Category Archives: NSA

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden argues that Russia's decision to outlaw VPNs is a "tragedy of policy".

Edward Snowden has laid into the Russian government for banning the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other tools that people can use to circumvent censorship and surveillance.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the law on Sunday, prompting a Twitter tirade from Snowden, the US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower who has been sheltering in Moscow since 2013.

Snowden called the decision a "tragedy of policy" that would make Russia "both less safe and less free". He also linked the government's move to China's crackdown on VPN technology, which led Apple to pull dozens of VPN apps from its Chinese App Store over the weekend.

"Whether enacted by China, Russia, or anyone else, we must be clear this is not a reasonable 'regulation,' but a violation of human rights," Snowden wrote, arguing that, "If the next generation is to enjoy the online liberties ours did, innocuous traffic must become truly indistinguishable from the sensitive."

He also appeared to urge tech industry workers to push back against the anti-VPN trend.

Linking Russia's move to China's crackdown on VPN technology, Snowden urged tech workers to be vigilent.

Snowden is these days the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. In line with his 2013 decision to expose the NSA's mass-surveillance activities, he has long been an advocate of individuals being able to protect their communications and online activities.

However, he has previously warned against people relying too much on VPNs, because their operators may be vulnerable to hacks or subpoenas that could expose users.

The former NSA contractor originally fled from the US to Hong Kong, where he famously started working with newspapers to expose the agency's activities.

Then, while apparently trying to fly to Latin America, Snowden found himself stranded at a Moscow airport because the US had cancelled his passport. The Russians granted him asylum, which was extended for "a couple more years" in January this year.

During his stay there, Snowden has occasionally voiced strong criticism of Russia's surveillance policies.

In mid-2016, when the Russian government introduced a data-retention law and forced communications providers to help decrypt people's messages, the American said the legislation was "an unworkable, unjustifiable violation of rights that should never have been signed".

In 2014, he also denounced the so-called Blogger's Law, which imposed restrictions on what bloggers can write.

The latest law, banning VPNs, will come into effect in November this year. It is mainly intended to stop Russians viewing websites that are on the official state blacklist.

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NSA whistleblower Snowden: VPN ban makes Russia 'less safe and less free' - ZDNet

The founders of the online news publication that will help in the defense of a Fort Gordon contractor accused of leaking a classified document were among the first to report on the National Security Agency surveillance of citizens in other countries and at home in 2013, using thousands of documents leaked by a former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden.

While the document published by The Intercept which the government says came from NSA contract employee Reality Leigh Winner of Augusta is still considered classified by prosecutors, it allegedly concerns the NSA analysis of Russias efforts to infiltrate a voting software company and infect computers used by state election officials. The Intercept published a story based on the analysis, and Winner was arrested June 3.

According to The Intercepts site, journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill founded the online publication dedicated to fearless, adversarial journalism. EBays founder Pierre Omidyar provided the funding in 2013 for First Look Media in 2013, a non-profit, which launched The Intercept.

The Intercept has an average of 5 million visitors a month, said Vivian Siu, director of communications for First Look.

The online publication has a lot of readers in and outside of the U. S., said Rick Edmonds, media business analysis with the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalism. The Intercept began as a site for leaked documents but has expanded into other areas, Edmonds said. Non-profit, online publications are definitely a growing part of journalism and investigative reporting, he said.

The non-profit, online publication ProPublica has been publishing significant investigative work, Edmonds noted. There is also the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that won a Pulitzer Prize for the Panama Papers investigation into the finances of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which led to his resignation Friday. The new form of journalism has a significant presence, Edmonds said.

I believe that great journalism boils down to a few key principles, Scahill wrote in an article asking for readers support for investigative journalism. Hold those in power accountable, regardless of their political or corporate affiliations; give voice to the voiceless; provide people with information they can use to make informed decisions; be transparent with your readers about how you know what you know; (and) make sure your facts are straight.

