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After decades in use, last paper tape crypto key punched

The USs National Security Agency (NSA) has ended production of punched paper tape cryptographic keys after over 50 years use; making its final shift to an electronic cryptographic key production and distribution architecture.

An agency spokesman confirmed to Computer Business Review that the last NSA punched tape key had rolled off its machines on October 2, 2019. Such keys were used to encrypt military and other communications, and needed to be physically entered into devices that could store the key, then shipped around the world.

The technology, which uses paper-mylar-paper tape rolls punched with holes to store cryptographic keys (a hole represents a binary 1, and the absence of a hole a binary 0) remains in use in the UK, particularly by the Ministry of Defence.

The NSA only confirmed the end of the programme and declined to provide an image of the now obsolete kit.

Neal Ziring, technical director of the NSAs Capabilities Directorate, told us earlier this year that the signals intelligence agency produced millions of the physical crypto keys per year during the 1980s but was now down to the hundreds annually.

He joked of the last production run: Well probably have a party.

Such cryptographic keys (used for symmetric algorithms widely deployed by the military) are physically shipped around the country in tamper-proof canisters.

Ziring attributed the longevity of the technology, despite digital alternatives, to slow military equipment replacement cycles: Once the military gets a tactical radio or something that they like, they tend to use it for a long while.

Weve been working with our military partners to get them off key tape for, oh jeez, well over a decade; probably longer.

Physical keys remain in widespread use in the UK. In 2018 the UK Key Production Authority, which sits under the NCSC, processed[pdf] 3,800 orders for key material; or 145,000 physical keys for 170 customers across government.

Richard Flitton, managing director ofL3 TRL; a Tewkesbury-based specialist in advanced electronic security systems, earlier told Computer Business Review that ongoing use of the technology was a security issue.

He said: Theres two issues here: one is that youve got to distribute the key, so youve got to physically move the things around the country or even overseas. If youre moving things theyre vulnerable to being intercepted or compromised. Then secondly theres the cost and logistical burden of doing all that.

The authority has a huge challenge to produce all those keys and then its got a challenge to distribute and install them all. I wont describe what happens. But if Joe Public knew, you would think this was all a bit 1960s really.

As Ziring explained earlier, digital cryptographic key management rendered comsec accounting and logistics a lot more straightforward.

In terms of how that works: A base or a depot would have an outpost of the key management system there are various form factors for that right on base.

If theyre trying to put keys into some military aircraft; theyd have fill devices in the hanger, you fill up the key fill device from the KMS, you take it around the airplanes youre talking about walking a couple hundred meters Its not like trying to ship it [a punched tape key] from Maryland out to a base from the other side of the world.

Such tape can either be used as a one-time key, roughly equivalent to a one-time pad to directly encipher a message (this was long ago phased out) or used to store a crypto variable; the key for a symmetric algorithm.

A blog by the NSA itself described the technology: Each 5,000 foot roll of Paper-Mylar-Paper-tape moving through the production line at one foot per second represented the raw material on which the COMSEC key would be punched and printed.

Keeping the punch and print operations moving with the necessary speed and precision presented a serious engineering challenge. Borrowing from the technology of magnetic tape drives, the development team came up with vacuum wells which were incorporated into the system to physically regulate the flow of the tape.

The software development engineer and crypto software programmers of such punch, verification, print (PVP) systems in the 1970s had to write the main system software for the DEC PDP-11 computer that would import cryptologic key and oversee the entire tape production process entirely in assembly language.

This task was daunting and would be considered the equivalent of travelling from Baltimore to Los Angeles on hands and knees by todays programmers.

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EXCLUSIVE Last Punched Tape Crypto Key Rolls off the NSAs Machines - Computer Business Review

Honor doesnt have a 5G smartphone in China yet, but thats going to change very soon. Honor President Zhao Ming recently confirmed that the Honor V30 was going to be the first 5G smartphone from the brand. Whats more, it is also confirmed that the Honor V30 launch is scheduled for November 2019.

Honor didnt give out an official launch date for the V30, but since its coming in November, expect an official announcement soon. Zhao also confirmed in a recent interview with Chinese media that the new model would support both Non-Stand Alone (NSA) and Stand Alone (SA) modes, essentially future-proofing the device.The Honor V30 is reportedly coming in two variants, the Honor V30 and the V30 Pro. Both the models will likely feature punch-hole cameras, with the Pro model reportedly getting dual front-facing shooters.The cameras on both devices will be quite powerful. The V30 should come with a 60MP primary sensor with 16MP super wide-angle shooter, a 2MP macro lens, and a ToF camera completing the quad-camera setup. The Pro version retains the 60MP primary shooter, but adds an 8MP telephoto camera instead of a macro lens, and upgrades the wide-angle shooter to 20MP. It will also have a ToF camera.

(Via)

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Honor V30 Is Coming in November with 5G SA & NSA support - gizmochina

THE National Sheep Association (NSA) is the latest farming and countryside group to give a cautious welcome the news of what it called an 'updated' Brexit deal.

The NSA said that, if passed, the agreement could provide much needed and long-awaited assurances to the UK sheep industry. However, concerns remain with regard to sheep farmers in Northern Ireland.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: NSA has said all along that if we are to leave the EU then the priority must be to maintain continuous and friction-free access to the market for UK sheepmeat into Europe where we know it is valued and in demand. There should be no doubt that this includes free and frictionless trade within the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. This deal is cautiously welcomed, however, there is still uncertainty about exactly what this might mean for sheep farmers on the Island of Ireland.

NSA Northern Ireland regional development officer Edward Adamson adds: This deal seems, in some ways, to be a worse deal for sheep farmers in Northern Ireland than the deal put on the table just under a year ago. The red line in the Irish Sea is not going down well and without DUP support the deal is unlikely to get through Parliament. However, while the deal is not ideal it would at least be better for sheep farmers in Northern Ireland than crashing out with no-deal.

