “troll army” under the umbrella of its Internet Research Agency to wage a massive disinformation campaign in support for its invasion of Ukraine, and of the Kremlin in general. These trolls work hard, each one pumping out 135 comments per 12-hour shift.
Furthermore, each troll is reportedly required to post 50 news article a day while maintaining at least six Facebook and ten Twitter accounts. That’s a whole lot of misinformation. Despite economic hardship caused by sanctions, Moscow believes in this mission enough to employ a full-time staff of 400 with a monthly budget of $US400,000.
5. China
But the single biggest threat to the U.S. remains China. A full 70 per cent of America’s corporate intellectual property theft is believed to originate from China. That doesn’t just mean random hackers who operate within China’s borders; we’re talking about elite cyber groups housed by the government in Beijing.
China decided long ago that it couldn’t compete with the U.S. in direct military strength. The US already outspends China more than 4-to-1 in that regard, making catch-up near impossible. Beijing has instead decided to focus instead on commercial and government espionage.
While exact figures are hard to come by, in May 2013 two former Pentagon officials admitted that “Chinese computer spies raided the databanks of almost every major U.S. defence contractor and made off with some of the country’s most closely guarded technological secrets.” That would be really impressive if it wasn’t so terrifying.
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· · · ·
Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard was reprimanded by the Army for his “excessive involvement” in awarding a $492,000 contract and for “creating the perception of preferential treatment.” (Tony Gutierrez/AP)
A key Army commander in the U.S. war against the Islamic State has been reprimanded by the Pentagon for steering a defense contract to a firm run by two of his former classmates at West Point, becoming the latest high-ranking officer to land in trouble for personal misconduct.
Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, who as the Army’s deputy commander for operations in the Middle East oversaw the training of Iraqi forces, was formally reprimanded in February after a three-year investigation by the Army’s inspector general, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.
An Army review board is considering whether to strip him of his rank as a two-star general before he is allowed to retire this year.
Pittard, long considered a rising star in the Army, returned to the United States in April from his headquarters in Kuwait. The Army has not previously disclosed Pittard’s departure, and an official Army Web site still lists him as its deputy commander in the Middle East. An Army spokeswoman said that he completed his assignment and that his return was not related to his misconduct.
The U.S. military has been tarred by a series of ethical breaches committed by generals and admirals in recent years. Although Pentagon officials have vowed to crack down, the armed forces often seek to keep such cases out of the limelight to protect the reputations of their top brass.
Last year, for example, military officials said the commander of Special Operations forces in Central and South America had retired for “health and personal reasons.” In fact, it was uncovered in June after a review of documents that the commander, Army Brig. Gen. Sean P. Mulholland, had been disciplined for repeatedly becoming intoxicated in public and getting into altercations.
Similarly, the Navy has withheld details of misconduct committed by admirals in a corruption and bribery scandal involving an Asian defense contractor. In February, the Navy announced that it hadcensured three admirals, but it has refused to release public records documenting their actions or to identify other officers who have been subjected to administrative action.
The investigation into Pittard began in 2011 after an anonymous whistleblower alleged that the general had “abused his authority by awarding lucrative renewable energy contracts to his friends” while serving as the commander of Fort Bliss in Texas, the documents show.
The tip prompted separate probes by the Army’s inspector general and its Criminal Investigation Command. The FBI also became involved, culminating in the federal conviction of one of Pittard’s former West Point classmates on wire-fraud charges in September.
Pittard was not accused of financial gain but was reprimanded by the Army for his “excessive involvement” in awarding the $492,000 contract and for “creating the perception of preferential treatment,” according to his reprimand. The contract was an initial step in a $250 million project to make Fort Bliss, one of the Army’s largest installations, self-sufficient in energy usage.
Pittard declined to be interviewed for this article. In a statement, he described his actions as a result of his determination to move quickly on the energy project, a high priority for the Army.
“I invited a measure of risk with the contracting process,” he wrote. “Throughout my 34 years of service as an Army leader, I have always operated with an understanding that some risk is acceptable in taking action that will benefit our force.”
“If my example deters other senior Army leaders from taking bold risk in the future, that is unfortunate,” he added.
