Category Archives: NSA

India and its traditional ally Russia have agreed to step up coordination amid unfolding situation in Afghanistan following US and NATO troops pullout.

The Afghan situation was discussed threadbare when Deputy NSA Pankaj Saran visited Moscow this week to meet Russian NSA Nikolay Patrushev & Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.

On what was a quiet visit there were excellent discussions on evolving situation and considerable common ground and interests especially given exit of US and NATO, diplomatic sources told ET.

Visit of Dy NSA Amb. Pankaj Saran to Moscow: meeting with Secretary of Russian National Security Council H.E. Mr. Nikolai Patrushev & Dy Secretary of the Russian Security Council H.E. Mr. Alexander Venediktov; discussions covered regional & international issues incl. #Afghanistan according to an Indian Embassy tweet.

Indian envoy to Moscow B Ventakesh Varma and officials of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) were part of the meeting.

Patrushev, who shares a close rapport with his Indian counterpart, AK Doval, told Izvestia daily of Russia this week that the situation in Afghanistan must be settled through dialogue.

"We will focus on the political and diplomatic efforts regarding Afghanistan and will be looking for ways of establishing an inter-Afghani dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the existing problems in the country jointly with our partners," he said, adding, "We have reinvigorated contacts at the level of security councils, military and special services with the countries located near Afghanistan, first of all, with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as with China, Iran, India and Pakistan.

It may be recalled that India and Russia along with Iran backed the Northern Alliance against Taliban between 1996-2001.

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India steps up coordination with Russia on Afghan theatre as Deputy NSA visits Moscow - Economic Times

Afghanistan India Evacuation: An Air India flight carrying 78 passengers including 25 Indian citizens has been en route to New Delhi from Tajikistan's Dushanbe in a safe evacuation from Afghanistan.

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News agency ANI reported this in a report at 8.07 AM in the morning today. Arindam Bagchi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson tweeted from his official Twitter handle, "Helping in the safe return from Afghanistan. AI 1956 enroute to Delhi from Dushanbe carrying 78 passengers, including 25 Indian nationals. Evacuees were flown in from Kabul on an @IAF_MCC aircraft."

Helping in the safe return from Afghanistan.AI 1956 enroute to Delhi from Dushanbe carrying 78 passengers, including 25 Indian nationals. Evacuees were flown in from Kabul on an @IAF_MCC aircraft.@IndEmbDushanbe pic.twitter.com/BcIWLzSLrL

Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) August 24, 2021

ANI further reported that the Indian authorities evacuated 75 Sikhs amidst the deteriorating situation in war-torn Afghanistan.

The situation in Afghanistan is worsening and people are in a rush to leave the country after the Taliban seized control of the country last week. On August 15, 2021, the Afghanistan government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the country.

There are certain updates in relation to Afghanistan today. They are as follows:

9 AM - At 9 AM, a flight lands with more than 40 evacuated Afghan Sikhs in Delhi. Three Holy Sri Guru Granth sahib also brought from Afghanistan

1.30 PM - A session has been scheduled at 1.30 PM by United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Afghanistan

5 PM - BRICS NSA meet is scheduled at 5 PM. The meeting will be chaired by Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor as India is the host.

7 PM - G7 leaders meet on Afghanistan

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Afghanistan Turmoil: Indian national evacuation, UNHRC session to BRICS NSA meet- What you need to know abo... - Zee Business

Simple tip to protect a file cell phone The US National Security Agency (NSA) issued against cybercriminals: Turn off your cell phone often.

It is not new that there is always anxiety data leak About. A cell phone is one of the devices that collects its most valuable information pirates, such as your location, address, personal passwords, bank accounts, documents, sensitive conversations, contacts, photos. Turning off the device too often can prevent this data from spreading around.

a The NSA has developed a guide With valuable tips for mobile security and highly recommending people to turn off their phones often. At least once a week.

Without network access, it becomes difficult for criminals to access and steal personal information to sell.

The tips become relevant due to some of the strategies that cybercriminals use to gain access to the cell phones of the victims. One of them is called zero clicks. In it, a person does not need to click on any suspicious links to fall into the trap. Hacking technology takes advantage of vulnerabilities in a cell phones operating system, allowing malicious software to be installed without the users consent.

A recent example of the application of this technique is Pegasus caseSpyware Created by an Israeli company This allows you to secretly track all the activities of the infected person with the infected device. Almost like a virus, it can read sent and written messages and access bank account information, social networks Email messages.

