Podcast appearances and mentions of Ellen Nakashima

In the face of growing tensions between the United States and the People's Republic of China, Taiwan is emerging as a pivotal flashpoint. As America strategizes its response, careful consideration and planning are paramount to address the challenges ahead.Security analyst Dmitri Alperovitch has a timely new book out with Garrett M. Graff that dives into how America can beat China in the race for the 21st century. World on the Brink outlines a comprehensive roadmap for the United States and its allies to avert this impending disaster. To discuss these issues, FDD's China Program hosts a conversation with Dmitri Alperovitch, as well as Ivan Kanapathy, Senior Vice President of Beacon Global Strategies, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. The discussion will be moderated by Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter for The Washington Post, with remarks by FDD's China Program Director Craig Singleton.For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2024/06/04/flashpoints-and-high-stakes-americas-blueprint-to-counter-china/

Stephen Dziedzic of the ABC once again joins Darren to discuss a busy month of news, starting with the recent election in Solomon Islands, then a bombshell Washington Post story about the alleged involvement of the Indian government in targeted killings (with a strong Australian angle); next the recent 2+2 bilateral with South Korea and the possibility of others joining onto AUKUS Pillar 2, and finishing with FM Penny Wong's statement that statehood for Palestine is required to break the cycle of violence. This episode was recorded on Friday 3 May, exactly one year following the death of Allan Gyngell. He is dearly missed. Australia in the World is written, hosted, and produced by Darren Lim, with research and editing this episode by Walter Colnaghi and theme music composed by Rory Stenning. Relevant links Stephen Dziedzic, Chrisnrita Aumanu-Leong, Evan Wasuka and Doug Dingwall, “Former diplomat Jeremiah Manele elected as new Solomon Islands prime minister”, ABC News, 2 May 2024: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-02/solomon-islands-new-prime-minister-election-jeremiah-manele/103791138 Greg Miller, Gerry Shih and Ellen Nakashima, “An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi's India”, Washington Post, April 29, 2024: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/29/india-assassination-raw-sikhs-modi/ Penny Wong, “Speech to the ANU National Security College “Securing our Future”, 9 April 2024: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/speech-anu-national-security-college-securing-our-future Bettany Hughes, “The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” (book): https://www.hachette.com.au/bettany-hughes/the-seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world Serial, Season 4 (podcast): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/podcasts/serial-season-four-guantanamo.html   Ezra Klein Show (podcast), “Salman Rushdie is not who you think he is”, 26 April 2024: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-salman-rushdie.html