Scahill won a George Polk Award for his reporting in war zones and for his 2008 report about Blackwater, the private armed security force. Greenwald is a journalist and attorney who wrote four New York Times best-sellers on politics and law. He also wrote No Place to Hide about the U.S. surveillance and his experience in reporting on the Snowden documents. In 2013 he was awarded a George Polk award and several others for his reporting on the Snowden documents.

Poitras was also awarded a George Polk award and shared the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for public service with The New York Times. Poitras left The Intercept for Field of Vision, which is also part of First Look Media. She was awarded an Academy Award for best documentary in 2015.

The Intercept has won a number of national journalism awards. It focuses on national security, politics, civil liberties, the environment, international affairs, technology, criminal justice, the media and more, according to its website. And it seeks whistleblowers, providing an email site and online drop box.

In Winners case, the Press Freedom Defense Fund of the First Look Media is giving $50,000 in matching funds to Stand with Reality, a fundraising campaign. First Looks attorney Baruch Weiss, a former U.S. attorney with experience in NSA investigations, will support Winners local defense team.

Winner is in custody without bond. She has pleaded not guilty to one count of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

Reach Sandy Hodson at sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com or (706) 823-3226

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Online site backing defense of accused NSA leaker founded to promote fearless journalism - The Augusta Chronicle

