Category Archives: NSA

Pakistans former national security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani said on Monday the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was carried out by a terror-group based in Pakistan and called it a classic example of cross-border terrorism.

He, however, said the Pakistani government had no role in the attack. Durrani was speaking at a conference on combating terrorism at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

Durrani was sacked from the post of national security adviser for confirming Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasabs Pakistani nationality to the media.

More than 160 people, including many foreigners, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks India says was carried out by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. Nine of the attackers were killed and lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and later hanged in 2012.

Prime suspect LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, believed to be the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, is in hiding after getting bail over a year ago.

American citizen David Headley, who admitted scouting targets for the 2008 assault on Mumbai by Pakistani militants, has testified that the plot was hatched with at least one Pakistani intelligence official and a navy frogman.

The attacks trials sluggish pace and lack of convictions has been a thorn in bilateral relations and India has maintained that crucial evidence was to be found in Pakistan, the site of training and plotting of the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people.

Durrani also said Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Saeed has no utility and Pakistan should act against him.

India has asked Pakistan to re-investigate the 2008 Mumbai attacks case and put on trial Saeed, who is currently under house arrest in Lahore under the anti-terrorism law.

India made the fresh demand in response to Pakistans request to send 24 Indian witnesses for recording their statements in the case.

With inputs from PTI

Read more

Read the original post:
26/11 attacks carried out by Pak-based terror group, says its former NSA Durrani - Hindustan Times

BGR	Trump's attacks on the NSA are actively harming morale, report ... BGR The intelligence community has come under fire from newly sworn-in President Donald Trump for what he perceives to be attacks on his own credibility. Now ... and more »

See the original post here:
Trump's attacks on the NSA are actively harming morale, report ... - BGR

Customizations policy for SonicWall Software products

A customization indicates functionality and configurations added to a product that are not provided as part of the core product release and, as such, would be outside the scope of normal support and maintenance. Customizations may take the form of new or modified scripts used within or alongside our products, as well as additional functionality such as custom reports, dashboards, rules, automated actions, etc. developed by you, your partners, or our Professional Services Organization.

Support and Customizations

We do not perform or maintain customizations. The design and development of customizations to our products is your responsibility. Assistance from Support will be limited to helping ensure that the product's functionality which enables the addition of customizations is functioning as expected. Alternatively, you may obtain guidance through product specific community sites or the Support Knowledge Base.

Advanced Assistance

If more thorough and detailed assistance is needed to design and develop customizations, we recommend that you engage our Professional Services Organization or fully certified partners to assist. Their expertise in designing customized solutions will ensure customers receive maximum value and product adoption. In addition to providing post-implementation expert services, Professional Services also offers a variety of pre-packaged customizations for some products which may meet your specific requirements.

Training & Certification

We recommend that you obtain the appropriate product training before attempting to design, develop, and implement any customization to our products. Our training courses will equip you with the necessary knowledge and ability to design and implement effective changes to our products. For more detail on the training services available, please refer to Training & Certification Services .

Maintaining Customizations

Careful consideration should be given to all customizations during future migration or upgrade exercises to new product and platform versions. Customizations could inhibit the upgrade itself and may require a level of re-work to continue functioning properly. Support does not take ownership for any customizations. We strongly encourage you to document and maintain records on any implemented customization work. These records can be useful in isolating problems that may be attributable to the customization or a defect in the core product.