India is rising as a competitive global power. It is also joining a club of nations that aggressively target dissidents on foreign soil. Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into India's assassination plots.Read more: It was a split-screen moment: As the Biden administration hosted a White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022, an officer in India's intelligence service was relaying instructions to a team hired to kill one of Modi's most vocal critics in the United States. The assassination plot was part of several repressive acts targeting Indian diaspora populations in Asia, Europe and North America, according to officials in the United States and in India. Greg Miller, a Washington Post investigative foreign correspondent, breaks down how a team of Post reporters have probed a global surge in aggression against dissident groups.Amid shifting geopolitical forces, Miller explains how the United States and other Western governments have struggled to stem this repressive tide. India, for example, has faced few consequences for its use of violence against dissident groups, in part because the United States and its allies want closer ties with India in a new era of competition with China. Today's show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was mixed by Ted Muldoon and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Peter Finn and Ellen Nakashima. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima talks with Jeff about Beijing's secret infiltration of US infrastructure.Ellen Nakashimahttps://twitter.com/nakashimaeFollow Jeff Stein on Twitter:https://twitter.com/SpyTalkerFollow SpyTalk on Twitter:https://twitter.com/talk_spySubscribe to SpyTalk on Substackhttps://www.spytalk.co/Take our listener survey where you can give us feedback.http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (12/11/2023): 3:05pm- On Saturday, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned from her position following controversial statements she made during a U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee hearing. During one exchange with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asked Magill if calls for Jewish genocide on campus would violate the school's code of conduct. Magill responded: “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.” Rep. Stefanik then countered, “conduct meaning committing the act of genocide?” Melissa Korn of The Wall Street Journal writes, “Magill will stay on until an interim president is appointed, and afterward will remain a member of the law school faculty, according to a letter sent from board chairman Scott L. Bok.” You can read more here: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/university-of-pennsylvania-president-resigns-amid-furor-over-comments-on-antisemitism-on-campus-658d74cd 3:30pm- Ellen Nakashima and Joseph Menn of The Washington Post report that, “[t]he Chinese military is ramping up its ability to disrupt key American infrastructure, including power and water utilities as well as communications and transportation systems… Hackers affiliated with China's People's Liberation Army have burrowed into the computer systems of about two dozen critical entities over the past year.” You can read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/11/china-hacking-hawaii-pacific-taiwan-conflict/# 3:40pm- New York Times Bestselling Author & Contributing Editor at The Spectator Chadwick Moore joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss Tucker Carlson's big announcement—the launch of his own streaming service, the Tucker Carlson Network. The subscription-based network will contain exclusive interviews and original shows and will cost viewers $9 per month. Will Tucker's audience follow him? Moore believes they will as fewer cable news consumers trust the content and narratives being pushed on television. You can find Moore's book here: https://www.tuckerthebook.com 4:05pm- Last week, Harvard University President Claudine Gay testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee. During one noteworthy exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Gay refused to say anti-Semitic speech was violative of the school's code of conduct—arguing that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech. In 2020, Rep. Stefanik was appointed to a Senior Advisory position with the Harvard Institute of Politics—however, because she was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2020 election, the student body protested the appointment and Harvard ultimately fired her. So, the notion that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech is flawed—they seem to only support speech provided it gels with the popular progressive opinions of the moment. Caleb Howe of Mediaite writes that “the Harvard Corporation, one of the two boards governing the Ivy League school, will meet Monday” to determine whether Gay should retain her position as university president.” You can read more here: https://www.mediaite.com/news/harvard-boards-reportedly-weighing-claudine-gays-mishandling-against-letting-elise-stefanik-win/ 4:15pm- On this weekend's episode of Real Time, host Bill Maher grilled university administrators for their selective support of freedom of speech. Has the creation of a revolving door between government and education impacted free thought and expression on college campuses? Has it generated a dangerous form of “group think” in which government officials leave the private sector, attain professorships, and push their agenda on the malleable minds of college students? For example, Penny Pritzker is the leader of the Harvard Corporation—she also served as the Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration. 4:40pm- In his latest piece at The Free Press, Stanford University Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson writes, “In 1927 the French philosopher Julien Benda published La trahison des clercs—'The Treason of the Intellectuals'—which condemned the descent of European intellectuals into extreme nationalism and racism. By that point, although Benito Mussolini had been in power in Italy for five years, Adolf Hitler was still six years away from power in Germany and 13 years away from victory over France. But already Benda could see the pernicious role that many European academics were playing in politics. Those who were meant to pursue the life of the mind, he wrote, had ushered in “the age of the intellectual organization of political hatreds.” And those hatreds were already moving from the realm of the ideas into the realm of violence—with results that would be catastrophic for all of Europe. A century later, American academia has gone in the opposite political direction—leftward instead of rightward—but has ended up in much the same place. The question is whether we—unlike the Germans—can do something about it.” You can read the full article here: https://www.thefp.com/p/niall-ferguson-treason-intellectuals-third-reich 5:05pm- Dr. E.J. Antoni—Research Fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss his most recent article for The Daily Caller, “Lyin' Joe Biden Has Become the Pinocchio-In-Chief.” Dr. Antoni writes, “the average American worker is now paying $4.97 per hour in the hidden tax of inflation, effectively doubling how much he or she pays in federal income tax.” Plus, is now the worst time ever to buy a home in America? You can read Dr. Antoni's full editorial here: https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/24/opinion-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a-2-interest-rate-ej-antoni/ 5:20pm- While appearing on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) bizarrely claimed that Republicans who are seeking to secure the U.S. Southern border in exchange for additional aid being provided to Ukraine are guilty of creating “one of the most dangerous moments” in modern American politics.   5:40pm- According to Kate Plummer of Newsweek, University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill will receive a $200,000 per-year salary as a professor at the university's law school despite resigning from her position as president after her disastrous testimony before the House of Representatives during which she seemingly defended anti-Semitism. You can read me here: https://www.newsweek.com/liz-magill-salary-university-pennsylvania-antisemitism-college-1851262 6:05pm- John Yoo— the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley & a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss his latest article, “Hunter Biden's Bluff and Gambit.” Plus, special counsel Jack Smith has requested the U.S. Supreme Court determine if Donald Trump's presidential immunity defense is legitimate, and whether it would make him immune from allegations that he attempted to subvert the 2020 presidential election. You can read Professor Yoo's article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/12/hunter-bidens-bluff-and-gambit/ 6:35pm- While appearing on State of the Union with Jake Tapper, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) criticized his colleagues who are eager to send more money to Ukraine but don't seem quite as interested in ending the devastating war. Vance asks: “What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn't?” 6:50pm- While appearing on 60 Minutes, tennis player Novak Djokovic said he was vilified over his unwillingness to take the Covid-19 vaccine prior to last year's Australian Open. Djokovic said he is neither anti-vaccine nor pro-vaccine—he is simply in favor of allowing people to choose what is best for them.