_productName NSA 6600 NSA 5600 NSA 4600 NSA 3600 NSA 2600 Deep Packet Inspection Firewall TotalSecure Firewall Overview S S S S S Stateful Packet Inspection Firewall TotalSecure Firewall Overview S S S S S Unlimited File Size Protection TotalSecure Firewall Overview S S S S S Protocols Scanned TotalSecure Firewall Overview S S S S S Application Intelligence and Control Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S Intrusion Prevention Service Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S Gateway Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S Content & URL Filtering (CFS) Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S SSL Inspection (DPI SSL) Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S Content Filtering Client (CFC)1 Threat Prevention Services Available O O O O O Analyzer Reporting1 Threat Prevention Services Available O O O O O Capture Advance Threat Protection1 Threat Prevention Services Available O O O O O Enforced Client Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware (McAfee or Kaspersky) Threat Prevention Services Available O O O O O 24x7 Support Threat Prevention Services Available S S S S S Interfaces Firewall General 4x10GbE SFP+, 8x1GbE SFP, 8x1GbE, 1GbE Management, 1 Console 2x10GbE SFP+, 4x1GbE SFP, 12x1GbE, 1GbE Management, 1 Console 2x10GbE SFP+, 4x1GbE SFP, 12x1GbE, 1GbE Management, 1 Console 2x10GbE SFP+, 4x1GbE SFP, 12x1GbE, 1GbE Management, 1 Console 8x1 GbE, 1GbE Management, 1 Console Management Firewall General CLI, SSH, GUI, GMS CLI, SSH, GUI, GMS CLI, SSH, GUI, GMS CLI, SSH, GUI, GMS CLI, SSH, GUI, GMS Nodes Supported Firewall General Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted RAM Firewall General 4 GB 4 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB Visual Information Display (LCD Display) Firewall General N N N N N Site-to-Site VPN Tunnels Firewall General 6000 4000 1500 1000 75 Global VPN Clients (Maximum) Firewall General 2000 (6000) 2000 (4000) 500 (3000) 50 (1000) 10 (250) SSL VPN NetExtender Clients (Maximum) Firewall General 2 (1500) 2 (1000) 2 (500) 2 (350) 2 (250) VLAN Interfaces Firewall General 500 400 256 256 256 SonicPoints Wireless Controller Firewall General S S S S S WWAN Failover (4G/LTE) Firewall General S S S S S Network Switch Management Firewall General S S S S S Firewall Inspection Throughput2 Firewall/VPN Performance 13 Gbps 9 Gbps 6 Gbps 3.4 Gbps 1.9 Gbps Full DPI Performance (GAV/GAS/IPS) Firewall/VPN Performance 3 Gbps 1.6 Gbps 800 Mbps 500 Mbps 300 Mbps Application Inspection Throughput Firewall/VPN Performance 4.5 Gbps 3 Gbps 2 Gbps 1.1 Gbps 700 Mbps IPS Throughput Firewall/VPN Performance 4.5 Gbps 3 Gbps 2 Gbps 1.1 Gbps 700 Mbps Anti-Malware Inspection Throughput Firewall/VPN Performance 3 Gbps 1.7 Gbps 1.1 Gbps 600 Mbps 400 Mbps IMIX performance Firewall/VPN Performance 3.5 Gbps 2.4 Gbps 1.6 Gbps 900 Mbps 600 Mbps SSL DPI Performance Firewall/VPN Performance 1.3 Gbps 800 Mbps 500 Mbps 300 Mbps 200 Mbps VPN Throughput4 Firewall/VPN Performance 5 Gbps 4.5 Gbps 3 Gbps 1.5 Gbps 1.1 Gbps Latency Firewall/VPN Performance 16 s 24 s 17 s 38 s 45 s Maximum Connections5 Firewall/VPN Performance 750K 750K 400K 325K 225K Maximum DPI Connections Firewall/VPN Performance 500K 500K 200K 175K 125K DPI-SSL Connections Firewall/VPN Performance 6000 4000 3000 2000 1000 New Connections/Sec Firewall/VPN Performance 90000 60000 40000 20000 15000 Logging Features Analyzer, Local Log, Syslog Analyzer, Local Log, Syslog Analyzer, Local Log, Syslog Analyzer, Local Log, Syslog Analyzer, Local Log, Syslog Network Traffic Visualization Features S S S S S Netflow/IPFIX Reporting Features S S S S S SNMP Features S S S S S Authentication Features XAUTH/ RADIUS, Active Directory, SSO, LDAP, Terminal Services6, Citrix6, Internal User Database XAUTH/ RADIUS, Active Directory, SSO, LDAP, Terminal Services6, Citrix6, Internal User Database XAUTH/ RADIUS, Active Directory, SSO, LDAP, Terminal Services6, Citrix6, Internal User Database XAUTH/ RADIUS, Active Directory, SSO, LDAP, Terminal Services6, Citrix6, Internal User Database XAUTH/ RADIUS, Active Directory, SSO, LDAP, Terminal Services6, Citrix6, Internal User Database Dynamic Routing Features BGP, OSPF, RIP BGP, OSPF, RIP BGP, OSPF, RIP BGP, OSPF, RIP BGP, OSPF, RIP Single Sign-on (SSO) Features S S S S S Voice over IP (VoIP) Security Features S S S S S Interface to Interface Scanning Features S S S S S PortShield Security Features S S S S S Port Aggregation Features S S S S S Link Redundancy Features S S S S S Policy-based Routing Features S S S S S Route-based VPN Features S S S S S Dynamic Bandwidth Management Features S S S S S Stateful High Availability Features S S S S S Multi-WAN Features S S S S S Load Balancing Features S S S S S Object-based Management Features S S S S S Policy-based NAT Features S S S S S Inbound Load Balancing Features S S S S S IKEv2 VPN Features S S S S S Active/Active Cluster Features S S S S S Terminal Services Authentication/Citrix Support Features S S S S S TLS/SL/SSH decryption and 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Mid Range | Firewalls | SonicWall

Always lawful and subject to strict oversight. Those are the NSA's defenses any time someone leaks something about its surveillance programs or obtains documents indicating abuse of snooping powers. It gets a little old when it's document after document showing the astonishing breadth of the NSA's surveillance programs or the continual abuse and misuse of these powers.