Pegasus was used to spy 50,000 human rights activists, journalists and lawyers around the world.

NS google browser Apple said they fixed potential vulnerabilities that would allow spying, but there is still risk in devices that havent been updated or in vulnerabilities that havent yet been discovered.

Regardless of the type of malware and virus, in addition to frequently turning off your phone, immediately check if your device has an updated operating system.

The NSA also recommends other measures to increase privacy and security on mobile phones:

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On/Off: Super-Easy NSA Tips that Protect Your Phone from Hackers - 08/23/2021 - Mediarun Search

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is not ready to leave office as a failure and will change the nations security narratives before the end of his tenure in 2023, according to the NationalSecurity Adviser Babagana Monguno

Monguno, who briefed State Houses correspondents shortly after the president met with the service chiefs, said although the military had recorded successes in the ongoing war against insurgency in the North-East, the president was determined to achieve a turnaround in the fortunes of the country.

He said the nation had not recorded the level of success being reported at the moment where insurgents were giving up arms to embrace peace, attributing the situation to the relentless efforts of the armed forces, intelligence and security agencies.

This is very, very evident. Weve never had such large numbers of people defecting from the other side, back to the Nigerian side, mainly, as a result of many issues within the theatre, issues of infighting among the various factions of the terrorist groups.

He noted that there had been seamless intelligence gathering and sharing among the nations security operatives and Nigerias neighbours within the Lake Chad region.

So the president was briefed, the president is quite happy that theres been a tremendous success, especially with the advent of the new service chiefs and inspector-general of police.

And hes also made it very, very clear that hes not ready to exit government as a failure. He is not going to tolerate that hes made changes and is ready to make further changes if he is not satisfied. He is completely determined to ensure that theres a turnaround in the fortunes in the theatre of operations.

While claiming that the security atmosphere was improving despite recent killings and kidnappings in the North-West and North-East, Monguno admitted that a lot still needed to be done.

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Monguno added that Buhari was not oblivious to the sufferings of Nigerians as he was working with the vice-president to address the issues of hunger in the country.

Excerpt from:
Buhari is not ready to leave office as failure -NSA - Internatinal Centre For Investigative Reporting

Like many of her peers caught up in work and lifes demands, senior regulatory affairs executive Mdm Quek Suan Choo had not put much thought into how she would spend her silver years.

It was only until her late 40s did she start contemplating what she would do after leaving the workforce. Upon observing how her neighbour had become more withdrawn and less agile after his retirement, Mdm Quek realised she needed to keep her mind and body active.

Now 51, Mdm Quek decided the best way to achieve this would be to explore different interests early, pick up a new hobby and learn something new.

Her husband, Mr Hew Yong Fatt, was the one who introduced her to National Silver Academy (NSA) courses and recommended her to search for courses on the NSA website.

The 53-year-old senior engineer had been looking up courses on the NSA website to upgrade his professional skills. The couple was encouraged to sign up when they saw that those aged 50 and above could enjoy subsidies of up to 80 per cent off course fees for courses under NSA.

In the past two years, the couple signed up for Introductory Course in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Discovering TCM Acupuncture conducted by the National Technological University - Confucius Institute. They chose the courses because they believe learning Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may help improve their overall well-being, and keep them healthy as they age.

Mdm Quek says one of the benefits of taking up courses with her husband is that they can support each other and share discussions on the things theyve learnt, which has helped strengthen their relationship.

As both of them are still working full-time, it was beneficial that the courses were held over the weekend. Each session lasted just three hours, leaving them plenty of time to enjoy the rest of their Saturday and Sunday.

The best part was there were no exams and homework, so we could focus on enjoying the learning process, says Mdm Quek.

Mdm Quek and Mr Hew say that taking up courses at the NSA together has not only enabled them to learn skills to improve their overall well-being, but it has also helped strengthen their relationship. PHOTO: TED CHEN

At the introductory course, they learnt how TCM could be used to diagnose illnesses, and how a five-element TCM principle applied in their daily diet could help improve their physical wellness.

Mdm Quek, who suffers from sinusitis, also learnt that she could relieve the symptoms by placing both her index fingers at the two sides of her nose and rubbing the area continuously 60 times to improve her qi or vital energy.

Through the course Discovering TCM Acupuncture, the couple picked up tips such as using acupuncture to relieve stress.