Read the original here:
Product Support - SonicWALL NSA Series

NEWS

Highline

Science

Education

Weird News

Business

TestKitchen

Tech

College

Media

Pollster

Heroin Epidemic

Donald Trump

Racial Inequality

US Senate

Election Results

HuffPost Hill

Police Brutality

Hate Crimes

Supreme Court

Congress

So That Happened

Entertainment

Comedy

Celebrity

TV

Arts + Culture

Backspace

Movies

Black Voices

Latino Voices

Women

Fifty

Queer Voices

Parents

Arts + Culture

Black Voices

Books

Business

Candidate Confessional

Celebrity

College

Comedy

Crime

Divorce

Dolce Vita

Eat the Press

Education

Election Results

Entertainment

Fifty

Good News

Green

Healthy Living

Highline

Home

Horoscopes

HuffPost Data

HuffPost Hill

Impact

Latino Voices

Media

Newsletters

Outspeak

Parents

Politics

Pollster

Queer Voices

Religion

Science

Small Business

So That Happened

Sports

Style

Taste

Tech

Teen

TestKitchen

Travel

TV

Weddings

Weird News

Women

FEATURED

OWN

Paving the Way

The Power Of Humanity

Retire Well

Sleep + Wellness

What's Working: Purpose + Profit

WorldPost

POLITICS

Boston Globe/Getty Images

POLITICS

HUFFPOST VIDEO

Albert L. Ortega via Getty Images

TECH

POLITICS

Bill Clark via Getty Images

TECH

The rest is here:
NSA - National Security Agency | The Huffington Post

The White House wants Congress to reauthorize two of the NSAs largest surveillance programs before they expire at the end of the year.

One of them scans the traffic that passes through the massive internet cables going in and out of the U.S. and ends upcatching a vast number of American communications in its dragnet.

But how many? Lawmakers have been asking for years, and the intelligence community has consistently refused provide even a ballpark figure.

At a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, several members expressed frustration that intelligence chiefs first under Obama, and now under Trump have failed to provide any kind of estimate, even in classified briefings.

The members of this committee and the public at large require that estimate to engage in a meaningful debate, said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the leading Democrat on the committee. We will not simply take the governments word on the size of the so-called incidental collection.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lapses at the end of the year, allows the NSA to collect vast amounts of domestic internet traffic as long as it maintains it is only targeting foreigners.Documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden described two huge surveillance programs that operate under that authority. One program, PRISM, allows the NSA to collect data in bulk from tech companies like Google, Facebook and Apple. The other program Upstream allows the NSA to tap the massive internet cables that carry information in and out of the U.S. and search for communications involving certain foreign targets or selectors.

As the NSA scans the cables for information on its targets, it also collects information on the Americans those targets are communicating with, as well as entirely unrelated information, such as communications from people who happened to be in the same chat room as a target. Furthermore, the targets can be selected for anyforeign intelligence purpose not just counterterrorism.

As a result,the NSA ends up collecting information on a huge number of U.S. persons without getting a warrant collection they describe as incidental, but which is really inevitable. And using what critics call the backdoor loophole, law enforcement officials then search through that material for information on Americans.

That collection on Americans is part of how thelaw was designed, according to Elizabeth Goitein, a lawyer for the Brennan Center for Justice. Incidentally, is the terminology used by the government, Goitein testified at Wednesdays hearing. But it is part of the design of the program to acquire communications of foreign targets with Americans.

The issue of incidental collection has come into the spotlight in the weeks since Trumps inauguration. Last month, anonymous members of the intelligence community leaked information about phone calls between the Russian ambassador who was understandably targeted for surveillance and Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Flynns resignation spooked some Republicanswho worried about that ability being used improperly.Whatever your political persuasion is, for me it had a chilling effect, said Rep. Ral Labrador, R-Idaho. My political opponents could use my personal information, that they maybe gathered in some private information, against me in the future. That should be quite terrifying to anybody, whether youre a Republican or Democrat.

Conyers, along with a bipartisan group of 14 Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to the director of national intelligence in April last year, asking simply for a rough estimate of how many Americans had their communications collected.

Conyers sent a follow-up letter in December. The intelligence community has not so much as responded to our December letter, Conyers said Wednesday. I had hoped for better.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., first requested an estimate in2011 even before the Snowden disclosures demonstrated the reach of the surveillance programs. The federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight board recommended in 2014 that the NSA start keeping track of the number. In 2015, more than 30 civil liberties organizations wrote a letter to the Intelligence Communitys Civil Liberties Protection Office, demanding the same thing, and got an unresponsive reply.

The intelligence community insists that it doesnt keep track, in part because doing so would require it to identify which phone numbers and computer IP addresses belong to American citizens.April Doss, a former NSA lawyer, told the committee that it would require the NSA to de-anonymize everyone in their communications. In my view, the collection and maintenance of that reference information would itself pose significant impacts to privacy, she said.

