Tuesday, 27 August 2013

The European Union Times

Snowden tricked NSA and they don’t know how he did it

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 02:11 PM PDT

While collecting data Edward Snowden was able to evade all safeguards at the NSA, leaving the agency puzzled at how he did it, according to new report. Officials worry that the ease with which he covered his tracks means another breach could happen.
Information logs exist to tell the government who tried to view or copy classified information without the proper clearance, but Snowden appears to have bypassed or deleted them, while working as a system administrator with contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii. The revelations come from government officials speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as they were prevented from publicly disclosing new information about the Snowden case.
This is a worrying development for the Obama administration, which has been at pains to prove to the American public that the NSA’s computer system cannot be taken advantage of so easily. Therefore, if Snowden could single-handedly circumvent its cyber defenses, the question stands as to who else can gain instant access to the vast stream of data the clandestine organization intercepts every day.
NSA Director Keith Alexander could not tell the press in July what exactly Snowden might have had access to, downloaded or taken with him, citing an ongoing investigation. This was nearly two months after the leaks took place.
When Snowden had the job of system administrator, he possessed enough security privileges to access data remotely, browse it freely, as well as take it off its home servers and copy it onto portable drives. According to Alexander, this is how the information was leaked.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines then told the AP that Alexander “had a sense of what documents and information had been taken,” but “he did not say the comprehensive investigation had been completed.” She did not say if Snowden was capable of viewing or downloading the documents without the organization’s knowledge.
A key reason behind Snowden’s success may have been that the data was not very clearly compartmentalized, meaning that specialists in one area could easily browse information they would never plausibly need, provided they had the right security clearance.
It is not even clear whether Snowden had to use any ‘hacking’ skills to collect that data, or if he simply misapplied the powers legally allocated to him.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole defended the government’s spying activities in Congress in July, saying that employees who have access to NSA’s programs are effectively monitored by the government.
“Everything that is done under [the program] is documented and reviewed before the decision is made and reviewed again after these decisions are made to make sure that nobody has done the things that you’re concerned about happening.”
One of his most crucial leaks was the truth about the US government’s use of a program that hoarded metadata of communications between American citizens and intercepted all incoming and outgoing internet traffic in the country, before redirecting it straight to the NSA servers.
Officials say that despite leaking information for months without getting caught, it may be possible that Snowden did not know how exactly the surveillance programs themselves functioned.
Snowden has since traversed the globe in pursuit of political asylum, and succeeded with Russia. Washington has been highly critical of Moscow’s actions and as a gesture of disapproval, even gone as far as cancel an unrelated meeting between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The NSA is now reportedly “overwhelmed” with trying to figure out what data and how much of it Snowden managed to steal, said NBC News on Thursday.
This news, together with the case of Bradley Manning, who between 2009 and 2010 leaked hundreds of thousands of highly classified documents, has forced the US government to consider the issue of internal threats to its national security. The 2013 Intelligence Authorization Act now includes a proposal by Congress to create an automated computer program for the detection of such insider threats.
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Study lists 20 cities most threatened by flood

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 02:06 PM PDT

A new study carried out by the researchers in England has released the name of 20 cities which are at the highest risk of damaging floods.
Scientists at the University of Southampton listed the cities that face the worst damage from floods and giant storms.
The report illustrates that nearly all of them are in Asia and North America, five of them are in the United States, according to Live Science.
The researchers observed 136 coastal cities with concerning various categories including population distribution, elevation, and flood protection.
The achieved data was studied along with the forecasts of sea-level rise and groundwater depletion.
The result indicates that Guangzhou, Shenzen, Tianjin and Zhanjiang in China as well as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Surat in India are some of the spots that are threatened to be severely stricken by flood.
Miami, New York City, Newark, New Orleans and Boston are among the vulnerable areas in the United States.
The study also warns those people who are living in the cities such as Guayaquil in Ecuador, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Jakarta in Indonesia, Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Bangkok in Thailand.
Flood defenses in coastal cities have been designed for past conditions, and officials need to improve flood management and infrastructure, the study urged.
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Syria: We’ll Strike Israel If US Attacks