The Army declined to comment in detail. In a statement, Cynthia O. Smith, an Army spokeswoman, said the misconduct findings and Pittard’s reprimand “called into question his suitability for continued service and resulted in his request for retirement, effectively ending his career in the Army.”
Pittard is a decorated combat veteran who served multiple tours in Iraq. As a military aide to President Bill Clinton, he was entrusted with the “nuclear football,” the briefcase containing codes for launching a nuclear attack.
In 2012, he made headlines for a blog post in which he lambasted soldiers who commit suicide, calling it “an absolutely selfish act.” He later apologized, saying he had been frustrated by the recent suicides of two soldiers under his command.
A native of El Paso, Pittard returned home in July 2010 to take one of the Army’s plum assignments: commander of Fort Bliss, which covers a territory bigger than Rhode Island and has about 30,000 active-duty soldiers.
Prior to his arrival, Fort Bliss had drawn scrutiny from federal investigators for contracting irregularities. Pittard pledged to clean up what he called “low-level corruption” in the contracting office.
“We’ve got to make sure there is no cronyism. There are some gross examples of where we have paid way too much for certain things,” he said in a December 2010 interview with El Paso Inc., a business newspaper. “. . . The idea of the ‘sweet deal’ that bordered on cronyism, we are just not going to put up with it anymore.”
Within a few months, however, several members of Pittard’s staff grew concerned about his handling of a short-term contract to help manage the giant energy-efficiency project, according to a report by the Army’s inspector general.
Several Army officers, including Pittard’s staff lawyer, told investigators that the general went to unusual lengths to push a no-bid contract for a joint venture run by two of his former classmates from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Staffers said Pittard overrode their objections about the contract, including the lack of competitive bids. They said he met in private with his classmates before they were awarded the deal and intervened afterward to make sure they were paid.
“This is not good and downright illegal. These guys know it, and they continue to push the envelope because of their personal relationship with MG Pittard,” one unnamed colonel on the general’s staff wrote in a 2012 e-mail.
Another colonel responded: “All I can do is talk to him about it. I’ve advised him in the past concerning risks associated with meetings like this.”
Pittard told the inspector general he just wanted the energy project to move swiftly and didn’t care who got the contract. He said he wasn’t personally close with his two former classmates and didn’t even recall attending West Point with one of them — Thomas Gregory Harris — until his fellow alumnus introduced himself.
Harris, a retired Army colonel, was convicted by a federal jury and sentenced to two years in prison. In a deposition taken for Harris’s trial, Pittard testified that he had been interviewed by the FBI in May 2013 and that the agents gave no indication that he was suspected of wrongdoing.
A Justice Department spokesman in El Paso said that the criminal investigation was closed and that Harris was the only defendant.
An attorney for Harris called the investigation an overreaction and blasted the Army for reprimanding Pittard.
“He didn’t do anything wrong in this case. Nobody did anything wrong,” said Joel Androphy, a Houston lawyer. “Pittard has done very good stuff for our country, and he doesn’t deserve to be sanctioned by the United States.”
Former congressman Pete Gallego (D), whose district covered much of West Texas, contacted The Post on behalf of Pittard to say that the general was “getting a raw deal.”
“It’s really disheartening to watch, because to me Pittard is one of the best things to ever happen to Fort Bliss,” Gallego added.
In an official reprimand, the Army leadership admonished Pittard for showing “a gross lack of good judgment.”
“Senior leaders must be acutely aware of the pitfalls of associating with government contractors,” wrote Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, the Army’s vice chief of staff.
Craig Whitlock covers the Pentagon and national security. He has reported for The Washington Post since 1998.
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The United States should develop new low-yield, tactical nuclear weapons to deter countries from seeking nuclear weapons of their own, a new think-tank report says. It also also argues that the U.S.should base more nuclear weapons around the world to better deter attacks.
“Forward deploying a robust set of discriminate nuclear response options conveys the message that the United States will ‘respond in kind’ and proportionately to nuclear attacks on its allies,” wroteClark Murdock, a former Pentagon policy official who is now a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
CSIS’ “Project Atom” report, provided to Defense One in advance of its June 22 release, was produced by Murdock and eight co-authors as a “zero-based, blue-sky” look at American’s nuclear arsenal. It challenges the Obama administration’s policy of seeking to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in national strategy, and argues for new bombs, missiles, and delivery platforms to replace the ones that have been around since the Cold War.