But Goitein noted that the NSA already uses computer IP addresses to approximate who is a U.S. citizen for other purposes, so it would be easy for them to estimate how many Americans communications they collect.

The NSA has determined that the IP address is an accurate enough indicator of a persons status to use it to filter out the wholly domestic communications that the NSA is prohibited from acquiring, she testified. If its accurate enough to enable the NSA to comply with that constitutional obligation, then its certainly accurate enough for the estimate.

Top photo: A man looks at his cellphone as he walks on the street in Madrid in 2013.

View original post here:
Trump Wants NSA Program Reauthorized But Won't Tell Congress How Many Americans It Spies On - The Intercept

A former leader of the National Security Agency (NSA) told lawmakers Thursday that government agencies working on cybersecurity are too stovepiped to safeguard the nation from digital threats.

Retired Gen. Keith Alexander said that the four groups handling cyber issues the Homeland Security and Defense departments, the FBI, and the intelligence community are too stovepiped, meaning they bottle up information instead of sharing it with one another and across the government.

Its not working, Alexander said of the governments organization on cybersecurity. There are four stovepipes and it doesnt make sense. If we were running this like a business, we would put them together.

Alexander suggested that all four groups be brought together under one cybersecurity framework in order to defend the countrys networks and critical infrastructure and respond to cyberattacks.

Before that, he argued, the agencies should participate in exercises with Congress, the Trump administration and the private sector to develop a policy and strategy on cybersecurity.

What you have is people acting independently, and with those seams, we will never defend this country, said Alexander, who now leads a private cybersecurity firm. He added that industry leaders are dismayed about how the government handles cybersecurity.

The senators also heard testimony from two members of the Defense Science Board, a group of roughly 50 retired armed service members, government and industry leaders who give the Pentagon advice on how to solve cybersecurity and technology problems.

Craig Fields, a former Pentagon technology chief, and James Miller, a former undersecretary of defense for policy, pushed back on the notion that the way that the government handles cybersecurity needs to undergo massive reorganization but agreed with Alexander on the need for more integration.

Im not convinced that a massive reorganization is appropriate, Miller said. Id be looking toward an integrating body.

When we talk to the individual agencies, they dont understand their responsibilities, he later observed.

Rewiring is not the solution, Fields, who chairs the Defense Science Board, explained. [That would be] too disruptive, but fundamental change in how it works, absolutely.

Alexander led the NSA and Cyber Command before his resignation in March 2014 amid controversy over Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA's domestic spying. Current Director Mike Rogers succeeded him.

See the rest here:
Ex-NSA head: Cybersecurity agencies don't share enough information to be successful - The Hill

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA)

Q4 2016 Earnings Conference Call

February 28, 2017 1:00 PM ET

Executives

Marti Dowling Director-Investor Relations

Arlen Nordhagen Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Tamara Fischer Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President

Analysts

Vikram Malhotra Morgan Stanley

RJ Milligan Robert W. Baird

Todd Thomas KeyBanc

David Corak FBR

Ki Bin Kim SunTrust

Barry Oxford DA Davidson

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the National Storage Affiliates Fourth Quarter and Year End 2016 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Marti Dowling, Director of Investor Relations for National Storage Affiliates. Thank you. Miss Dowling, you may now begin.

Marti Dowling

Hello, everyone, we would like to thank you for joining us today for the fourth quarter and full year 2016 earnings conference call of National Storage Affiliates Trust. In addition to the press release distributed yesterday after market close, we have filed an 8-K with the SEC containing our supplemental package with additional details on our results, which may also be found in the Investor Relations section on our website at nationalstorageaffiliates.com.

On today's call management's prepared remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. For additional detail concerning our forward-looking statements, please refer to our public filings with the SEC.

We encourage listeners to review the definitions and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures such as FFO, core FFO and net operating income contained in the supplemental information package available in the Investor Relations section on the companys website and in filings made with the SEC.