The Hill has dug through some recently-released documents and memos from the NSA which show long-term abuse of surveillance programs. The NSA recently ditched part of its Section 702 collection because it just couldn't stop hoovering up Americans' communications. This was "incidental," according to the NSA, and supposedly impossible to stop. But the incidents detailed in these documents suggest a lot of over-collection happened because no one noticed and, if anyone did, no one cared.

They detail specific violations that the NSA or FBI disclosed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or the Justice Department's national security division during President Obamas tenure between 2009 and 2016. The intelligence community isn't due to report on compliance issues for 2017, the first year under the Trump administration, until next spring.

The NSA says that the missteps amount to a small number less than 1 percent when compared to the hundreds of thousands of specific phone numbers and email addresses the agencies intercepted through the so-called Section 702 warrantless spying program created by Congress in late 2008.

This is about the only place where any American can become part of the "one percent:" as the unwitting subject of NSA surveillance. NSA spokesman Michael Halbig says evidence of misuse is a sign the oversight is working. But oversight is also supposed to aid in prevention, not just detection of past misuse. And the NSA's internal oversight isn't nearly as "robust" as Halbig attempts to portray it.

The Hill reviewed the new ACLU documents as well as compliance memos released by the NSA inspector general and identified more than 90 incidents where violations specifically cited an impact on Americans. Many incidents involved multiple persons, multiple violations or extended periods of time.

For instance, the government admitted improperly searching the NSAs foreign intercept data on multiple occasions, including one instance in which an analyst ran the same search query about an American every work day for a period between 2013 and 2014.

The NSA also passed on intel to the FBI and CIA without properly minimizing it and made other dissemination errors. The documents show the NSA was also slow to inform other agencies of its minimization failures. Notification is supposed to made within five days of discovery, but in some cases it took the NSA more than three months to inform intel recipients of the error.

This information has been released at a critical time for the NSA. Section 702 powers are sunsetting this year and could be subject to additional modifications prior to their renewal. The FBI --perhaps even more than the NSA -- is looking for a clean reauthorization of Section 702 programs. This administration favors a clean re-auth, which means complaints about a 1% violation rate aren't likely to change anyone's mind. But 1% of several hundred million yearly searches is still a very large number of violations. If Google or Microsoft suffered a breach affecting the privacy of 1% of its users, it would be a huge problem even if the number of affected accounts amounted to a rounding error.

Former House Intelligence Committee Chair Pete Hoekstra -- a former surveillance state cheerleader -- now worries the NSA's collection powers have increased far past the point of reason. As he points, 1% simply isn't an acceptable failure rate.

One percent or less sounds great, but the truth is 1 percent of my credit card charges dont come back wrong every month. And in my mind one percent is pretty sloppy when it can impact Americans privacy.

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Released Documents Show More Section 702 Violations By The NSA - Techdirt

NEW DELHI: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said enhancing BRICS cooperation not only protects and expands the interests of BRICS countries, but also helps explore ways to build a new type of international relations in what could be viewed as a remark that the platform could be used by both India and China for global cooperation across wide range of areas including security challenges.

Xi made the remarks during his meeting with Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, South African minister of state security David Mahlobo, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and Brazilian Institutional security minister Sergio Etchegoyen, who were in Beijing to attend the seventh meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues.

Xi, in his address to the BRICS NSAs, praised them for building a mutual trust and cooperation among the member nations.

Doval's meeting with Xi comes amid high tensions between India and China owing to Doklam standoff. Xi, according to state-run news agency Xinhua, congratulated all NSAs on the success of the two-day meeting, saying that it has made important preparations for the upcoming BRICS summit in China's southeastern coastal city of Xiamen in September.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit with the two sides looking forward to end the standoff at border ahead of that. Doval and his Chinese counterpart had discussed the issue in their standalone bilateral meet on Thursday and the possible way forward to end the stalemate.