Murdock’s report comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would deploy 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles. It also comes as the Obama administration faces a handful of decisions on nuclear modernization, including proposals to develop new weapons.
The report recommends the U.S. keep its “rough parity” with Russia and “nuclear superiority” over China. It also suggests the U.S.“maintain sufficient capability to cope simultaneously with nuclear-armed ‘regional rogues’” and “maintain a smaller stockpile, which is enabled by a responsive infrastructure.”
In the report, Murdock argues that the superiority of the American military will lead certain countries to seek nuclear arms as an asymmetric counter.
“The value of nuclear weapons as a ‘trump card’ for negating U.S. conventional power was enhanced by the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 to prevent Saddam Hussein from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” the report says. “If the United States apparently believes that it can be deterred by an adversary’s nuclear weapons, why wouldn’t a nonnuclear ‘regional rogue’ want one?”
Authors’ Dissent
But not all of Murdock’s co-authors agree.
Barry Blechman and Russell Rumbaugh of the Stimson Center argue that the American military is so far superior to its global counterparts that “nuclear weapons add few options” to the U.S. palette. “Indeed, given U.S. conventional military superiority, nuclear weapons serve no military role for the United States beyond deterring nuclear attacks on itself and its allies,” they write in one of the report’s appendices.
Blechman and Rumbaugh formed one of three think-tank teams — the others came from the Center for a New American Security and the National Institute for Public Policy — that contributed to the report, along with experts from CSIS and elsewhere. Under a methodology dubbed the “competitive strategies approach,” each of the teams produced their own analyses, which were discussed by the report’s authors and ultimately included as appendices. But the final report represents Murdock’s conclusions alone.
“As the author of the final report, my views were shaped and influenced by the debate among the independent think tank teams, but did not attempt to bridge the differences on fundamentals between the competing approaches,” he wrote.
Time to Rebuild?
After the end of the Cold War, the military seemed to lose focus on its nuclear mission. In 2007, the Air Force mistakenly flew nuclear weapons across the country on a B-52 bomber; the next year, itaccidentally shipped ICBM fuses to Taiwan. There have also been cheating controversies throughout the Air Force and Navy nuclear ranks.
“The various scandals of the past decade were a symptom of the post-Cold War failure to believe in the nuclear mission, think seriously about deterrence, and invest and act accordingly,” said Thomas Karako, a senior fellow at CSIS and one of the Project Atom authors.
After a cheating scandal erupted under his watch, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel placed the nuclear forces under close watch. He began regular visits to ICBM, bomber, and submarine bases. And along with other senior Pentagon officials, he began talking about the importance of nuclear forces down the road.
“The next decade includes a swell of investments to recapitalize the triad and the weapons themselves,” Karako said. “We’re paying the piper now, with interest, for having taken a peace dividend of the 1990s and our nuclear allergy in the 2000s. But the real deficit has been in thinking seriously about nuclear deterrence.”
In coming months, the Pentagon is expected to award a contract for a stealthy new Air Force bomber, a plane that officials say will eventually carry nuclear weapons. The Navy is also planning to buy new ballistic-missile submarines to replace its Ohio class. But these projects are expensive, and Pentagon officials have questioned their affordability.
We’re paying the piper now, with interest, for having taken a peace dividend of the 1990s and our nuclear allergy in the 2000s. But the real deficit has been in thinking seriously about nuclear deterrence.”
Tom Karako, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Murdock argues the Pentagon needs a more diverse suite of nuclear weapons. “In order to execute its Measured Response strategy, the nuclear forces for both deterrence and extended deterrence should have low-yield, accurate, special-effects options that can respond proportionately at the lower end of the nuclear continuum,” he writes.
This could also include a “smaller, shorter-range cruise missile that could be delivered by F-35s” including the ones that will someday operate from the Navy’s aircraft carriers, Murdock said.
Karako said, “Without completing the current slate of modernization programs, we can’t even sustain our current deterrent capabilities from the 20th century – let alone go further, adapting and expanding our force to the challenges of the 21st. Project Atom represents a thinking competition of sorts, for what that may require.”