The NSA said if accepted by Parliament tomorrow (Saturday), the Bill would enable an implementation period that would allow UK sheepmeat exporters to continue trading in the immediate future.

Mr Stocker said: Passing a deal now would mean we avoid a no-deal and maintain the status quo during this implementation period. This would give the UK until the end of December 2020 in which to, hopefully, negotiate a permanent free trade deal with our European partners and further afield. On this basis, I would encourage MPs to back the deal and put an end to years of uncertainty.

Earlier NFU president Minette Batters said: The NFU is pleased to see that the UK and EU negotiators have come to an agreement on the terms of the UKs withdrawal from the EU, which might pave the way for an orderly Brexit and the avoidance of leaving without a deal.

However, we must remember that if this deal is agreed by UK and EU Parliaments in the coming days, it only determines how the UK withdraws from the EU and does not determine the long-term future of the UKs and EUs relationship.

It is vital that government has a long-term aspiration to ensure that British farming standards are not undercut by an ambition to open up British markets to food which would be illegal to produce here and that there is free and frictionless trade with the EU in the long term.

We have had precious little reassurances on these issues so far and we look to government to be clear about its ambitions for British farming, which provides affordable, safe, home-grown food produced to some of the highest standards in the world.

Tim Breitmeyer, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said: News of a deal will be warmly welcomed by farmers and rural businesses, many of whom were fearing the consequences of a No Deal scenario. The proposed deal finally provides us with some certainty that could in turn help unlock much needed investment to get the rural economy moving again.

Opposition MPs, many of whom have argued against a hard Brexit, should think very carefully before voting this deal down. One gets the sense that its this deal or No Deal.

Excerpt from:
Farm groups give cautious welcome to Brexit 'deal' - The Northern Farmer

Written by Sean Lyngaas Oct 15, 2019 | CYBERSCOOP

Of the countless security conferences held across the globe, only one combines craft beer and malware analysis in the National Security Agencys backyard.

Every year, federal contractors andanalysts at Beltway cybersecurity companies gather for a day at Jailbreak Brewerys Laurel, Maryland, headquarters to trade specialized knowledgein digital forensics.

The training is really good; the beers are even better, said a Department of Justice employee sipping a Lemon Meringue Berliner Weisse.

The DOJ employee, who declined to speak on the record, has been coming since the summits inception in 2015. I learn something new every year, he said, before descending from the bar and taking a seat in front of the presentation stage.

That is the comfort zone that Kasey Turner, a former NSA employee, sought to create when he opened the brewery in 2014 with cybersecurity contractor-turned-entrepreneur Justin Bonner.

We wanted this to be everybodys own jailbreak, Turner told CyberScoop. Whatever drama is in your lifewhile you sit here and drink a beer, we hope that you dont think about that for a few minutes.

The brewerys name is a nod to the cybersecuritydefinition of a jailbreak: using a vulnerability to gain root access to a device and install whatever programs you like on it.

Its more about the freedom of the jailbreak, so to speak,Turner said. Youre setting your phone free from the network and all of the constraints that are put on it.

It was early Friday evening and Turner and his colleague Tom McGuire, another ex-NSA-er, were taking a break from the exertions of running the brewery to reflect on how their project had progressed. Around them, glasses clinked as attendees lingered long after the last speaker had finished to share stories and exchange contact information. 0Day IPA was available at the bar, the walls were adorned with Big Lebowski-themed art, and 90s grunge hummed through the hall.

Before cybersecurity became a multibillion-dollar and endlessly hyped industry, security conferences had this low-key feel.

They were small, they were intimate, and you pretty much went to them because there wasnt anywhere else to talk about this stuff, Turner recalled. This was your opportunity to meet with these people and talk with them and put a face to a handle.

Sarah Edwards, a Mac/iOS forensics specialist who, fittingly, presented on jailbreaking tools at the conference, said the event was fertile ground for collaborating with others in her niche. It helped drive home the many positive reasons to jailbreak a phone, she said, including to study the devices interactions with its applications in order to make them more secure.

While previous summits focused on SCADA systems or Internet of Things devices, this years theme was reverse-engineering malware.

We need to make reverse engineering accessible to more people, proclaimedapresenterfrom theJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in between meditations on binary static analysis. Carbon Blacks Erika Noerenberg riffed on the ability of a threat-hunting tool to decrypt payloads, while Google Project Zeros Maddie Stone walked attendees through how she deconstructed a vulnerability exploited in WhatsApp.

Each of us in this room may have a different reason for analyzing [a bug], Stone said.

Mike Bell, a longtime NSA contractor, presented on Ghidra, the reverse-engineering tool that the NSA publicly released earlier this year.

Looking relaxed in a sailor hat after going outon a boatthe previous night with fellowpresenters, Bell talked about his hope that Ghidra would be a valuable resource for academic researchers. Bell, who had helped write some of Ghidras algorithms, stood at the bar, his chin raised slightly, exuding an eagerness about where the project would go next.

The simple fact is the team cant keep up with all the changes in industry, Bell said, explaining one reason why the NSA released Ghidra publicly.

The camaraderie on display is one reason Turner and McGuire say they want to keep the conference small and unassuming, a contrast to the pomp and glitz of other industry events. What started for Turner and McGuire as a means of catching up with former colleagues will stay that way, they said.

Having a conference at a brewery gets people going, Turner said. They talk to one another.

Excerpt from:
Binaries and Brews: Jailbreak Security Summit convenes hackers on NSA's doorstep - CyberScoop

NSA has a market cap of $2037.37M. Market capitalization refers to the total dollar market value of a companys outstanding shares. The company holds Outstanding share with figure of 59.02 million and noted 58.72 million floating shares. The company now provides a dividend yield of 3.71% .