Washington Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima and author of The Cyber 202 Tim Starks lead a series of conversations with CISA executive director Brandon Wales, National Science Foundation's lead program director Victor Piotrowski and ISC2 CEO Clar Rosso about how America can strengthen its critical infrastructure and its cyber workforce. Conversation recorded on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.

Tomorrow, President Biden will host leaders from both South Korea and Japan at the historic Camp David. The summit comes as China has ratcheted up tensions. Ellen Nakashima from the Washington Post breaks down what message the administration hopes to send to China.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the waning days of the Trump administration, United States national security officials discovered that Chinese military hackers had breached the classified defense network of one of its most important security allies—Japan. In this week's bonus episode, Brett Bruen, the former Director of Global Engagement in President Obama's White House speaks with The Washington Post's national security reporter Ellen Nakashima about her exclusive scoop documenting the hack, why it took Tokyo years to plug the network gaps, and what the Biden administration did behind-the-scenes to help Japan secure its cyber defenses. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India paid a visit to the White House yesterday following an invitation from President Biden. With growing concerns about his "autocratic style" leadership, many are wondering what this meeting means for the American democracy. How are we expanding our relationship with India? And what impact will that have for the world? Ellen Nakashima from the Washington Post joins the show to discuss the dynamics at play during this state visit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A suspect related to the Pentagon documents leak has been arrested. The suspect is a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Ellen Nakashima, national security reporter for the Washington Post, joins us. And, a new revelation shows Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sold property to Texas billionaire Harlan Crow and failed to disclose it. Jane Mayer, chief Washington correspondent for the New Yorker, outlines Thomas' history of similar behavior. Then, what is "woke" investing? It's a term given to ESG, or environment, social and governance investing. It's when investment firms consider climate change or other issues when making financial decisions. And some lawmakers want to ban it. Here & Now investigates.

Document leaking has been in the news lately—and not just stories about the leaking of U.S. intelligence documents. On March 30, 2023, the Washington Post published a series of stories about the Vulkan files, an international investigative project based on thousands of pages of leaked documents from a Russian company that reveal new details about how Russian intelligence agencies seek to operate disinformation campaigns and enhance their ability to launch cyberattacks with the help of contractors. To talk about the Vulkan files, Lawfare Senior Editor Stephanie Pell sat down with Craig Timberg, Senior Editor for Collaborative Investigations at the Washington Post, who, along with his colleague Ellen Nakashima, has bylines on these stories. They talked about how the Washington Post got involved in this investigation, what the documents revealed about Russian cyber conflict, and what Craig considered to be some of the biggest takeaways from the documents.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joining the podcast this week is Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter for The Washington Times, and shares insights into the ongoing conflict between China and Taiwan. Ellen provides perspective on the much publicized Pelosi trip to Taiwan and why the timing of that trip raised concerns in China as well as the complicated relationships the two countries have with international governments around the world, complex supply chain interdependencies (particularly in semiconductors), cyberattack impacts (or not) and why this conflict is different from Russia and Ukraine. This is truly a riveting and insightful conversation that you won't want to miss. Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She covers cybersecurity counterterrorism and intelligence issues. She has probed Russia's efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and contacts between aides to President Trump and Russian officials, work which led her and her colleagues to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. She was part of another team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2014 for reporting on the hidden scope of government surveillance and its policy implications. Nakashima has also served as a Southeast Asia correspondent and covered the White House and Virginia state politics. She joined The Post in 1995.   For links and resources discussed in this episode, please visit our show notes at https://www.forcepoint.com/govpodcast/e198