Today's conference call is hosted by National Storage Affiliates' Chief Executive Officer, Arlen Nordhagen; Chief Financial Officer, Tamara Fischer; and Senior Vice President of Operations, Steve Treadwell. Following prepared remarks management will accept questions from registered financial analysts. I will now turn the call over to Arlen.

Arlen Nordhagen

Thanks, Marti, and welcome, everyone, to our year-end 2016 earnings conference call. To begin 2016 was a very strong year for NSA on all fronts. We realized robust growth across virtually our entire portfolio driving strong increases in all our operating metrics. We grew same store portfolio average occupancy by 210 basis points, increasing average occupancy to 90% for the year.

Our average rent per square foot increased by 5.3% resulting in same store revenue and NOI increases of 7.7% and 10.2% respectively. It was another year of very strong acquisition growth further demonstrating the depth and quality of our pipeline and our unique ability to source and close accretive acquisitions through our PRO relationships.

During 2016, we acquired and invested in a total of 173 high quality assets primarily in our core growth markets representing total investment of over $1.3 billion including the addition of our seventh PRO hideaway in April and the acquisition of our 66th property, iStorage portfolio through a joint venture with the major state pension fund. As a result, we ended the year with a portfolio of 448 self storage properties located in 23 states.

In total, we have about 28 million rentable square feet, an increase of 75% from one year earlier and over 100% since our initial public offering. In 2016, we materially expanded and improved our balance sheet. We upsized our creditor facility to $725 million, closed on an additional $100 million term loan and issued over $500 million in new equity.

Our equity base grew through two well received common equity offerings issuances under our ATM program and through substantial issuance of new OP and SP equity for property acquisitions. The combination of these transactions maintains the capacity and flexibility we need to fund future growth opportunities.

As a result at the bottom line, we achieved core FFO of $1.12 per share for 2016, up 21.7% from 2015, which meaningfully exceeded our own guidance. In December, our Board announced a 9% increase in our quarterly common dividend to $0.24 per share. This was on top of the 10% increase we announced in May. And we continue to maintain significant AFFO coverage of our dividend payout.

And finally, I'm very pleased to announce that we have recently signed Marc Smith of Personal Mini storage in Orlando, Florida to become our 8th PRO. Through this transaction, Personal Mini is co-investing the SP equity to assume management of four of our recent third-party acquisitions in this market. And we will be having a 5th property to our portfolio very soon.

Beyond that Personal Mini operates a portfolio of over 30 properties, which we will look to acquire over the next several years in addition to other third-party acquisitions. Further Marc is very well known and respected as a major thought leader within the industry and has served on the board of directors of the National Self Storage Association for the last six years including as Chairman in 2016.

His reputation and relationships are a huge plus for us as we continue to recruit additional PROs to join our platform. It was truly an exceptional year for NSA and I'm enormously proud of the hard work, spirit and dedication of the entire NSA and PRO teams. Thank you to all.

Fundamentals in the self storage sector remain good and we remain optimistic about more normalized, but continued growth through 2017. We continue to experience stable demand across our portfolio, driven by positive economic fundamentals in nearly all our core markets including high employment rates and growing consumer spending. Although new supply is certainly creating some pressures in a few markets, such as Oklahoma, we believe this risk is generally concentrated and market specific and we still don't see new supply risk being elevated for NSA's portfolio on a national basis. There continues to be a lot of market chatter about starts but as for now we're not seeing plans translating into supply exceeding demand in a significant way in most of our primary markets.

I'd like to take a moment to update you on our key initiatives. Our portfolio is now operating near what we believe to be our optimum stabilized occupancy levels. So our initiatives to capture revenue upside from rent increases and other sources are vitally important. Our revenue management system is constantly evolving and is more active on our platform than ever.

At this time, virtually all of our properties are configured on the revenue management system. We're now evaluating implementation of new modules to enhance the current system and more effectively drive additional revenue.

In addition, we continue to make upgrades and improvements to our management information systems, our internet marketing platform and our call center operations to allow us to make better decisions and improve the results of our marketing spend.

Turning to the transaction front in the fourth quarter alone we acquired 31 wholly owned self-storage properties for a total investment of approximately 228 million dollars. These fourth quarter acquisitions encompass about 2.1 million rentable square feet with more than 16,600 storage units.