Investors are searching for easily tradable or highly liquid stocks, here we screened National Storage Affiliates Trust stock with recent volume of 384083 shares. Particularly for day traders, high volume is crucial, as the higher the volume the more liquid the stock is. Looking around last three track record, it holds trading capacity of 396.65K shares on average basis. If you own a stock that has extremely low daily volume, it may be difficult to get free of in a short time period. NSA registered activity of relative volume at 0.97. The stocks short float identified around of 1.99% and short ratio is measured at 2.94.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) is stock of Financial sector that received attractive attention from Investors and traders. It gone under observation and created a move of 0.58% at the closed at $34.52 on Wednesday Trading session. National Storage Affiliates Trust stock price identified moved of -0.80% from its 52-week maximum price level and marked a change of 37.48% from its 52-week minimum price level. These 52-week values data help to compare its recent price with high or low prices inside a one-year framework.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) showed volatility of 1.66% in recent month and perceived a weekly volatility of 1.52%. ATR value pointed at 0.59. The Average True Range is a stock volatility indicator. The Average True Range is an exponential moving average (14-days) of the True Ranges. Beta factor detected at 0.32. Beta measures stocks price volatility relative to the market.

NSA stocks RSI is standing at 65.23. RSI is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and change of price movements. The RSI oscillates between 0 and 100. Traditionally the RSI is considered overbought when above 70 and oversold when below 30.

The company made a return on asset (ROA) of -0.50% and return on equity (ROE) of -1.80% in past twelve months period. Return on Investment (ROI) is observed at 5.00%. Price to book ratio in most recent quarter was 2.68 while trailing twelve months period, price to sales ratio of the stock was 5.65. Analysts suggested consensus 2.1 rating after analysis. Institutional investors possessed 94.80% shares of the company and 0.91% shares are owned by insiders.

EPS growth (earnings per share growth) illustrates the growth of earnings per share over time. EPS growth rates help investors identify stocks that are increasing or decreasing in profitability. Checking last 5 years, the company displayed annual EPS growth of 34.10% and expected annual growth of 11.00% for next 5 years. The company projected to achieve EPS growth of 391.40% for this year and estimated to attain at 50.46% for next year. The company declared EPS (TTM) of -0.24.

The stock observed move of 1.38% during the past week. The stock marked a performance of 2.80% in the past month and recorded a change of 16.23% over the last quarter. Moving further back, the stock noticed a performance of 22.89% over the last six months and spotted 30.46% performance since the start of the calendar year. Shares of this company changed 35.69% over the past year.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) stock price is trading at a gap of 2.77% away from the 20-Day SMA and figured out a distance of 4.16% from the its 50-Day SMA. SMA 50 is an average stock price from the last 50 days calculated as an unweighted mean of the previous 50 stock closing prices. The current stock price is moving with difference of 15.85% to its 200-Day SMA. Simple moving average of 200 days for a stock is an unweighted moving average over the past 200 days.

Erik Richardson also covers the financial news across all market sectors. He also has an enormous knowledge of stock market. Erik holds an MBA degree from University of Florida. He has more than 10 years of experience in writing financial and market news. He previously worked at a number of companies in different role including web developer, software engineer and product manager. He currently covers financial news section for our site.

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Bengaluru: The rise of nationalism all over the world could be attributed to the void created by the top of communism and liberalism, which the 21st century didnt fill with a brand new ideology, former nationwide safety adviser M.Okay. Narayanan stated Thursday.

If in the 20th century, two global ideologies communism and liberalism met with a premature end, what is significant in the 21st century is that no new ideologies have emerged, he stated, addressing a conclave organised by Synergia Basis, an unbiased thinktank.

The vacuum, instead, is being rapidly filled by nationalism here and elsewhere in the world, he added.

The three-day conclave has been organised for discussions on a variety of security-related issues. Narayanans handle got here throughout a session titled The Future of Security: Digital (cyber space).

Narayanan stated the present state of affairs made it very tough to forecast the way forward for safety.

What we are now witnessing across the globe is a new brand of leaders, who practise a kind of personalised authoritarianism, which is making the world a very difficult place, he added. In these circumstances, forecasting the future of security becomes much more difficult.

Nevertheless, he did weigh in on the a number of challenges the world may face within the coming years, together with rogue AI and house conflicts.

Additionally Learn:Modi govt pushes by means of A-SAT missile check that UPA had not permitted

Speaking about threats in cyber sphere, Narayanan stated the financial worth of knowledge has surpassed that of fossil fuels, including that know-how could possibly be an enemy or a good friend.

He stated the web was facilitating cyber criminality and surveillance engines that may commerce privateness for leisure and distraction.

Whereas acknowledging that Synthetic Intelligence (AI) had the potential to resolve complicated issues, he stated it was not an all-encompassing resolution.

Badly-designed AI, he added, may trigger extra hurt than good, saying it was very important to put money into constructing correct techniques. Internationally, he stated, its evident that decision-makers dont possess correct data of AI.

Underlining the significance of the know-how in future conflicts, he stated AI-enabled warfare would change the character of future battlefields and upset the balance of power.

The US, China and Russia, he stated, have all invested appreciable funds to militarise AI.

Narayanan additionally predicted that, within the coming years, challenges to safety in outer house will in all chance exchange the threats posed by proliferation of nuclear weapons.

He talked about China and Indias strengthening capabilities within the outer house and the way theyd examined anti-satellite weapons.

Some of the more advanced nations are engaged in building military satellites with the capability to use lasers to jam enemy signals or even blowing up enemy satellites, he stated.