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Chinese President Xi meets NSA Ajit Doval, hails security heads for building cooperation - Economic Times

Reality Winners supporters said they delivered petitions with more than 16,000 signatures to the U.S. Justice Departments headquarters in Washington Thursday, asking the agency to drop its charges against the accused National Security Agency leaker.

Among those delivering the petitions on Whistleblower Appreciation Day were representatives from several groups, including CodePink, Defending Rights & Dissent, RootsAction.org, Whistleblower and Source Protection Program and Stand with Reality, a nonprofit campaign that is supporting Winners case through advocacy and fundraising.

"We should not be charging whistleblowers acting in the public interest, disclosing information responsibly to journalists, as if they were traitors to our country. Anyone who cares about a free press should be concerned about her case, Rainey Reitman, co-founder of Stand with Reality, said in a prepared statement.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors have accused Winner of leaking to The Intercept online news outlet a top-secret NSA report about Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Intercept published the report, which says Russian military intelligence officials tried to hack into the U.S. voting system just before last Novembers election.

A federal grand jury has indicted Winner, 25, on a single count of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information. She faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Winner, who is being held in the Lincoln County Jail, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are defending their proposed rules for safeguarding top-secret information during her trial, now set for Oct. 23 in Augusta. Winners defense attorneys have argued those rules could block her from getting a fair hearing. Specifically, they have said the governments proposed protective order could prevent Winner from reviewing evidence in the case, including classified information. That, they said, would amount to a violation of the former Air Force linguists Sixth Amendment right to confer with her attorneys.

RELATED:Accused NSA leakers attorneys push back against proposed secrecy rules for trial

But in a court papers filed this week, the prosecutors said she will be given access to the records she is entitled to see under the Classified Information Procedures Act and as required by due process. But her attorneys must ask the court for her to see such documents, the prosecutors said.

The scope of classified discovery in this case has not yet been determined. It may include, for example, classified information to which the defendant has not previously had access, the government said in its court filing. Given the charge against the defendant, disclosing that information to her could further jeopardize national security. If defense counsel believe that they must disclose specific information provided in discovery to the defendant, that should be the subject of a subsequent motion.

Winners attorneys are also seeking permission to quote from records already in the public domain, including newspaper articles. Prosecutors have pointed to case law that says disseminating classified information that has already been made public could harm government intelligence sources and operations. Further, Winners defense team is objecting to proposed requirements that they identify expert witnesses they ask to review classified evidence, saying that would amount to an unfair advantage for prosecutors.

The government has a legitimate interest in knowing who is accessing classified information, the prosecutors said. The defense has not identified any prejudice that would result from disclosing experts identities to the government. Accordingly, the government should receive advance notice of all personnel for whom the defense seeks access to classified discovery and an opportunity to submit objections to the court if necessary.

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Accused NSA leaker's supporters ask feds to drop charges against her - MyAJC

The FBI and National Security Agency improperly searched, stored and distributed raw intelligence on Americans, according to recently declassified documents about the controversial Section 702 surveillance program.

The documents, released earlier this month in response to a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reveal specific violations that the FBI and NSA disclosed to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) or the Justice Department's national security division during President Barack Obamas time in office, between 2009 and 2016.

Reviewing the documents, The Hill found more than 90 incidents that specifically cited an impact on Americans, who are not supposed to be affected by 702 surveillance. Many of the incidents involved multiple people, multiple violations, or extended periods of time, the newspaper noted.

One analyst ran the same search on an American citizen every work day for a period of time in 2013 and 2014.

In 2015, the NSA issued a report that included the name of an American whose identity was not foreign intelligence, according to one incident report. The agency eventually discovered the error and recalled the information.

There were several other instances where names of Americans were improperly shared with other intelligence agencies without being redacted, violating minimization procedures. The information had to be recalled and purged after the fact, according to The Hill.

CIA and FBI received unminimized data from many Section 702-tasked facilities and at times are thus required to conduct similar purges, one report said.

The FBI disclosed three instances of improper disseminations of US persons identities between December 2013 and February 2014.