In addition the 66 iStorage joint venture properties added over 4.5 million rentable square feet and over 35,000 storage units to NSA's platform. Our pro network is a key element to our continued ability to grow. First through, our captive pipeline, which includes properties that are PROs manage but NSA does not yet own. Today with the addition of Personal Mini, The captive pipeline consists of over 120 properties and over 8 million square feet, valued at nearly a billion dollars.

Our second channel is third party acquisitions where our PROs act as our boots on the ground. They are market focused and have local knowledge and relationships, which lead to substantial third party off market acquisitions. In total over the last two years through our captive and third party pipelines and our joint venture, we've acquired over 230 properties adding over 15 million rentable square feet.

Equally important this growth has both expanded our geographic reach and deepened our presence within our existing markets providing enhanced local marketing and efficiency gains. Our third channel of growth is adding new PROs and we're always in discussions with a number of high quality operators.

As I mentioned, we're extremely pleased that we've added our eighth PRO Personal Mini Storage to join NSA this month. We are clearly-off to a great start in 2017 and we look forward to working with Marc Smith and his team to continue to grow NSA. We are very proud of NSAs accomplishments to-date, which demonstrate our unique opportunities for continued growth both internally and externally, as well as our ability to deliver strong value for our shareholders.

With our joint venture acquisition, the addition of our eighth PRO, balance sheet flexibility and a healthy pipeline we're excited to continue executing on our stated growth initiatives in 2017. I'll now turn the call over to Tammy.

Tamara Fischer

Thank you Arlen, in my comments today, Ill review our fourth quarter and full-year 2016 results, update you on our balance sheet and liquidity and finally discuss our outlook for 2017, which was provided in detail in our earnings release issued yesterday.

Beginning with our financial results for the fourth quarter 2016, we reported net income of $6.1 million, compared to $5.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. And core FFO of $20 million or $0.30 per share an increase of 25% on a per share basis compared to Q4 2015.

For the full-year 2016 our net income was $24.9 million compared to $4.8 million in 2015 and our core FFO was $65.5 million or $1.12 per share, an increase of 21.7% compared to $0.92 per share reported in 2015. The increase in core FFO for both the quarter and the year was due to strong growth within the same store portfolio. As well as our robust acquisition activity in 2016 partially offset by higher financing costs, G&A and an increase of the fully diluted share count.

Turning to our operations for the fourth quarter 2016, we reported a 9.2% increase in same-store NOI compared to Q4 2015. Same store revenue was up 6.3% driven by a 6.7% increase in average rent per square foot, slightly offset by a 30 basis point decrease in average occupancy to 89.1%.

One impact we are seeing of our new revenue management system is that it results in pushing rental rates further. Even if that results in slight occupancy decreases property operating expense increased only a 0.5% compared to the prior year, which was in line with our expectations.

For the full-year 2016 our same-store NOI increased 10.2% compared to 2015. Same-store revenue was up 7.7% driven by a 5.3% increase in average rent per square foot and a 210 basis point increase in average occupancy to 90%. Property operating expenses increased 2.9% year-over-year, again in line with our expectations.

We continue to benefit from our geographically diverse portfolio that is concentrated in states with the above average population and job growth.

Our stores located in Oregon, California, Georgia and Arizona, which represent more than half of our 2016 same-store NOI, continued to outperform, each delivering double-digit same-store NOI growth in 2016. We continued to see softness in the fourth quarter in Oklahoma and West Texas, which has been impacted by both the energy sector and new supply coming online. And our stores in Washington State were impacted in the fourth quarter, by higher property taxes, timing of repair and maintenance projects and increased advertising spend. While we have selectively used increased discounting in promotions to support occupancy gains in some markets, we continue to benefit from a roll up in rental rates for move in versus move out, driven in part by our revenue management system.