We discovered how gently tapping the top of the head several times may help to relieve tension. Placing both thumbs at the top of the neck at the depressions beneath the base of the skull and massaging the area in a circular motion may also help relieve a stiff neck, says Mdm Quek.

They also learnt baduanjin qigong and Mr Hew, who spent long hours working at the computer says the exercise helped to relieve his back and neck tension.

Learning TCM, says Mdm Quek, has made her life more interesting, and kept her mind active. She believes that the act of learning helps prevent dementia.

For Mr Hew, the courses have enabled him to be more socially active. Many men are introverts who dont like to mingle with friends. Its good to have a hobby when we retire, so we will not feel lost, he says.

He also shares that continuous learning provides him and his wife with more topics to discuss when interacting with friends. As guys, we tend not to express our feelings explicitly. So having more conversation topics to share with our friends allows us to express ourselves more openly. I feel that this could help to prevent depression, he adds.

Inspired by how continuous learning has enriched their lives, the couple is considering signing up for more courses. Mdm Quek says she is keen to take up a barista course and a creative photography course, while Mr Hew wants to advance his skills in TCM.

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Embracing lifelong learning to keep active and socially connected - The Straits Times

In 2003, the city of Oakland agreed to place its police department under the watchful eye of an outside monitoring team and federal judge to address allegations of brutality and civil rights violations. The arrangement was only intended to last five years. Its been more than 18.

Now, the need for federal oversight might be coming to an end, two civil rights attorneys wrote in court documents filed Wednesday evening.

Attorneys Jim Chanin and John Burris, who represent plaintiffs in the 21-year-old lawsuit which led to the sweeping oversight program, wrote that the Oakland Police Department has made significant progress, and after years of backsliding there is real momentum toward substantive compliance.

It is now time to run through the finish line and bring OPD into full and final compliance, the attorneys wrote.

In their brief to U.S. District Judge William Orrick, Chanin and Burris noted that they plan to begin talks with city of Oakland officials to settle the case within the next several weeks.

The documents were filed ahead of a Sept. 1 hearing in front of Orrick, who along with court-appointed monitor Robert Warshaw, oversees the program. OPD remains out of full compliance with 5 of 52 mandated reforms, but Chanin and Burris believe the departments recent progress puts them close enough to the finish line to begin discussing the end of court oversight at OPD.

It wouldnt stop immediately. To wind down the program, OPD would be subject to a one-year sustainability period in which it will have to prove that the reforms can last without the intervention of outside authorities.

Originally, federal oversight was supposed to end in 2008, after OPD completed the 52 court-ordered tasks. The requirementsincluding improving the quality of police misconduct investigations, collecting and analyzing data to track racial disparities, and changes to a variety of policieswere agreed upon in the settlement of a lawsuit filed by 119 plaintiffs in 2000 alleging a group of officers known as The Riders planted drugs, beat, and racially profiled West Oakland residents.

The Negotiated Settlement Agreement, or NSA, is now in its 19th year. It is one of the longest federal oversight programs of a U.S. police department, outlasting three mayors, six police chiefs and several city administrators.

OPD was slow initially to comply with the requirements of the NSA, and multiple scandals over the years caused further setbacks. Chanin and Burris were prepared to call for an end to the oversight and begin the one-year sustainability period in 2016, until a sexual exploitation scandal involving OPD officers exploded, leading to the removal of three police chiefs in a week.

Under police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, appointed in 2017, the department fell out of compliance with five of the reform tasks it had earlier achieved. One case at the center of the departments backsliding was the fatal police shooting of Joshua Pawlik, who was discovered by officers asleep with a gun and shot as he was waking up. In reports to the judge, OPDs monitor Warshaw wrote that Kirkpatrick was personally responsible for the departments mishandling of the investigation of the officers who killed Pawlik.

According to recent assessments by Warshaw, and Chanin and Burris, OPD has managed to come back into compliance in several areas, including how officers report use of force incidents; the departments use of an Executive Force Review Board to investigate officer-involved shootings and other critical incidents; and its creation and use of a sophisticated, data-driven early warning system to track officer conduct and help the department manage risks.

OPD remains out of compliance with five tasks related to: completing internal affairs investigations within a required timeframe; internal affairs complaint procedures; use of force investigations; tracking who OPD officers stop and why; and consistency of discipline against OPD members.