Though the law requires the NSA to notify other intelligence agencies within five days if and when it wrongly disseminates information about Americans, the documents showed that the average notification time was 19 days, and in some cases took as long as 131 business days.

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The NSA says the mistakes amount to less than 1 percent of surveillance intercepts through the Section 702 program, which was established by Congress in late 2008.

The National Security Agency has in place a strong compliance program that identifies incidents, reports them to external overseers, and then develops appropriate solutions to remedy any incidents, NSA spokesman Michael Halbig told The Hill. Quite simply, a compliance program that never finds an incident is not a robust compliance program.

We believe that, particularly when compared with the overall level of activity, the compliance incident rate is very low, Alexander Joel, head of the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency for the director of national intelligence, told The Hill.

Oversight and compliance procedures intended to safeguard Americans are robust and effective, the FBI said in a statement. Section 702 is vital to the safety and security of the American people. It is one of the most valuable tools the Intelligence Community has, and therefore, is used with the utmost care by the men and women of the FBI so as to not jeopardize future utility.

The ACLU, which obtained the documents on July 11 after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, is not convinced.

The NSA claims it has rules to protect our privacy, but it turns out those rules are weak, full of loopholes, and violated again and again, said Patrick Toomey, an ACLU attorney in New York who was involved in the FOIA litigation.

What were now seeing is a history of the NSA not being able to police itself, Neema Guliani, ACLU chief legislative counsel, told The Hill. All of this raises questions about whether the procedures the agencies have put forth are really being followed in all cases.

Shortly before the end of his term in office, in January 2017, Obama "eviscerated" the previously existing limits on sharing of raw NSA intelligence with domestic law enforcement agencies. The full effect of that decision will not be known until the next NSA compliance report, due in April 2018.

Excerpt from:
Memos reveal new details of NSA & FBI illegal spying on Americans under Obama - RT

Featuring throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms, the Arizona Batbusters are introduced at opening ceremonies for the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series at Pioneer Park on Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in Prescott. (Les Stukenberg/Courier)

Over 300 players dawning uniforms from 27 different clubs calling Arizona and its surrounding states home gathered for opening ceremonies of the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series on Wednesday night.

Home to many youth softball tournaments throughout the summer and national championship contests in years past, Pioneer Park in Prescott featured standing room only with parents and family members applauding their hometown teams in preparation for a four-day event beginning today.

Dale Pool, tournament director for the Southwest World Series, said for the Prescott area, this weekend not only brings great economic impact to the community, but a chance for the young players to make lifelong memories.

For the girls, this gives them the chance to see teams from other states, California, Nevada, or from around the state. They may meet again in other tournaments, or play in college, Pool said, adding its fun to see some of the same players return to Prescott every year.

Its wonderful to see these girls grow, not only as players, but as individuals and the great sportsmanship that they display, Pool said.

One team stood out in particular Wednesday night, wearing throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, featured in the movie, A League of their Own.

Peyton Bradshaw, 15, of the Arizona Batbusters said wearing the Rockford Peaches uniforms is a tribute to the women who came before them.

As for their own chances of winning this weekends tournament, Bradshaw said her teammates are looking forward to kicking butt.

We need to go in, play hard, and focus on winning, Bradshaw said.

The Arizona Batbusters open the Southwest World Series with a pair of games in the early Thursday morning as they face AZ As Demarini Elite at 8 a.m. and Storm Fastpitch at 9:30 a.m.

Quad City Clovers third baseman Brena Lankford, 13, was the 2017 recipient of the National Softball Associations $1,000 college scholarship Wednesday night.

I was shocked. I couldnt believe it. I was really happy, Lankford said after hearing her name called over the loud speaker.

The Clovers open the tournament with a 9:30 a.m. contest Thursday against the Firecrackers.

Lankford added this years Southwest World Series gives her team a chance to take a break from the regular grind of club softball travel and just play ball.