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 01:37 PM PDT

A senior Syrian official has warned that Israel will “come under fire” should the United states pursue any military aggression against the Assad regime.
As reported by the Israeli news site Ynet, Halef al-Muftah, a leading member of the Syrian Ba’ath national council, and a former aide to the Syrian media minister said today that the Syrian government has “strategic weapons aimed at Israel.”
Making the comments on an American Arabic radio station, Muftah added that Damascus views Israel as being “behind the aggression” and therefore will be retaliated against should the US strike Syria.
The official also stated that the Syrian government would not be beholden to threats from the US, and added “If the US or Israel err through aggression and exploit the chemical issue, the region will go up in endless flames, affecting not only the area’s security, but the world’s.”
Over the weekend, reports emerged suggesting that Israeli intelligence has definitive proof that the chemical attacks last week were carried out by the Syrian army.
According to the German publication Focus, the Israel Defense Forces Unit 8200, the IDF’s signals intelligence unit, intercepted communications of the Syrian army during the attack.
“A former Mossad officer told FOCUS the analysis has clearly shown that the bombardment with poison gas missiles was made by Syrian government forces,” reports the publication.
Military hawk Professor John Schindler of the U.S. Naval War College tweeted about the story Sunday, adding that Israel swiftly shared the information with the US and other allies.
As Infowars reported today, demand for gas masks in Israel is soaring in anticipation of western air strikes on Syria that could heighten the chances of Israel coming under chemical weapons attack from its northern neighbor.
With talk of US and UK led air strikes being only days away, the German government also confirmed Monday that it would support international military action against Syria, should it be confirmed that the Assad regime was behind chemical attacks.
A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said that if UN inspectors are able to confirm the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government “it must be punished.”
Turkey also stated that it would join an international coalition against Syria, led by the US and the UK.
“Currently 36-37 countries are discussing these alternatives. If a coalition is formed against Syria in this process, Turkey would take its place in this coalition.” said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Davutoglu also suggested that military action could be taken without a UN mandate.
“We always prioritize acting together with the international community, with United Nations decisions. If such a decision doesn’t emerge from the UN Security Council, other alternatives … would come onto the agenda,” Davutoglu told the Milliyet daily.
British foreign secretary William Hague repeated those sentiments in an interview with the BBC.
“Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity on the UN Security Council? I would argue yes it is otherwise it might be impossible to respond to such outrages, such crimes, and I don’t think that’s an acceptable situation,” Hague said.
The Russian government has reacted to the beat of the war drum against Syria with anger. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a press conference that any use of force in Syria without a UN mandate would violate international law and constitute a “repetition of past mistakes.”
“[The] West is unable to present evidence of the involvement of the Syrian authorities in chemical attacks, but states that ‘red line’ in situation has been passed”, said Lavrov, according to the Voice of Russia.
“You can’t fight regime only because you don’t personally like the dictator leading it and not fight some regimes where you like the dictator,” Lavrov added.
“The use of force without the approval of the United Nations Security Council is a very grave violation of international law,” Lavrov said.
“If anybody thinks that bombing and destroying the Syrian military infrastructure, and leaving the battlefield for the opponents of the regime to win, would end everything – that is an illusion,” Lavrov added.
The Russian official also discussed the fact that Syrian rebels have been accused of using chemical weapons then blaming the Syrian government. He specifically referred to the fact that hundreds of videos showing apparent victims of the chemical weapons attack in Syria were uploaded to YouTube on August 20, a day before media reports say the attack actually happened.
“There is information that videos were posted on the internet hours before the purported attack, and other reasons to doubt the rebel narrative.” Lavrov noted
“Those involved with the incident wanted to sabotage the upcoming Geneva peace talks. Maybe that was the motivation of those who created this story. The opposition obviously does not want to negotiate peacefully.”
“The experts in Syria have the mandate to determine if chemical weapons were used, and if so, which ones, but not who unleashed this attack” Lavrov told the gathered media.
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Bizarre newly discovered sea monster may be shark