Warshaw, Chanin, and Burris have praised current Chief LeRonne Armstrong for his commitment to advance these reforms. When he became chief earlier this year, Armstrong set a goal to end the NSA within a year. In a recent interview with The Oaklandside, the chief said he believed the department is close to compliance.

Weve been holding people accountable like we were asked to do. Ive been seeking the cultural change that the court is looking for, Armstrong said. He noted that the federal monitors more recent reports have indicated the positive momentum of the department.

In their brief filed Wednesday night, Chanin and Burris cited a study by Campaign Zero examining rates of police shootings, which showed Oakland had the lowest rate of cities included in the survey. The list included Dallas, Los Angeles, San Jose, Baltimore, Long Beach, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City. The same study found Oakland did the most to reduce arrest disparities between Black and white people.

Attorneys for the city of Oakland, in a brief also filed Wednesday evening, struck a similar tone. City Attorney Barbara Parker and special counsel Brigid S. Martin wrote that the city is confident that under Chief Armstrongs leadership, the department will achieve full compliance.

The citys attorneys recognized that the nut of this case remains what it was in the beginning, which is racial disparity.

Other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area look to the department as a pioneer in evaluating and reducing racial disparities in police stops, they wrote, noting that from 2013 to 2019 Oakland outperformed every other city of similar size reducing overall arrest and drug possession arrests between Black and white residents.

In an encouraging sign, Warshaw wrote in a recent report that the Executive Force Review Boards decision to overturn Internal Affairs Division findings and discipline two officers for using excessive force in a dog bite case shows OPD is examining use of force cases more thoroughly than before. Warshaw also did not disagree with the IADs findings related to the departments response to the George Floyd protests last summer, during which OPD officers used tear gas and other less lethal weapons against hundreds of protesters. After an exhaustive investigation, OPD found that dozens of officers had violated department policies and faced discipline.

Another good sign for OPD is that the racial disparities within the department regarding discipline may not be as severe as first thought. In 2020, an outside consultant reported that Black officers were much more likely to be sustained for misconduct and punished than officers of other races. Recently, however, Stanford University professors who have helped OPD with data analysis regarding racial disparities found that the study inadvertently counted some discipline and that as a result the findings may have been distorted.

Warshaw wrote in a report filed Monday with Judge Orrick that we have a cautious optimism that the Department can enter the final stages of this long process.

The outstanding issues are important ones, and speak to the core of the NSA, Warshaw wrote. Timeliness of investigations and the meaningfulness of risk management, not merely as a core value, but as a process that culminates in modified behaviors, are essential. Robust and comprehensive reviews of use of force are of paramount importance. Addressing internal and external disparities, be they who is stopped, and why, or who is disciplined, and who is not, should help lay the foundation for sustainable reform.

One potential obstacle to ending oversight, Chanin and Burris wrote, is the active internal affairs investigation of racist and sexist Instagram posts on an account believed to be run by one or more Oakland police officers. Posts included disdain for OPD policies meant to prevent police brutality and corruption along with sexist images and jokes. The deadline for completion of this investigation is days away, according to the two attorneys, and they hope to review the findings.

Ultimately, Chanin and Burris wrote that OPD has come a long way.

The Oakland Police Department has moved from being one of the worst police departments in the San Francisco Bay Area to being one of the best police departments in comparable cities in the country, the civil rights attorneys wrote. Assuming the Instagram case is handled appropriately, there is no reason that the Sustainability Period cannot start very soon.

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Federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department may be nearing its end, attorneys say - The Oaklandside

NBC News published this video item, entitled Full NSA Sullivan Interview: Kabul Evacuation Is Very Risky and Dangerous below is their description.

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Full NSA Sullivan Interview: Kabul Evacuation Is Very Risky and Dangerous

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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south; Iran to the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north; and China to the northeast.

Occupying 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi), it is a mountainous country with plains in the north and southwest. Kabul is the capital and largest city. The population is around 32 million, composed mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks.

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Full NSA Sullivan Interview: Kabul Evacuation Is Very Risky and Dangerous - The Global Herald - The Global Herald

It was in late June when Fox News' Tucker Carlson claimed on the air that the National Security Agency was "monitoring" his electronic communications, as part of a scheme to take his show "off the air." The host offered no proof, but several congressional Republicans rallied behind him -- with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) even asking Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calf.) to launch some kind of probe into the odd allegations.