He additionally added that terrorism is prone to proceed. The broad sweep acquired by radical Islamist extremism in the early 21st century is unlikely to be halted, he stated.

Additionally Learn:New examine predicts impression of India-Pakistan nuclear conflict over 100 million useless

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Space conflict will be a bigger challenge in future than nukes, says ex-NSA Narayanan - Liist Studio

Written by Shannon Vavra Oct 11, 2019 | CYBERSCOOP

The National Security Agencys new Cybersecurity Directorate, charged with helping protect the defense industrial base and sensitive government computers by providing insights on foreign hackers, is now at initial operating capability, senior NSA officials informed reporters at a rare briefing Thursday at Fort Meade.

Just this week thefledglingdirectoratetook one of itsfirst public actions, issuing an unclassified alert about nation-state hacking groups actively exploiting vulnerabilities onvirtual private networks. Beyond the usual job of such alerts identifying the bugs and recommending mitigations the directorate made a point to provide ways for organizations to check whether they have been victimized, something the directorate intends to continueinunclassified ways moving forward.

We need to be sure that people who own networks that are vital to the national security systems and defense systems of this nation can figure out if adversaries have gained access into their networks, NSA spokesperson Natalie Pittore said. Its about preventing but also kicking out the adversary.

The focus on eradicating hackers from victimized organizations sets this new Cybersecurity Directorate apart from old defense-focused branches of the NSA, such as the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), the Technical Director for the new directorate, Neal Ziring said Thursday.

The old IAD really focused mostly on prevention not that we didnt do any eradicating. But prevention was the bulk of the mission work. So now were trying to make sure we pay attention to both angles and let them work together, said Ziring, who has an intimate knowledge of the technical details shared with industry as theformer technical director for the IAD.

I gave our agency a demanding challenge: prevent and eradicate cyberthreats to national security systems and critical infrastructure, NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone said Wednesday during remarks at a summit hosted by FireEye.

The NSA has always had a cybersecurity mission, better known internally as information assurance,in addition to its job of gathering signals intelligence on foreign adversaries. But in recent years the agencys focus on the cybersecurity mission had waned, as Nakasone has pointed out in previous remarks. One of the goals in creating the new directorate was to reenergizethe NSAs white-hat mission, which covers everything from generating the cryptographic keys for U.S. national security systems and U.S. government communications to protecting the nations nuclear command and control systems.

As a first order of business, Nakasone has directed the new organization to focus on the defense industrial base, weapons system security, and the infrastructure and capabilities behind them.

One of Nakasones concerns right now is that the defense sector needs to be better protected in particular against cyber-enabled intellectual property theft from foreign adversaries.

China has stolen a staggering degree of intellectual property to build its economy and military with global ambitions, Nakasone noted.

Ziring said the directorate is creating a unit to specifically examine the cybersecurity of the defense industrial base. He acknowledged that past efforts have shown that the new team will have a daunting task, given there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Protecting an ecosystem or a sector like the defense industrial base is very very difficult, because the sector is very heterogeneous, Ziring said. You have some very very large companies defense prime contractors and then you also have very small and specialized companies and sort of everything in between.

Protecting against specific technical capabilities of adversaries is no easy undertaking, particularly asthey set their sights on areas that dont necessarily fall under the NSAs purview, such as universities, the officials said.

You used to see a nation-state spent their time attacking a nation-state entity like the Pentagon, Ziring said. Now were seeing a broadening. Theyll also go after companies, and universities, and nonprofits, and civilian government agencies, and state governments.

The shift in targets, Ziring said, has meant the NSA needs to reassess its partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

The Cybersecurity Directorates director,Anne Neuberger, told reporters that DHS, in turn, haspointed to national critical functions, such as generating and distributing electricity, supplying water or banking. Those areas have long been a priority for the departments Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, led by Chris Krebs.

In a given sector what are the core cross sector vulnerabilities and how [do] you in the intel community understand those so that youre looking for the threats that we re most concerned about? Neuberger recalled Krebs telling her. We each have pieces of those puzzles, Neuberger said.

DHS has previously worked with entities in Fort Meade to share information about threats to the banking sector. Through a project internally known as Project Indigo, several banks shared information about nation-states hacking targeting them with Cyber Command, which is co-located with NSA, last year.

The DHS itself is seeking more visibility into vulnerabilities in other ways CISA is currently seeking subpoena power in its efforts to understand which organizations are vulnerable to hacking.

Originally posted here:
'Kicking out the adversary' is part of new Cybersecurity Directorate's mission, NSA says - CyberScoop

Event Announcements(More details on theEvents Calendar)

Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 9:15 a.m.: The Hudson Institute will host a debate on the broader implications for U.S. Middle East policy following the latest developments in Syria and Turkey. Hudson Senior Fellow Mike Doran will argue in favor of President Trumps withdrawal decision, while Hudson Fellow Blaise Misztal will argue the move is detrimental to U.S. interests. More details and registration for the event can be found here.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 2:00 p.m.: The Heritage Foundation will host an event focusing on the ongoing challenges with U.S. border security. The event will feature a panel of Senior Heritage Legal Fellows who will discuss the role that states can play in assisting the federal government with enforcing immigration laws. More details and registration for the event can be found here.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 10:00 a.m.: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on U.S.-Iran policy. The committee will hear testimony from Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 2:00 p.m.: The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and International Terrorism will hold a hearing on the Syria Study Group's recommendations for U.S. policy. The subcommittee will hear testimony from the study group's co-chairs, Dana Stroul and Michael Singh.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 3:00 p.m.: The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy will hold a hearing on the implementation of the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) and America's Indo-Pacific Strategy. The subcommittee will hear testimony from David Stilwell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs; Randall Schriver, the assistant defense secretary for Indo-Pacific security; and Gloria Steele, the acting assistant administrator for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Thursday, October 17, 2019, 10:00 a.m.: The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery will hold a hearing on defending the homeland from bioterrorism. The subcommittee will hear testimony from Asha George, the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; Umair Shah, the executive director of Harris County Public Health; and Jennifer Rakeman, the assistant commissioner and director of the Public Health Laboratory in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Thursday, October 17, 2019, 10:00 a.m.: The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled, "The Betrayal of Our Syrian Kurdish Partners: How Will American Foreign Policy and Leadership Recover?" The committee will hear testimony from James Jeffrey, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement and the special envoy to the global coalition to defeat ISIS, and Joey Hood, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs.