Its fun with all the girls, and were pretty good, Lankford said. Its local, so fun.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. is associate sports editor and a columnist for The Daily Courier. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope and SoundCloud at @SportsWriter52, or on Facebook at @SportsAboveTheFold. Reach him at bbergner@prescottaz.com or 928-445-3333, ext. 1106.

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NSA Southwest World Series gets underway Thursday in Prescott - CVR News

Indias national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval might not have much room to maneuvre when, and if, he sits down with Chinese officials on Thursday or Friday to start a conversation to resolve the military stand-off near the Sikkim border.

Doval landed in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon to attend a BRICS security summit and is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping on Friday along with his NSA counterparts from the BRICS countries, including Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

But the focus will be on whether Dovals separate meetings with Chinese officials, including state councilor Yang Jiechi, will be able to resolve or at least begin to ease -- the Donglang (Doklam) standoff, which is now into its second month.

What is likely to complicate the situation further is the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) 90th anniversary on August 1.

A Chinese academic indicated that there is unease and anger within the PLA hierarchy about allowing foreign troops on Chinese soil even as the worlds largest armed forces gather to mark their raising day.

Donglang is under Chinas control but claimed by Bhutan. Beijing has repeatedly said it belonged to China from ancient times.

According to reports, President Xi Jinping the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPEC) and the chairperson of the Central Military Commission -- will observe the war games at Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, 400km northwest of Beijing in Inner Mongolia, on August 1.

The PLA will certainly not be comfortable with the message that will go out if trespassing Indian troops continue to be present in Donglang while Xi -- the all-powerful Communist party general secretary -- is observing PLAs wargames on its birthday.

Its easier to shake a mountain than the PLA, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the ministry of national defence (MoD), said Monday.

Referring to Wus comments, the countrys official news agency, Xinhua, said, ...these words illustrated Chinas unwavering resolution to build a stronger army and guard the countrys sovereignty.

The Chinese academic indicated the possibility of a disaster if Indian troops dont withdraw before the day.

Doval would have been aware of this when he arrived here.

It is one of the longest-running face-offs between the militaries of India and China in recent history and the one in which Beijing has been most aggressive in decades.

The show of belligerence from China has so far comprised three main acts strong statements from the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) and the MoD, a constant salvo of hostile editorials and articles from state-controlled media outlets and the calibrated release of information, photos and videos of military exercises in and around the Tibet Autonomous Region

Doval seems to have little scope to maneuvre as Beijing has made it clear what it wants for the standoff to end: withdrawal of Indian troops.

So far, foreign minister, Wang Yi has been the highest ranking Chinese politician to have commented on the military impasse.

Wang told reporters in Bangkok earlier this week that the problem was very straightforward.

...Even Indian officials publicly said that Chinese soldiers didnt enter the Indian territory. In other words, Indian side admitted (crossing) into Chinese territory.

Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the tension will be quickly reduced once Indian troops pull out from Donglang.

This time, China and its top leaders feel humiliated badly by Indias adventurism and invasion, he said, adding, How can China withdraw? It (the standoff) is in Chinese territory according to the 1890 treaty (signed between Chinas Qing dynasty and British India).

Dovals visit is important in the run-up to the BRICS summit to be held in Chinas Xiamen city in the first week of September, which will be attended by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

On Friday, the five heads of security delegations from the BRICS countries will formally meet to discuss on global governance, counter-terrorism, cyber security and energy security, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development.

--

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Doklam standoff: NSA Doval in Beijing amid PLA unease over Indian 'trespass' - Hindustan Times

YourObserver.com

Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch YourObserver.com A line out of his bio says Harb, who worked 39 years with the National Security Agency (NSA), "applied a wide variety of analytic and language skills and techniques to the production of high-value intelligence" and that he "managed large complex ...

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Former NSA executive becomes author in Lakewood Ranch - YourObserver.com