We also delivered double-digit growth in tenant insurance revenues during 2016 as our penetration rates continue to grow through high rates of adoption among our new customers, ending the year at over 55% penetration across our portfolio. As we discussed, in October we formed a joint venture with the major state pension fund to acquire the iStorage portfolio. And as they invested roughly $80 million for a 25% ownership stake and the joint venture put in place $320 million of mortgage financing. The investment was immediately accretive to core FFO per share and we expect to generate approximately $7 million to $8 million per year in gross fee income before incremental G&A expense of approximately $3.5 million, allowing us to leverage our total G&A spend.

Our balance sheet remains a strong point for NSA. During 2016 and into the first quarter 2017 we actively worked to expand our capacity and retain financial liquidity and flexibility. During the fourth quarter, we completed our second follow-on equity offering issuing nearly 5.2 million common shares and raising net proceeds of $105 million. We use the proceeds of the offering to pay down our revolving line of credit.

Also in the fourth quarter, we launched an ATM program adding yet another source of capital to enhance our balance sheet and fund growth. During the fourth quarter, we issued approximately 1.7 million shares under the ATM, raising net proceeds of about $34 million and leaving about $165 million of liquidity under the program. In addition we issued over $16 million of OP and SP equity in the fourth quarter to fund acquisitions completed during the quarter.

At year end, our total consolidated debt outstanding was about $873 million of which about 72% was fixed-rate mortgage financing or fixed with swaps. Our weighted average effective interest rate was about 3% and our weighted average maturity was 5.2 years. We have almost no debt maturing before 2020.

Subsequent to year end we completed an expansion of our credit facility, which increased our borrowing capacity by yet another $170 million, resulting in total capacity under our credit facility today of $895 million. As part of this expansion we increased our five-year term loan by $10 million dollars, our six-year term loan by $55 million and added a $105 million seven-year term loan tranche.

We expanded capacity on our revolver from $350 million to $400 million last December. As we have consistently demonstrated, we remain disciplined on the capital front, ensuring a strong and flexible balance sheet to support our growth strategy.

Turning to our guidance, we recognize that 2017 may be a year of transition for the industry with more new supply coming on line, making it a bit more challenging to forecast. While we have not yet seen a material slowdown in our property performance, we are cognizant of the fact that new supply may impact NSA more significantly later in the year. For that reason, we have built into our guidance somewhat lower growth expectations, compared to 2016.

As we announced last evening, we expect 2017 core FFO to be in the range of $1.22 zero to a $1.29 nine per share. Our guidance is based on several factors, including anticipated same-store NOI growth of 6% to 8%, driven by expected revenue growth of 5% to 7% and expense growth of 3% to 4%. As a note, our same-store portfolio in 2017 will include 277 properties. Expected acquisitions in a range of $200 million to $500 million, full-year corporate G&A cash expense including all iStorage G&A is expected to be in the range of 9.5% to 10.5% of revenue, excluding the iStorage property revenue. Plus another 1% to 1.5% in non-cash comp expense.

To put these numbers in context if we included the iStorage property revenue in the total revenue denominator, our total cash plus non-cash G&A and would be 9% to 10% of total revenues as we continue to leverage our G&A capacity.

This concludes our prepared remarks. With that we will now take your questions. Operator?

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Thank you we will not be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Vikram Malhotra with Morgan Stanley, please go ahead with your questions.

Vikram Malhotra

Thank you. Two quick questions, so one, can you maybe just give us a little bit more color on when you talk about supply and not really seeing impacts but you're baking in some impact towards a second half. How are you the sort of the new supply coming online, whats your expectation in terms of how it will impact occupancy, rent growth and how are you factoring that into the guidance?

Arlen Nordhagen

Hi Vikram, this is Arlen. So yes we monitor of course all of our properties on a regular basis to look at where do we see new supply potentially coming in online over the next 12 to 18 months. And particularly as it relates to properties that have some exposure to new supply this year about 12% of our portfolio has the potential that by the end of the year some new supply will be within their trade area.

And so our forecast in our budgeting for this year reflects the fact that we expect those new stores to come online, which will obviously create some additional pressure on discounting some impact on occupancy and therefore slower revenue growth in the few cases even revenue being flat. But generally we reflect that based upon those forecasted openings as the time that they're expected to come into the market.

Vikram Malhotra

Okay, that's helpful. And just to clarify the revenue growth expectation for 2017, the five to seven, can you break that, Arlen between occupancy and rate growth?