Topics:US Debt Clockhttps://www.usdebtclock.org/Trump's secret papers and the ‘myth' of presidential security clearanceDevlin Barrett, Ellen Nakashima, Josh Dawseyhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-secret-papers-and-the-myth-of-presidential-security-clearance/ar-AA115wXL?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b0a9e9d90f9640bf94d6854f50821f68Biden student loan handout gives up to $20k to lawyers, doctors set to make hundreds of thousands of dollarsThomas Catenaccihttps://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/biden-student-loan-handout-gives-up-to-20k-to-lawyers-doctors-set-to-make-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars/ar-AA115Jwb?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=790cf9c65454ffb6670114b0c5e96a4cTrump's 'Mar-a-Lago offensive backfires' as new disclosures point to 'serious breach': National Review writerRaw Storyhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-mar-a-lago-offensive-backfires-as-new-disclosures-point-to-serious-breach-national-review-writer/ar-AA115IlE?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3fbd02570230533e1b8aed1b1d71c1cfBiden White House Directly Facilitated FBI Mar-A-Lago Raidby Zero Hedgehttps://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-white-house-directly-facilitated-fbi-mar-lago-raidMost federal student loans will qualify for forgiveness, White House saysClyde Hugheshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/most-federal-student-loans-will-qualify-for-forgiveness-white-house-says/ar-AA115FYQ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=fbc2bd1ebc04a26c3a84ea73260c9963Website:http://newwestradioproductions.weebly.comEmail:newwestradioproductions@outlook.com

It seems the world turned on a dime and imposed tougher sanctions on Russia over the weekend. What happened? The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima has details on an emotional plea Ukrainian President Zelensky made from the battlefield to European leaders. She also outlines what these moves mean for the Russian economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima speaks with Jeremy Sheridan, the assistant director of Office of Investigations at U.S. Secret Service, Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder and chair of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, and Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division at the F.B.I, in a series of conversations about the path forward for public and private entities to secure cyberspace.

US Congressman Jim Himes, two-time Pulitzer winner Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post, and a live audience discuss the state of the world today on Politics + Media 101. Find out more (including how to join us live) at PM101.live

Watching the chaotic end of America's longest war, we've been thinking a lot about the terrorist attack that set it in motion. We interviewed colleagues who covered 9/11 to try to make sense of how that day changed the country and the world.Read more:“Where were you on September 11th?” Most Americans over a certain age have a 9/11 story — of the moment they heard the news of the terrorist attacks, or of anxiously calling family members to make sure they were okay. In the 20 years since the attacks, that day for some may feel like a slowly fading memory. But the direct consequences of that Tuesday in 2001 are still playing out in the news in front of us every day.Today on Post Reports, we're telling the story of 9/11 through the eyes of our newsroom. We spoke with Post colleagues who covered it — from senior editors, to reporters at the Pentagon, to an intern.“It changed everyone's lives,” says Post reporter Juliet Eilperin, who was covering Congress that day, “not only in terms of those who lost people that they cared about that day, but what it meant for the commitment of our military and what it meant for people living in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Middle East.”As the Afghanistan war comes to a harrowing close, we look at how the 9/11 terrorist attacks shaped our world and how the consequences of that day are still with us. This story was produced by Ariel Plotnick and Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Maggie Penman, Renita Jablonski and Martine Powers.It was scored and mixed by Ted Muldoon, who wrote original music for this show. Reena Flores and Rennie Svirnovskiy were also a huge help with this story.In this story, you'll hear the voices of Leonard Downie, Arthur Santana, Juliet Eilperin, Valerie Strauss, Amy Goldstein, Amy Argetsinger, Marc Fisher, Katie Shaver, Karen DeYoung, Mike Allen, Rosalind S. Helderman, Chuck Lane, Debbi Wilgoren and Matt Vita. Thank you to WTOP News for sharing its 9/11 archive.We talked to so many people for this story who helped shape our understanding of that day, including Tracy Grant, Freddy Kunkle, Dana Milbank, Ellen Nakashima, Ann Gerhart and Dudley Brooks. And a big thank-you to Joe Heim, who pitched this idea to our show.The Post has many other stories reflecting on the anniversary of 9/11 and how our country has changed 20 years later.Listen to “America's Song,” a special podcast series from The Post about how a singing police officer comforted a grieving nation after 9/11 — and why the moment couldn't last.9/11 was a test. Carlos Lozada writes that the books of the past two decades show how America failed.