Thursday, October 17, 2019, 11:00 a.m.: The Brookings Institution will host Irelands Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe for remarks on the impact of Brexit for Ireland in the context of a broader discussion on the future of globalization. More details and registration for the event can be found here.

Thursday, October 17, 2019, 2:00 p.m.: The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, and Accountability will hold a hearing titled, "The Public's Right to Know: FOIA at the Department of Homeland Security." The subcommittee will hear testimony from James Holzer, the deputy chief FOIA officer at DHS; Tammy Meckley, the associate director of the immigration records and identity services directorate at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Alina Semo, the director of the office of government information services; and Vijay D'Souza, the director of the Government Accountability Office's information technology and cybersecurity team.

Employment Announcements(More details on theJob Board)

The following are job announcements of potential interest toLawfarereaders. If you have an announcement to add to the page,emailus.

Policy ProgramCoordinator, National Security Institute

The George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School seeks a Policy Program Coordinator for the National Security Institute (NSI) on the Arlington, VA., campus. George Mason University has a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of excellence and diversity among its faculty and staff, and strongly encourages candidates to apply who will enrich Masons academic and culturally inclusive environment.

Responsibilities:

TheNSIPolicy Program Coordinator will be responsible for the successful planning and coordination ofNSIpolicy program efforts and events. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Required Qualifications:

Preferred Qualifications:

This is not a supervisory position.

For full consideration, applicants must apply for position number 10522z at http://jobs.gmu.edu/; complete and submit the online application; and upload a cover letter, resume, and a list of three professional references with contact information.

Deputy Executive Director (International Refugee Assistance Project)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) works through a robust network of staff, pro bono attorneys and law students to fill a major gap in access to legal aid for refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people. IRAP has become the first advocacy organization to provide comprehensive legal representation to refugees throughout the registration, protection and resettlement processes. As fear, division, hatred, and economic uncertainty persist in the global consciousness and manifest in discriminatory policies, speech, and actions, individuals across the world must respond by demanding and upholding commitments to justice. IRAP is leveraging its volunteers and resources to fight back and ensure that we continue to uphold the humanitarian tradition of welcoming those who need refuge.

IRAP is now seeking nominations and applications for the position of Deputy Executive Director.

Since its founding in 2008, IRAP has used legal aid, litigation and advocacy to protect and advance the rights of refugees, both domestically and internationally; the organization has also remained committed to developing the next generation of human rights attorneys through its work with law students. The global turn against refugee resettlement coupled with IRAPs highly effective model has led to a period of rapid expansion to meet new levels of demand. In the past two years, IRAPs annual budget has increased from $2 million to $9 million, and over the past six years, its staff has grown from ten to seventy-five.

As it builds capacity through this period of tremendous growth, IRAP seeks a Deputy Executive Director (DED) to provide strategic vision and leadership, lead infrastructure development and programmatic oversight, manage IRAPs dedicated and talented team, and steward the organizations continued development to maximize impact. Reporting directly to Becca Heller, IRAPs founder and Executive Director, the DED will work closely with staff across the organization and at all levels to foster IRAPs culture of collaboration and identify opportunities for increased support and development.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a deep connection to IRAPs mission to use legal advocacy to find safe places to live and safe passage for the worlds most persecuted individuals. S/he/they will be an inclusive, passionate leader committed to combatting inequitable policies impacting refugees and other displaced people and to delivering the highest quality legal and advocacy services. S/he/they will bring at least eight years of progressive leadership experience in a legal and/or nonprofit setting, with demonstrable success in change implementation. The new Deputy Executive Director will be an experienced manager who excels at supporting, mentoring, and motivating staff; developing structures and processes that facilitate efficient and effective communication across leadership and teams within an organization; and supporting teams that work closely with individuals who have experienced trauma.

TO APPLY

More information about IRAP may be found at:https://refugeerights.org/.

This search is being conducted with assistance from Callie Carroll, Allison Kupfer Poteet, Hallie Dietsch and Javier Garcia ofNPAG. Due to the pace of this search, candidates are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications including a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications, your resume (in Word format), and where you learned of the position should be sent to:[emailprotected]profitprofessionals.com. In order to expedite the internal sorting and reviewing process, please type your name (Last, First) as the only contents in the subject line of your e-mail.

IRAP believes that diversity is critical to fostering a strong workplace and serving our clients well. We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experiences in the communities that we serve, members of other marginalized communities, and individuals whose identities are underrepresented in the legal profession.

Legal Service Director/U.S. Legal Director(International Refugee Assistance Project)

The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) works through a robust network of staff, pro bono attorneys and law students to fill a major gap in access to legal aid for refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people. IRAP has become the first advocacy organization to provide comprehensive legal representation to refugees throughout the registration, protection and resettlement processes. As fear, division, hatred, and economic uncertainty persist in the global consciousness and manifest in discriminatory policies, speech, and actions, individuals across the world must respond by demanding and upholding commitments to justice. IRAP is leveraging its volunteers and resources to fight back and ensure that we continue to uphold the humanitarian tradition of welcoming those who need refuge.