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Around 1,400 passengers were grounded at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin airport Sunday, after hackers attacked ground computer systems used to issue flight plans.
A spokesman for state-run airline LOT, Adrian Kubicki, said the problem was fixed after around five hours, but that 10 of the carrier's domestic and international flights had to be cancelled. About a dozen more were delayed.
"We're using state-of-the-art computer systems, so this could potentially be a threat to others in the industry," he said, adding that the safety of ongoing flights had not been compromised.
The affected flights were bound for Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen and domestic destinations.
LOT said some passengers had since been able to board their flights, but that the remainder had been put up in hotels on Sunday evening.
nm/cmk (Reuters, AP)
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Authorities are investigating a website that contained a purported manifesto that they believe to be connected to Dylann Roof, the alleged gunman accusing of killing nine people inside a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, this week.
Among prognostications about segregation and other racist topics, the writer says "someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”
Investigators have not made a final determination on the authenticity of the manifesto and photos but are working under the belief they're as real as they appear to be, a federal official briefed on the probe told ABC News.
They "don't have any indication that it isn't [authentic]," the source said. "We just can't make the definitive link."
The site allegedly revealed disturbing views about race in addition to dozens of photos believed to be of Roof, including one of him holding a gun and another of him holding a Confederate flag.
On the site, the writer espouses segregation and white racial superiority, views apparently shaped after the writer became interested in the Trayvon Martin case, the post said.
Martin, an unarmed teen, was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman in 2012. The writer believes that “Zimmerman was in the right.”
Towards the end of the purported manifesto, the writer explained why Charleston was chosen as a target.
“I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country,” the writer said. “We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”
The website, which was unavailable today, was titled “The Last Rhodesian,” referring to the ruling white minority in Apartheid-era Zimbabwe.
Obtained by ABC News
PHOTO: Dylann Roof is shown in this photo posted to website: <a href="http://lastrhodesian.com" rel="nofollow">lastrhodesian.com</a>.
Former FBI agent Michael German, who has infiltrated white supremacist groups, said the writer of the purported manifesto fits a pattern of an individual with a "deep-seeded hatred." He said those individuals often turn to the Internet and different groups "trying to find some justification where their anger and frustration can fit in."
Though Roof doesn't appear to be directly a part of a white supremacist group, German said it's not unusual for individuals to act alone.
"The above-ground groups, the groups you hear about, the so-called hate groups, tend not to be involved in criminal activity because they're identifiable, [so] it's easy to find them," he said. "There are individuals within the movement are actually instructed to go out and do something on their own or with a small group, a small cell of like-minded people."
Roof, 21, was apprehended in Shelby, North Carolina, about 250 miles from where he allegedly opened fire inside the Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday night at Bible study. He allegedly confessed to the killings, according to a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation, and has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
Obtained by ABC News
PHOTO: Dylann Roof is shown in this photo posted to website: <a href="http://lastrhodesian.com" rel="nofollow">lastrhodesian.com</a>.
ABC News legal analyst Dan Abrams said Roof's defense team may have difficulty pleading an insanity defense.
"The insanity defense is so hard to win, particularly in a case like this, where [there] seems to have been so much sort of premeditation and thought about how he was going to do what he was going to do and why he was going to do it," he said.
Ashley Pennington, a public defender assigned to Roof, has not responded to ABC News' request for comment.
Several family members of the nine people killed at Charleston's Emanuel African MethodistEpiscopal Church balanced their grief with forgiveness at Roof’s first court appearance Friday afternoon.
“I forgive you,” the daughter of victim Ethel Lance, 70, said through tears to Roof, who appeared at the bond hearing via video-conferencing from jail. "You took something very precious from me and I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul."
"We welcomed you Wednesday night in our bible study with open arms," said Felicia Sanders, the mother of 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders.
"Every fiber in my body hurts," Sanders added. "And I'll never be the same."
Alana Simmons, granddaughter of victim Daniel Simmons Sr., 74, said, "Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate, this is proof everyone's plea for your soul is proof that they lived and loved and their legacies will live and love. So hate won't win and I just want to thank the court for making sure that hate doesn't win."
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President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina won't seek another office when her second term ends Dec. 10, defying recent speculation she might run for congress.