Weeks later, the GOP's willingness to take the matter seriously hasn't gone away.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee is calling on the director of national intelligence to investigate allegations that the federal government "unmasked" Fox News host Tucker Carlson. In a letter to Avril Haines, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that recent media reports that "Mr. Carlson was unmasked by a government agency" have "only fueled the perception that unmasking is being used as a political hammer or to satisfy curiosity."

In his written request to the DNI, the Republican senator not only referenced the "perception" of political improprieties, Rubio also argued that the public is "attuned to the perception of widespread misconduct." His letter also referenced "public suspicion and distrust."

Or put another way, the Florida Republican -- the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the panel's former chairman -- isn't aware of any wrongdoing on the part of the intelligence community, but he is aware of "perceptions."

Of course, those perceptions may very well exist, though that doesn't make them true.

Let's circle back to our earlier coverage to review how we arrived at this point. NBC News reported last month that after Carlson raised the allegations, the NSA took the unusual step of issuing a written statement, explaining that the Fox News personality "has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air. NSA has a foreign intelligence mission. We target foreign powers to generate insights on foreign activities that could harm the United States."

NBC News' report added, "The conservative host has a history of making false or exaggerated claims."

It was against this backdrop that Axios moved the ball forward with a related report, adding that Carlson was "talking to U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Vladimir Putin shortly before the Fox News host accused the National Security Agency of spying on him."

Axios added that U.S. officials "learned about Carlson's efforts to secure the Putin interview. Carlson learned that the government was aware of his outreach and that's the basis of his extraordinary accusation."

If Axios' sources were correct, it raised the possibility of a scenario in which the Fox News host may have been in communication with a Kremlin official who was under surveillance. Under such a scenario, the NSA wasn't monitoring Carlson's communications; it was monitoring the communications of the person Carlson was talking to.

If you connected with a member of Vladimir Putin's team, the NSA would probably be aware of that, too. It would not, however, be proof of an NSA plot to derail your professional career.

It also wouldn't warrant a congressional investigation or weird partisan conspiracy theories.

All of this was reminiscent of Donald Trump's insistence that U.S. intelligence agencies "spied on" his 2016 campaign. When pressed for proof, Republicans have pointed to instances in which members of Team Trump were in communication with their Russian allies.

But again, this wasn't because anyone was spying on the Trump campaign, it was because U.S. intelligence agencies were spying on Russians -- whom Team Trump was chatting with before taking office four years ago.

If the reporting is correct, and something similar happened to Carlson, it wouldn't be shocking in the slightest.

So why is Marco Rubio taking an interest in this weeks later? It's possible that the senator, given his powerful position on the Intelligence Committee, has uncovered relevant information that sparked new interest in the story.

And it's also possible that the ambitious Republican is playing a partisan political game, so that he can tell his party's base and conservative media outlets that he played along with their suspicions, indifferent to whether those ideas are rooted in fact.

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Rubio takes an interest in the right's NSA conspiracy theory - MSNBC

U.S. intelligence officials face bipartisan congressional pressure to explain their use of surveillance powers, following a rebuke from a federal judge and Fox News host Tucker Carlsons high-profile dispute with the National Security Agency.

Our institutions are only as good as the American publics confidence in them, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wrote a top intelligence official, requesting an investigation of Carlsons allegation the NSA violated his privacy. The NSA publicly responded to Mr. Carlsons allegations with a statement on Twitter that frankly only created more questions.

Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, did not dispute the NSAs denial of wrongdoing in Carlsons case. Yet, Rubios request for a formal inquiry into Carlsons complaint coincided with a sharper rebuke of the FBI, which has drawn bipartisan ire due to a federal judges revelation of pervasive misuse of data collected by the NSA.

We each share an obligation to protect Americans civil liberties, Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz and California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren wrote in a Tuesday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. However, the FBI has repeatedly violated the civil liberties of Americans through widespread misuse of Section 702 data.

TUCKER CARLSON'S NAME IN NSA INTERCEPTS REVEALED THROUGH 'UNMASKING': REPORT

Section 702 is a provision of federal law that allows the NSA to collect the communications of foreign targets overseas without a warrant. That surveillance authority looms over both controversies, as a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge revealed FBI officials have failed to follow the rules designed to prevent the Section 702 program from being used in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans.

The FBIs failure to properly apply its querying standard when searching Section 702-acquired information was more pervasive than was previously believed, the judge wrote in a November 18, 2020, opinion that the Office of the Director of Intelligence published in April.