IRAPs Legal Services Department is growing in response to the increased demand to protect those whose rights are being threatened and is now seeking nominations and applications for the positions of Legal Service Director and U.S. Legal Director, both within its Legal Services Department.

Since its founding in 2008, IRAP has used legal aid, litigation and advocacy to protect and advance the rights of refugees, both domestically and internationally; the organization has also remained committed to developing the next generation of human rights attorneys through its work with law students. The global turn against refugee resettlement coupled with IRAPs highly effective model has led to a period of rapid expansion to meet new levels of demand. In the past two years, IRAPs annual budget has increased from $2 million to $9 million, and over the past six years, its staff has grown from ten to seventy-five.

Reporting to IRAPs Executive Director, Becca Heller, the Legal Services Director will lead a team of five talented program directors who oversee the work of over 40 staff. The Legal Services Department focuses on protecting the rights of refugees, and the Director will provide critical strategic partnership to the Executive Director as IRAP navigates this new phase of growth. The Legal Services Director will provide direct supervision to the U.S. Legal Services Director, Middle East Director, Director of Pro Bono, the Director of Complementary Pathways and the Intake and Legal Information Director. S/he/they will oversee staff based in New York City, Jordan, Lebanon, and remotely around the world.

IRAPs US Legal Services team assists individuals navigating the refugee recognition, resettlement, and visa application processes through their mentorship ofpro bonoteams, in-house representation, and legal information andpro sematerials. Reporting to IRAPs Legal Services Director, the U.S. Legal Services Director will lead a team of talented attorneys, intake caseworkers, and legal assistants who provide individual legal assistance to refugees and other displaced people around the world. Once hires are completed, the Director will supervise 14 IRAP staff and support a national pro bono network of over 1,000 attorneys and law students.

The ideal candidates will demonstrate a deep connection to IRAPs mission to use legal advocacy to find safe places to live and safe passage for the worlds most persecuted individuals. They will be an inclusive, passionate leaders committed to combatting inequitable policies impacting refugees and other displaced people and to delivering the highest quality legal and advocacy services. They will be a experienced managers who excel at supporting, mentoring, and motivating legal staff; developing processes that facilitate the efficient and effective delivery of direct legal services by staff and volunteer lawyers; and leading teams that work closely with individuals who have experienced trauma. The Directors be decisive, keenly analytical leaders and thinkers who will build and support healthy culture around prioritization, team communication and decision making. Both the Legal Services Director and U.S. Legal Services Director must have law degrees and be admitted to practice law in the United States.

These searches are being conducted by Meredith Horton, Allison Kupfer Poteet, Hallie Dietsch, and Javier Garcia of the national search firmNPAG. For more information, full position descriptions and instructions on how to apply, please visit the links below.

https://nonprofitprofessionals.com/current-searches-all/irap-ld

https://nonprofitprofessionals.com/current-searches-all/irap-usld

Call for Papers, ESIL Research Forum of the European Society of International Law

The ESIL Research Forum is a scholarly conference that promotes engagement with research in progress by members of the Society. It has a small and intensive format. The Forum targets scholars at an early stage of their careers. Approximately 15-25 paper submissions will be selected. During the Forum,selected speakers will receive comments on their presentations from members of the ESIL Board and invited experts.

The 2020 Research Forum addresses the topic:

Solidarity: The Quest for Founding Utopias of International Law

Solidarity is a founding utopia of international law. It has long appeared in the legal discourses of leading international law scholars as a value and political concept incorporated into international legal norms and evidenced in multilateral and bilateral treaties as an essential condition of interstate cooperation. As a principle of international law, it is mostly identifiable through the trust and confidence shown by states to one another in order to reap the mutual benefits of cooperation. In a broader sense, it also reveals a highly ambiguous ethical ideal not extraneous to the civilizing mission of a world order of interdependent states and communities addressing shared needs in a spirit of global cooperation and mutual responsibility. In response to the new global challenges faced by todays international legal system, solidarity has acquired a special prominencewith unprecedented developments in various fields of international law (e.g. trade law, environmental law, humanitarian law, disaster law, health law) while its utopian dimension has been stressed and expanded towards new directions.

The 2020 ESIL Research Forum aims to inspire thoughtful reflections on the genealogy of international solidarity by focusing on the actors, norms and processes influencing its evolution over time. Beyond the search for definitions, the scope of the Forumis to explore transformations and practical manifestations of this longstanding principle in the international legal community. Special attention will be given to international solidarity as interpreted by international and domestic courts and tribunals and to the analysis of some key areas where solidaristic paradigms have led to either positive outcomes or controversial repercussions.

Preference will be given to proposals in one of the following areas:

1.The historical boundaries of international solidarity

2. Solidarity and private law analogies

3.The invention of European solidarity

4. A human rights-based solidarity? Universal vs regional approaches

5. Peace and security: solidarity and the United Nations

6. International solidarity in emergency situations

7. Social solidarity economy and sustainable development

8. Civil society and transnational solidarity

9. International solidarity and burden-sharing: migration and refugee law

10. International solidarity and current trends: populism, nationalism vs multilateralism

Abstracts (of no more than 750 words) should be submitted to [emailprotected] by Monday 30 September 2019. Please include the following information with your abstract: your name, affiliation, email address, whether you are an ESIL member, plus a one-page curriculum vitae.

Successful applicants will be notified by email by 4 November 2019. Complete paper drafts will be required by 19 February 2020. Papers may in due course be published in the ESIL SSRN Conference Paper Series.

All those who take part in the Forum are expected to be ESIL members at the time of their participation.

Selected speakers will be expected to bear the costs of their own travel and accommodation. Some ESIL travel grantsand ESIL carers grantswill be available to offer partial financial support to speakers who have exhausted other potential sources of funding.