Arlen Nordhagen

Yes, we are pretty close to what we would consider optimal occupancy based on the way the revenue management program is directing us to push harder on rate, we might gain another 50 basis points for average occupancy for this year or something like that but we're really forecasting almost all of that to be rate growth.

Vikram Malhotra

All of that to be rate, okay and then just last one to clarify on the supply comment. Just based on what you're seeing and talking to other PROs. Will we peak supply is 2017 sort of the year where we see peak supply your comments around the second half. And just maybe how much lead time are sort of what you need to see to get a sense of how supply would could potentially look like in 2018?

Arlen Nordhagen

Yes. It looks like late 2017 will probably be the peak additions of new supply. Now we do have some visibility into supply coming into 2018 obviously. But we're also starting to see some of the developers canceling projects as they reevaluate the market and they recognize wait a minute, there's too much supply here already on the pipeline. So we are actually starting to see some of that. So I do think late 2017 maybe early 2018 will probably be the peak of when supply additions peak in the overall total National market.

Vikram Malhotra

Okay. Thank you very much.

Arlen Nordhagen

Thanks, Vikram.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is come from the line of RJ Milligan with Robert W. Baird. Please go ahead with your question.

RJ Milligan

Hey, good afternoon guys. Arlen, I was wondering if you could give some guidance in terms of your expected external growth this year $350 million at the midpoint, can you give us an idea of what buckets those are coming from whether itd be another PRO, within your captive pipeline or just one-off growth?

Arlen Nordhagen

Yes, thanks RJ. We have as I mentioned we have our captive pipeline now is almost $1 billion. And as we look at that of what's maturing in 2017 for debt maturities about 20% of that will be maturing in 2017, now we never project that well get all of that because obviously the decision makers on that are not always are PROs and such. But we know sizable portion of that growth will come through the captive pipeline this year. We also do expect a sizable number of third-party acquisitions, we already have closed on some this year. And we have a number of ongoing discussions underway as well. We as you know we added Marc Smith in Personal Mini as our new PRO, we dont anticipate very much new properties coming from the Personal Mini this year.

But we will have at least one or two acquisitions on that area as well. And then if we ended with another new PRO in late this year that would be more to put as toward the high end of the guidance. But otherwise it's primarily just what we know right now plus the captive pipeline in the third-party acquisitions.

RJ Milligan

Okay. And then Tammy, I wanted to talk about the same-store definition. So does same-store for 2017 include everything that was acquired in 2015?

Tamara Fischer

Its all the stores that we owned for all of 2016.

RJ Milligan

Is it fair to assume, given that you guys have acquired a significant amount in 2016. I think $1.3 billion as you bring those on to your platform and continue to lease those up or maximize revenue in those properties. Could we expect in I guess an added benefit in 2018 same-stores NOIs those properties are brought into the system in the same-store pool?

Arlen Nordhagen

Yes, RJ. This is Arlen. I would say that weve definitely seen that. Particularly as we acquire new properties the first two years of that we see outsized growth. So 2017 obviously, we don't they're not in our 2017 pool but in 2018 we'll see some continuation on that. To be honest, wed like to be able to continue to accelerate the platform adoption programs to try and get those benefits as quickly as possible. But historically, we've seen substantial gains in both year one and year two.

RJ Milligan

So on average the acquisitions in 2015 will be a greater contributor to same-store NOI growth in 2017 versus the legacy portfolio?

Arlen Nordhagen

Yes, that's true. It's probably about a percent or so higher than the legacy portfolio.

Read the original:
National Storage Affiliates Trust's (NSA) CEO Arlen Nordhagen on Q4 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

During an interview with Neil Cavuto on the FOX Business Network, former NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander addressed the recent controversy involving Attorney General Jeff Sessions and allegations he communicated with Russian diplomats during the presidential election, despite stating that he didnt during his confirmation hearing before Congress.

Well, I think the facts are what we need and I think jumping to the conclusion that the Attorney General did something wrong is a big jump, General Alexander said.

He went on to add that he doesnt believe Sessions intended to mislead or do anything wrong.