JJ Green and guest host, Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post national security reporter, talk with Michelle Lee, President of the Asian American Journalists Association. They discuss the difficult year Asian American journalists have experienced both professionally and personally; and how the nation can move forward after a year of racial strife.

Investigative journalist and author Barton Gellman speaks with The Washington Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima about Mr. Gellman's bestseller, “Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State.” Barton Gellman is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist. Since 2013 he has been a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. During 21 years at The Washington Post he served tours as legal, military, diplomatic, and foreign correspondent. He has taught courses at Princeton on nonfiction writing, investigative reporting and national security secrecy. His bestselling “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency” won The Los Angeles Times' Book Prize and was a New York Times Best Book of 2008. Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post who writes about cyber, intelligence and related issues. In 2018, she and her colleagues won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Russia's efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. In 2014, she was part of a team awarded a Pulitzer for reporting on the hidden scope of National Security Agency surveillance and its policy implications. Since joining The Washington Post in 1995, she also has served as a Southeast Asia correspondent and reported on the White House and Virginia politics.

The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists' phone records and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia's role in the 2016 election, according to government letters and officials. In three separate letters dated May 3 and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were “hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.” The letters listed work, home or cell phone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period. Cameron Barr, The Post's acting executive editor, said: “We are deeply troubled by this use of government power to seek access to the communications of journalists. The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter with The Washington Post, talks to Jack & Joe about China's effort to control the market of high-powered computer chips (derived from US technology) to make better weapons.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

The U.S. has been hacked again. Russian government hackers are believed to be responsible for infiltrating the computer systems of multiple agencies including the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Treasury Department, and even the National Institutes of Health. The hacking group, Cozy Bear are said to be the perpetrators and exploited a vulnerability in computer monitoring software from a company called SolarWinds. Ellen Nakashima, national security reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for how despite the U.S. spending billions on cybersecurity, the Russians we still able to get in. Next, the novel coronavirus has been with us for about a year now, we have vaccines rolling out and know a lot about the virus that has wreaked havoc on the world, but we also still have many questions. It is a virus of contrasts… it's dangerous enough to send some to the hospital and kill over 1.6 million people worldwide, but mild enough for many to recover quickly or be asymptomatic. Andrew Joseph, reporter at STAT News, joins us for what we know about coronavirus one year in. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

What Russia hacked this time. Why America’s biggest companies are laying people off during a pandemic – while boasting record profits. And new coronavirus tests you can take at home.Read more:The U.S. government spent billions on a system for detecting hacks. The Russians outsmarted it, as national security reporter Ellen Nakashima explains. Some of America’s biggest companies have made a killing off the pandemic. But their record profits haven’t stopped them from laying off thousands of people, says corporate accountability reporter Doug MacMillan. How do home tests for coronavirus work? Health and science reporter William Wan explains.Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