With the passage of the filing deadline at midnight Saturday, Fernandez's name did not appear on any list of candidates. She is barred by Argentina's constitution from seeking a third presidential term.
Expectations had been rising that Fernandez might not be willing to leave government completely after holding public offices for more than two decades and many speculated she could decide to lead the congressional slate in Buenos Aires province.
Her son Maximo Kirchner, however, is seeking a seat in the House of Deputies for Santa Cruz province. He is the son of Fernandez and the late Nestor Kirchner, who preceded his wife as president.
Fernandez still is expected to remain an influence in the left-of-center Front for Victory coalition that has supported her policies of government intervention in the economy.
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WASHINGTON—
America’s latest horrific act of gun violence is forcing Washington to wrestle anew with the easy availability of deadly weaponry in a nation that constitutionally protects the right to bear arms.
Gunfire slays more than ten thousand people annually in the United States, including nine church-goers last week in Charleston, South Carolina.
Amid the grief, reports surfaced that suspected shooter Dylann Roof was given a gun as a birthday present earlier this year. That such a troubled young man had a firearm shows America has a problem to confront, according to President Barack Obama.
“Every country has violent, hateful, or mentally unstable people,” said Obama late last week. “What’s different is not every country is awash with easily-accessible guns. And so I refuse to act as if this is the new normal.”
Already, the issue is reverberating in next year’s presidential race. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton noted the Charleston tragedy followed shooting rampages at a Connecticut elementary school and a Colorado movie theater.
“We have to face hard truths about race, violence, guns and division,” said Clinton. “How many innocent people in our country from little children to church members to movie theater attendees, how many people do we need to see cut down before we act?”
America’s biggest gun-rights lobby, the National Rifle Association, has not shied from the fight. The group’s leader, Wayne LaPierre, recently pledged to defeat Clinton, and, in 2012, famously declared: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."
The NRA’s political clout is such that prominent Republicans lined up to address its annual national convention this year, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who is now running for president.
“I have a message for the Obama administration,” said Bush. “Why don’t you focus more on keeping weapons out of the hands of Islamic terrorists, and less on keeping weapons out of the hands of law-abiding Americans?”
The U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights affirms the right to bear arms, and the United States has almost as many privately-owned guns as citizens. Two years ago, the Senate tried and failed to pass legislation to better scrutinize gun buyers. President Obama says such measures are politically-perilous but will be embraced one day.
“I know, today’s politics makes it less likely that we will see any sort of serious gun safety legislation,” Obama said. “I want to be clear: I am not resigned. I have faith we will eventually do the right thing.”
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CAIRO—Members of the Islamic State group have planted explosives in the ruins of the ancient central Syrian city of Palmyra, a monitoring group said Sunday.
The U.K. based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear whether the militants were preparing to blow up the ancient desert city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, or simply intended to impede any counteroffensive by government forces.
Islamic State captured Palmyra from the forces of President Bashar Assad in May, arousing fears that it might destroy its ruins, which include monumental streets lined with columns, temples and burial towers.
But it has also shown off monuments such as the ancient city of Rasafeh, northeast of Palmyra, in propaganda footage about its self-proclaimed caliphate.
Shortly after capturing Palmyra, Islamic State blew up its military prison, notorious for the brutal treatment of political prisoners.
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) — Police are investigating a fatal shooting that took place at a block party on Detroit’s west side on Saturday night.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig is calling the shooting at a barbecue an “act of urban terrorism.”
Malique Jones , 19, was shot and killed and at least 12 others were injured in the shooting.
Jones was shot about a month ago in the same neighborhood.
Jones was shot about a month ago in the same neighborhood.
“Some believe it was expected,” said Chief Craig of the shooting. “Apparently the victim expected … the message to the two outstanding suspects – we will find you – someone is going to talk.”
Another man was critically injured and eight others, five men and three women, were listed as seriously injured. The victims ranged in age from 21 to 46, he said.
Dolunt said the shooting happened at a neighborhood party that included a barbecue attended by families with some small children in strollers. The party was being held at a basketball court near Webb St. and Dexter Ave.
“Through the grace of God no children were shot,” he said.