In a statement to Fox News, the Attorney General denied the accusations, I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false," he wrote.

Alexander also noted that the presidents promise to rebuild the military and to increase defense spending by $54 billion is a good thing.

I have tremendous confidence in Secretary Mattis. He is a good person. He will take the money needed; he will come back with a great plan and help get us the military that we need.

Continue Reading Below

ADVERTISEMENT

Alexander went on to add that taking care of those who would give their life for this nation is the right thing to do.

Read the original:
Fmr. NSA Director: Trump's Military Spending Increase is Needed ... - Fox Business

The Hindu

Jaishankar meets US NSA, Speaker The Hindu On his third trip to the United States since the election of Donald Trump, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met U.S. National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar meets US NSA, discuss bilateral tiesEconomic Times S Jaishankar holds talks with US Speaker Paul Ryan and NSA McMaster; safety of Indians, counter terrorism ops ...India.com S. Jaishankar meets US NSA Lt. Gen. HR McMasterBusiness Standard Millennium Post all 33 news articles »

Read more:
Jaishankar meets US NSA, Speaker - The Hindu

National Security Agency building at Fort Meade, Md. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)

Congress is still waiting for an intelligence community estimate of the number of American communications swept up in widespread surveillance programs authorized by law due to expire this year.

Lawmakers blasted the intelligence community Wednesday after a classified briefing from members of the National Security Agency, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and others. Representatives again failed to respond to a year-old request for an estimate of the number of American communications caught up in electronic surveillance programs.

Representatives have asked repeatedly for the information ahead of Congress reauthorization of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Amendments Act Section 702. The law legalizes broad electronic surveillance programs like Prism, revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden in 2013. Section 702 expires Dec. 31.

Michigan Democrat Rep. John Conyers said the intelligence community has not so much as responded to another December request for the estimate. He added lawmakers will not simply take the governments word on the size of the so-called incidental collection.

Section 702 authorizes NSAs upstream surveillance programs when the signals intelligence agency taps the physical infrastructure of the internet, such as undersea fiber cables, to surveil the content of foreign communications including emails, instant messages, etc. as they exit and enter the U.S.

It also allows the agency to submit selectors to U.S.-based communications providers, like e-mail addresses, who then provide the agency with any communications relevant to those selectors.

The programs essentially allow NSA to incidentally sweep up unrelated data belonging to Americans in communication with foreigners. Privacy advocates likeElizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at NYU Laws Brennan Center for Justice, say such incidental collection likely amounts to millions or tens of millions of warrantless interceptions.

I dont mean to imply that this trust was misplaced, Goitein told the House Judiciary Committee during the unclassified half of Wednesdays briefing. In fact, weve seen essentially no evidence of intentional misuse. But what we have seen is mission creep, so that a law designed to protect against foreign threats to the United States has become a major source of warrantless access to Americans data and a tool for ordinary, domestic law enforcement.

NSA can share raw data it collects absent a warrant with CIA and FBI. All three can hold onto data for five years, but encrypted communications, those reasonably believed to contain secret meaning, and any U.S. person information that has foreign intelligence value or is evidence of a crime, can be kept indefinitely. None estimate how many Americans are swept up annually in what privacy advocates have dubbed back door searches.

Goitein said that data can be used to prosecute Americans for crimes unrelated to the original search. Legal requirements for secrecy and national security allow prosecutors in some instances not to reveal how such information was gathered, making it difficult to surmise if its happened already.

She and others at Wednesdays hearing including California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu say thats a clear Fourth Amendment violation, and Congress should rewrite the law with reforms instead of a blanket reauthorization. Jeff Kosseff, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, argued national security gives the intelligence community exception to the Fourth Amendments warrant requirement.

An anonymous White House official told Reuters Wednesday the Trump administration supports renewal without reforms.

We support the clean reauthorization and the administration believes its necessary to protect the security of the nation, the official said.

Follow Giuseppe on Twitter

Subscribe for the Latest From InsideSources Every Morning

Visit link:
Congress Asks NSA for Estimate of American Surveillance Before Reauthorization - InsideSources