Speakers will be informed of several hotels that offer preferential rates to Research Forum participants. Lunch will be provided on both days, and a dinner for presenters, commentators and ESIL Board members will be hosted on the evening of Thursday 23 April 2020.

Attorney, Compliance Unit, National Security Agency

The National Security Agency (NSA) Office of General Counsel (OGC) is seeking highly motivated, skilled attorneys to join its expanded Compliance team of dedicated, professional attorneys advising NSA personnel and senior leadership on end-to-end compliance matters. Become involved in the earliest stages of operational technology development to ensure legal compliance issues are addressed; advise operational and compliance professionals in response to discrete regulatory questions and audits of NSA intelligence programs; team with NSA personnel and legal counterparts at the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to ensure NSA's overseers are fully informed of regulations, procedures and policies that support oversight of NSA's intelligence activities. Through work on the legal Compliance team, you will gain unique insight into inner-workings of NSA's technical operations and how its signals intelligence authorities are applied.

The professionals at the National Security Agency (NSA) have one common goal: to protect our nation. The mission requires a strong offense and a steadfast defense. The offense collects, processes and disseminates intelligence information derived from foreign signals for intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. The defense prevents adversaries from gaining access to sensitive of classified national security information.

The NSA OGC is an elite team of lawyers who provide legal advice to the Agency as it carries out its primary missions and all of its support functions. As a valued member of OGC, you will be performing critical work ensuring that Agency operations comply with the law while also protecting both our national security and our civil liberties.

Description of Position

The responsibilities of a Compliance Unit Attorney at the NSA can include:

- Advising the Agency on legal matters involving a particular subject matter (e.g., ensuring compliance with constitutional, statutory, regulatory, procedural, and policy requirements for intelligence operations)

- Analyzing proposed changes to legislation, programs, policies, regulations, or plans to determine impact on the Agency

- Representing the Agency's official position in legal and legislative proceedings, including proceedings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

- Representing the Agency in interactions with outside customers, DoD, Congressional representatives, foreign partners, or the general public

- Conferring with/educating clients, customers, or stakeholders on legal or policy issues

- Determining the legal sufficiency of documents

- Drafting legal briefs, pleadings, etc.

- Making legal determinations in accordance with laws, regulations, professional standards, or Agency policies and procedures

The ideal candidate is a highly-motivated and qualified attorney with three years minimum experience, with excellent oral and written communication skills, a desire for continual learning, possesses problem-solving, analytic, and interpersonal skills, and is:

- detail-oriented

- customer and results oriented

- able to adjust to changing situational requirements

- able to build relationships across the Agency and with external stakeholders

- able to manage multiple tasks with competing timelines and deliverables

Experience and knowledge of law in one or more of the following areas is required:

- intelligence operations

- complex litigation

- national security law

This is a full-time position, Monday through Friday.

On-the job training, Internal NSA courses, and external training will be made available based on the need and experience of the selectee.

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) is the exclusive NSA component responsible for providing legal services to all NSA elements. The Office of General Counsel protects NSA's interests concerning the legal and regulatory authorities, requirements, entitlements, obligations and oversight requirements under which the Agency operate.

Salary Range $99,172 - $152,352 (Senior)

*The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position. Salary offers are based on candidates' education level and years of experience relevant to the position and also take into account information provided by the hiring manager/organization regarding the work level for the position.

Entry for Grade 13 is with a Professional Law Degree (LLB or JD).

Degree must be a Professional Law Degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and requires active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia.

Grade 13: Must have in excess of 2 years of relevant experience. Relevant experience as determined by the Office of the General Counsel (or the Office of the Inspector General for positions in the OIG) must be professional legal experience that is commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. See DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1442.02 for exceptions to the grade-level standards. Active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is required.

Entry for Grade 14 is with a Professional Law Degree (LLB or JD).

Degree must be a Professional Law Degree (LL.B. or J.D.) and requires active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia.

Grade 14: Must have in excess of 3 years of relevant experience. Relevant experience as determined by the Office of the General Counsel (or the Office of the Inspector General for positions in the OIG) must be professional legal experience that is commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the position. See DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1442.02 for exceptions to the grade-level standards. Active membership in the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia is required.

Salary Range: $137,849 - $166,500 (Expert)

*The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position. Salary offers are based on candidates' education level and years of experience relevant to the position and also take into account information provided by the hiring manager/organization regarding the work level for the position.

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The Week That Will Be - Lawfare

The move to elevate Cyber Command to a full Unified Combatant Command and split it off from the National Security Agencyshows that cyber intelligence collection and information war are rapidly diverging fields. The future leadership of both entities is now in question, but the Pentagon has set out a conditions-based approach to the breakup. That represents a partial victory for the man who directs both Cyber Command and the NSA.

The move would mean that the head of Cyber Command would answer directly to the Defense Secretary and the National Security Agency would get its own head. Its a move that many have said is long overdue, and its exact timing remains unknown. So what does the split mean for the Pentagon, for Cyber Command, and for the future of U.S. cyber security?

The split will give the commander of Cyber Command central authority over resource allocation, training, operational planning and mission execution. The commander will answer to the Defense secretary directly, not the head of Strategic Command. The decision means that Cyber Command will play an even more strategic role in synchronizing cyber forces and training, conducting and coordinating military cyberforce operations and advocating for and prioritizing cyber investments within the department, said Kenneth Rapuano, assistant defense secretary for Homeland Defense and Global Security.

The Start of a Process

The move announced on Friday fulfills a mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017. Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter hinted at the split back in May 2016. But it wont happen immediately.

Instead, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford will nominate a flag officer to take over the new Cyber Command as well as the NSA. That person could be Adm. Michael Rogers, who currently heads both, or someone else. Trump has reportedly asked Mattis to give him the name of a nominee.Speculation has focused on Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville as the nominee to head Cyber Command.