Story continues

Carlson, for his part, has accused President Joe Bidens administration of spying on him and planning to leak his plans to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I wasn't embarrassed about trying to interview Putin. He's obviously newsworthy, Carlson said last month. But still, in this case, I decided to keep it quiet. I figured that any kind of publicity would rattle the Russians and make the interview less likely to happen. But the Biden administration found out anyway, by reading my emails.

NSA officials denied that Carlson was a target of surveillance, while his account spurred outside analysts to surmise the U.S. spy agencies tasked with monitoring the communications of Putins associates detected Carlsons interview request a phenomenon known as incidental collection.

By law, I should have been identified internally merely as a U.S. journalist or American journalist, Carlson said. But that's not how I was identified. It was identified by name. I was unmasked.

Rubio, following Carlsons demand for an explanation from National Intelligence director Avril Haines and NSA Director Paul Nakasone, urged Haines to coordinate with the NSA to launch a formal inquiry into both aspects of the controversy: the initial information gathering and the alleged unmasking.

However, the senator did not dispute the NSAs denial and suggested a transparent investigation might clear the air.

Our institutions are only as good as the American publics confidence in them, Rubio wrote to Haines. As such, it is essential that the IC under your leadership hold itself to account if misconduct has occurred, and convincingly reassure an American public increasingly attuned to the perception of widespread misconduct where it has not occurred.

Spartz, Lofgren, and 15 other House lawmakers took up the FISA court judge's findings rather than Carlson's complaint. They signaled to Wray they are confident the FBI is guilty of misuse of raw Section 702 data, although they did not refer to Carlson. They set a deadline for the FBI chief to schedule a classified briefing on the controversy.

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The FBI has systematically failed to comply with Section 702 restrictions and its own regulations to protect Americans civil liberties, Spartz, the Indiana Republican, said Tuesday in a statement accompanying the release of the Aug. 2 letter. The core function of the government is to protect our constitutional rights, and members of Congress should be briefed by FBI officials regarding the bureaus efforts to remediate this issue.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Tucker Carlson, Russia, Marco Rubio, NSA, Avril Haines

Original Author: Joel Gehrke

Original Location: Congress pressures US spy agencies as Tucker Carlson feuds with NSA

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Congress pressures US spy agencies as Tucker Carlson feuds with NSA - Yahoo News

Ina trilateral security meeting held between Sri Lanka, India, and the Maldives on August 4, the nations identified four pillars of cooperation in areas related to terrorism and radicalization, marine safety and security, trafficking and organized crime, and cybersecurity, the Indian High Commission said in a statement on Friday. Held virtually due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the first Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) level meeting of the Colombo Security Conclavewas hosted by Sri Lanka to hold discussions on vital cooperation and coordination to address the key contemporary security challenges in the region.

The high-level NSA meet was held under the Chairmanship of Chief of Defence Staff and Army Commander General Shavendra Silva with the participation of Deputy National Security Adviser of India Pankaj Saran and National Security Advisers Office Secretary at the Presidents Office of Maldives Aishath Nooshin Waheed. Bangladesh, Mauritius, and Seychelles participated as observers, and were participated by Principal Staff Officer to Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh Army Lt. Gen. Waker Uz Zaman, Mauritius Prime Ministers Office Permanent Secretary Pusmawatee Sohun, and Seychelles Peoples Force Chief of Defence Forces Colonel Micheal Rosette.

The NSA talks were held under the widened format of the Colombo Security Conclave, which held talks over the specific proposals for cooperation related to the four pillars of cooperation identified by the participant countries. The three nations agreed to hold regular interactions, joint exercises, capacity building, and training activities and enhancing their capabilities to keep up with the spirit of regional cooperation.

"The meeting was marked by convergence of views on common security threats and was held in a warm, positive and forward looking manner," Indian High Commission said in a statement on Friday. The meeting identified four pillars of cooperation under the Colombo Security Conclave, namely, Marine Safety and Security, Terrorism and Radicalisation, Trafficking and Organised Crime and Cyber security," the mission added.

The decision to establish the Colombo Security Conclave was agreed upon in November 2020 at the NSA-level meeting of India, Lanka, and the Maldives. The meeting aims to strengthen cooperation on the maritime and security issues trilaterally among the three key Indian Ocean nations.

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Cybersecurity among '4 pillars of cooperation' in NSA meeting between India, SL, Maldives - Republic World