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 01:30 PM PDT

The dead body of an unknown creature washed ashore onto a Spain beach

A team of ichthyologists from Florida State University suggests that the washed ashore strange sea creature in Spain belongs to the shark family.
They claim that the remains of a mysterious, bizarre sea animal found on a Spanish beach look like a type of shark (elasmobranch).
“That is definitely a shark skeleton,” one of the team ichthyologists Dean Grubbs from Florida State University stated.
“The elements toward the back were confusing me, but those are the lower caudal fin supports. The ‘horns’ are the scapulocoracoids, which support the pectoral fins,” he explained.
Director of the Florida Program for Shark Research George Burgess also agreed with Grubbs while adding that “It is a shark skeleton, species unknown without better study.”
The horned four-meter-long creature was discovered on Luis Siret Beach in Villaricos in Spain last week.
Experts and residents offered different suggestions to determine what the remains are. They say the animal may be from a relative of the Loch Ness Monster, a dinosaur, or an oarfish.
The recently found creature is not the first mystery remains to lead to speculation of a sea monster.
In 2003, the strange 12-meter and 13-tonne ‘Chilean blob’ astonished the world when it was discovered on Los Muermos beach in Mexico. The monster was later determined to be the remains of a sperm whale.
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DoD training manual suggests Founding Fathers followed ‘extremist ideology’

Posted: 26 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT

A Department of Defense training manual obtained by a conservative watchdog group pointed to the original American colonists as examples of an extremist movement, comments that have sparked fear of a broader crackdown on dissent in America.
The training manual provides information that describes, among other things, “common themes in extremist ideologies.”
Now, if the Department of Defense has its way, historical figures who risked their lives to free America from British colonial rule – names like Paul Revere, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams – will be rebranded as dangerous extremists, alongside the likes of skinheads and neo-Nazis.
The first paragraph of the section entitled ‘Extremist Ideologies’ opens with a statement that has drawn heated criticism: “In US history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.”
In America’s early colonial period, many colonists served in state militias under the direction of the Continental Army in an effort to free the Thirteen Colonies from British rule. Indeed, the Second Amendment of the US Constitution clearly states: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
The document, entitled Equal Opportunity and Treatment Incidents (EOTI), was obtained on Thursday by Judicial Watch, a watchdog group, through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The military manual defines extremism as a “term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups who take a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, and show intolerance toward all views other than their own.”
Some would argue the military manual invokes a rather broad and loose definition that may be applied to any number of persons and organizations, including the Girl Scouts of America, for example, selling cookies door-to-door.
The manual warns military personnel that “the objectives of extremist organizations is [are] viewed as detrimental to the good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment of the unit and is [are], therefore, subject to appropriate disciplinary action.”
The manual goes on to discuss “Doomsday thinking” under “traits or behaviors that tend to represent the extremist style.”
“Extremists often predict dire or catastrophic consequences from a situation or from a failure to follow a specific course, and they tend to exhibit a kind of crisis-mindedness. It can be a Communist takeover, a Nazi revival, nuclear war, earthquakes, floods, or the wrath of God. Whatever it is, it is just around the corner unless we follow their program and listen to their special insight and wisdom, to which only the truly enlightened have access.”
“Nowadays,” the manual continues, “instead of dressing in sheets or publicly espousing hate messages, many extremists will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.”
Many Americans and civil rights groups fear that in the event of another national emergency, perhaps on the scale of a 9/11, the US military will take over the role of ‘maintaining law and order’ inside of American communities. These fears were increased after US President Barack Obama signed into law on Dec. 31, 2011 the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which grants sweeping powers to the US military.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) came out with a harsh rebuke immediately following passage of the controversial legislation.
“President Obama’s action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director.
“The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield. The ACLU will fight worldwide detention authority wherever we can, be it in court, in Congress, or internationally.”
The signing of the NDAA nullifies the Posse Comitatus Act, which worked to prevent the US military from taking over police functions within local communities.
“The US Congress passed a bill (on Jan. 1, 2012, known as the National Defense Authorization Act) that repeals Posse Comitatus, which means that we have now institutionalized and codified martial law,” Congressman Ron Paul told a group of supporters in June 2012, as reported by Live Leaks. “Right now the battle against terrorism involves all of us. Everybody in this country is a potential terrorist.”
“If you happen to visit a website, or attend a meeting that contains a particular viewpoint…you can be accused of being a terrorist and the bill says you have no right to a lawyer,” Paul added.
In January 2012, a study funded by the Department of Homeland Security (“Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008”) characterizes Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists.
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