Once that new person is nominated and confirmed and once Mattis and Dunford are satisfied that splitting the two entities will not hamper the ability of either Cyber Command or the NSA to conduct their missions independently, only then will Cyber Command and the NSA actually split.

What Does it Mean for Leadership?

Read one way, the announcement means Rogers will lose power. Even were he to become the nominee to the new elevated Cyber Command, he would still wind up losing the NSA eventually. If he were to stay on as head of NSA after the confirmation of a new Cyber Command head, as expected, he would briefly serve under Mayville until the formal split.

Read another way, the lack of a concrete timetable for the split, despite such a requirement in the authorization bill, represents a partial win for Rogers.

Rogers took over the NSA and Cyber Command in the spring of 2014. He has been resistant to the idea of a split, telling lawmakers in September that U.S. national security benefitted from the dual-hat arrangement. This view was not shared by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper nor then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Rogers resistance was one of many issues that rubbed them the wrong way.

It got so bad that in November, unnamed sources told The Washington Post that Clapper and Carter were urging President Barack Obama to fire Rogers.

The truth is a bit more nuanced. Clappers goal was to split the NSA from CyberCom. He was not a strong advocate of removal, but was willing to defer to [the Secretary of Defense] if Carter felt strongly about selecting new leadership at Cyber Command, a source inside the intelligence community said. There were other concerns unrelated to the potential split.

Rogers outlasted both Clapper, who had long planned to retire at the end of the Obama administration; and Carter, a political appointee. Rogers attitude toward an NSA-Cyber Command split evolved. In May, he testified that he would support a split was done in a way that did not hamper either the NSA or Cyber Command.

The manner in which the split was announced is in keeping with what Rogers has said he wanted.

The move toward a conditions-based split also met with the approval of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, a longtime Rogers ally. I appreciate the administrations commitment today to ensuring that a future separation of the so-called dual hat relationship between Cyber Command and the National Security Agency will be based on conditions, rather than arbitrary political timelines, McCain said in a statement. While Cyber Command and the National Security Agency should eventually be able to operate independent of one another, the administration must work closely with the Congress to take the necessary steps that will make this separation of responsibilities successful, and to ensure that each agency will emerge more effective and more capable as a result.

What It Means for Cyber Command, the NSA, and Cyber Operations

The elevation of Cyber Command represents a big step forward for the militarys cyber ability, but it has yet to be catch up to the NSA in terms of collecting signals intelligence or creating network accesses, according to Bill Leigher, who as a rear admiral helped stand up Navy Fleet Cyber Command. Leigher, who now directs government cyber solutions for Raytheon, applauds the split because the NSA, which collects foreign intelligence, and Cyber Command, a warfighting outfit, have fundamentally different missions.This caused tension between the two organizations under one roof. Information collected for intelligence gathering may be useful in a way thats fundamentally different from intelligence for military purposes, he says. If you collecting intelligence, its foreign espionage. You dont want to get caught. The measure of success is: collect intelligence and dont get caught. If youre going to war, I would argue that the measure of performance is what we do has to have the characteristics of a legal weapon in the context of war and the commander has to know what he or she uses it.

This puts the agencies in disagreement about how to use intel and tools that they share. From an NSA perspective, cyber really is about gaining access to networks. From aCyber Command point of view, I would argue, its about every piece of software on the battlefield and having the means to prevent that software from working the way it was intended to work [for the adversary], he said.

The split will allow the agencies to pursue the very different tools, operations, and rules each of their missions requires, he said. Expect NSA to intensify its focus on developing access for intelligence, and Cyber Command to prepare to rapidly deploy massive cyber effects at scale during military operations and shut down the enemy. Both of this will likely leverage next-generation artificial intelligence but in very different ways said Leigher.

Continued here:
What the Announced NSA / Cyber Command Split Means

The Uttar Pradesh police is considering a case under the stringent National Security Act against a person accused of stalking a minor girl and chopping off one of her hands in a brutal sword attack in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The accused, identified as Rohit Chaurasia, allegedly attacked the minor girl in broad daylight with a sword on Wednesday completely severing her left hand, while heavily damaging her right hand. She also suffered injuries to her head.

The attack took place near a busy market place in Lakhimpur.

According to locals, the accused chased down the girl and first struck her on the head, after which he targetted her limbs and chopped off her left hand completely.

He was on the verge of dismembering her right hand too when locals overpowered him and handed him over to the police.

The victim, who suffered immense blood loss, was referred to Lucknow for treatment. Incidentally, after an 11-hour surgery, doctors at the King George Medical University managed to fix back her hand, said Dr. A. K. Singh, head of the hospital's plastic surgery department on Thursday.

The victim will be kept under observation for one week as the condition of the repaired hand is delicate, Dr. Singh said.

The victim's right hand was also injured in the attack, with damages to its flexon tendon, fingers, palm and nerve fibres, the KGMU said.

The accused, who was the victim's neighbour, was sent to jail. He was booked for attempt to murder, assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon.

Relevant clauses of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act were also invoked, said S. Chinappa, Superintendent of Police, Kheri.

Taking maximum action

The accused would be additionally booked under the NSA.

Asked on what ground was the police invoking NSA, Mr. Chinappa told The Hindu: "We are taking the maximum action in this case. It is a heinous crime, it can have [an impact] on society."

The motive behind the attack is still not clear though the family of the girl alleged that the accused had been harassing her for a while.

The police, however, said the two got engaged in an altercation over a mobile charger leading to the attack that has left the district near the Indo-Nepal border in a state of shock.

Read more from the original source:
Alleged stalker chops off girl's hand, to face NSA charge - The Hindu