Detroit Police Sergeant Cassandra Lewis told WWJ Newsradio 950 that the shots were fired around 8:45 p.m. in the area where an estimated 400 to 500 people were attending a party.
“No one is coming forward with information – which is very disheartening,” said Dolunt. “I woke up this morning and my wife says ‘there were seven people shot in Philadelphia too.’ What’s going on with people? They had this thing in South Carolina the other day, you’ve got to wonder what’s in people’s minds.”
Authorities suspect the dead man was targeted by the shooter, although Dolunt said that was preliminary.
Anyone with information should call Detroit Police at 313-596-1616.
[Stay with <a href="http://CBSDetroit.com" rel="nofollow">CBSDetroit.com</a> and LISTEN LIVE to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest]
TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press 8:25 p.m. EDT June 21, 2015
Detroit Police Chief James Craig urrged people in the community to come forward with information.
Detroit Police Officer Jency Payne, exams the crime scene where blood still remains on Sunday, June 21, 2015. On Saturday evening, 12 people were shot and one confirmed dead in Detroit, MI.(Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo
Detroit Police Chief James Craig labeled those involved in a shooting on the city's west side "urban terrorists" and urged the community to come forward to catch those involved.
He said the retaliation shooting — at a party on the city's west side where hundreds, including families and children, gathered Saturday night — left 11 people injured and one dead.
"You will allow this to continue if you do nothing," he said. "We can't do it alone. We're angry, as I know many who live in this neighborhood are angry, but this is not the time to be fearful."
He said the person fatally shot — 19-year-old Malik Jones — was believed to be part of the gunfight and had been shot less than a month earlier. Police are looking for two men, both of whom had a gun. One of the men had a silver handgun with an extended clip.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig, center, talks to the media Sunday, June 21, 2015 at the scene where 12 people were shot and one confirmed dead on Saturday evening in Detroit, MI. (Photo: Salwan Georges, Detroit Free Press)
"These cowardly thugs decided they would retaliate against the victim and as a result of that, 47 shots were fired," Craig said before he and other police officers canvassed the neighborhood Sunday afternoon.
He spoke at the basketball court at Dexter and Webb on Detroit's west side, where blood stains remained. He said police weren't certain who fired the first shots. Gunfight broke out in the area where a group of about 300 people from the neighborhood had gathered Saturday to play basketball and cook.
Those shot Saturday night ranged in age from 19 to 47 and included four women and eight men, Craig said. Four remained in the hospital in stable condition Sunday, and the other seven were at home recovering.
"Say something, do something, be part of the solution," he said during his plea to the community to come forward.
Craig said somebody took the gun Jones had and that it could be used again in the neighborhood.
Many of the victims, Craig said, weren't talking to police.
"I understand the fear associated and I understand retaliation, but are we going to let these urban terrorists take over our neighborhoods?" he asked.
DeJuan Watson was a little bit surprised when he heard the location of the shooting.
"It's a tough area, but no more than other places (in Detroit)," the 31-year-old Detroit resident said while walking to his car with some food from the Food Farm Market Sunday afternoon, just down the street from the basketball court. "This is more police around than I've seen lately."
The area around the shooting scene, like many spots in Detroit, is full of vacant houses – some boarded up and some with the boards knocked out. Several police cars were in the area late Sunday afternoon, patrolling and talking to people strolling down Dexter.
There were a few children out playing on the sidewalks and a few adults sitting on porches, taking in the nice weather.
A half mile or so away, there were fewer vacant houses, surrounded by houses with neatly trimmed yards and well-kept facades. There are several houses in the area being sold by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, including a few on Cortland Street.
"There are a lot worse places, but I can't call this the best place," said Tyrone Hill, 43, as he sat outside of his cousin's house nearby, drinking a beer. "Most folks around here know someone who's been robbed or had their house broken into. (The police) show up eventually. It just depends on the day how fast they get here."
Craig, along with members of the police department, talked with people who live near the shooting site and asked for their help.
He also had a message for the suspects: "We're going to find you and we're going to take you into custody."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAK-UP (800-773-2587).
Staff writer David Jesse contributed to this report. Contact Elisha Anderson: <a href="mailto:eanderson@freepress.com">eanderson@freepress.com</a> or 313-222-5144
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