The election is... Actually not quite over but we have to record this episode sometime. In this episode, a breakdown of the notable winners and losers. Did we fire them all? Or... Any of them?  Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Episodes CD129: The Impeachment of John Koskinen Articles/Documents Article: Rep. 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Lieb, Associated Press, November 5, 2020 Article: Puerto Rico inches closer to statehood, but without key GOP support By Chris Cioffi, Roll Call, November 4, 2020 Article: North Dakota voters reject Measure 2 by wide margin By Jeremy Turley, Grand Forks Herald, November 4, 2020 Article: 2020 election sees record high turnout with at least 159.8 million votes projected By Hannah Miao, CNBC, November 4, 2020 Article: Nationwide Ballot Measure Results to Watch: Live Updates By Carl Smith, Tod Newcombe, Governing, November 4, 2020 Article: Will We Ever Slay the Evil Gerrymander? By Alan Ehrenhalt, Governing, November 4, 2020 Article: The U.S. Inability To Count Votes is a National Disgrace. And Dangerous. By Glenn Greenwald, November 4, 2020 Article: Record ‘Dark Money’ Donations Help GOP Retake House Seats By David Moore, Sludge, November 4, 2020 Article: With Deceptive Measure, Missouri GOP Wins Back Power to Gerrymander By Donald Shaw, Sludge, November 4, 2020 Article: Question 2 supporters concede defeat in effort to bring ranked choice voting to Massachusetts By Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com, November 4, 2020 Article: A QAnon Supporter Is Headed to Congress By Matthew Rosenberg, The New York Times, November 3, 2020 Article: Eight Reasons Not to Expect Quick Election Results By Carl Smith, Governing, November 3, 2020 Article: Former Congressman Pete Sessions to return to Washington By Michael Oder and Fallon Appleton, KBTX-TV, November 3, 2020 Article: Qualcomm Billionaires Launch Last Minute Attack on Granddaughter’s Progressive Opponent By Donald Shaw, Sludge, November 2, 2020 Article: Voting Itself Becomes Question for Ballot Measures By Alan Greenblatt, Governing, November 2, 2020 Article: Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose By Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, November 1, 2020 Article: Campaign Against ‘Dark Money’ Disclosure in Alaska Keeps Hiding Its Donors By Donald Shaw, Sludge, October 28, 2020 Article: Salary Council appointee resigns, calls Schedule F executive order a ‘red line’ By Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network, October 26, 2020 Article: Trump's historic assault on the civil service was four years in the making By Lisa Rein, Josh Dawsey, and Toluse Olorunnipa, The Washington Post, October 23, 2020 Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service The White House, October 21, 2020 Article: ‘Stunning’ Executive Order Would Politicize Civil Service By Erich Wagner, Government Executive, October 22, 2020 Article: Rep. Justin Amash, the ex-Republican who tussled with Trump and the GOP, reflects on what's next By Megan Sauer, USA Today, September 26, 2020 Article: Most Americans Don’t Have A Real Stake In The Stock Market By Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes, August 31, 2020 Article: The Stock Market Does Not Represent the U.S. Economy By Revere Journal, July 8, 2020 Article: Health insurers' profits topped $35B last year. Medicare Advantage is the common thread By Paige Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare, February 24, 2020 Article: Supreme Court allows states to draw partisan political maps By Todd Ruger, Roll Call, June 27, 2019 Article: The Atlas Of Redistricting, Georgia’s districts gerrymandered to favor Democrats By Aaron Bycoffe, Ella Koeze, David Wasserman and Julia Wolfe, FiveThirtyEight, January 25, 2018 Additional Resources HOUSE RESULTS - Democrats retain control of House, CNN Voter Analysis: Poll Results, Fox News Democratic President by Congressional District Targeted Candidates, 2020 Cycle OpenSecrets.org Sound Clip Sources Video: 2020 Presidential Debates: Biden says Obamacare will have a public option, 'Bidencare', Politico, October 22, 2020 Facebook Live Video: Republican congressional candidate caught on video making series of racist and Islamophobic remarks, Independent, June 18, 2020 Facebook Live Video: House Republican leaders condemn GOP candidate who made racist videos, Politico, June 17, 2020 Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

In this episode, we talked with Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima about her coverage of cyber issues. Ellen discusses Russia's 2016 election interference, the upcoming 2020 election, and how the U.S. approaches cyber-warfare. Check out Ellen's reporting at The Washington Post and make sure to follow her on Twitter @nakashimae.

Ellen Nakashima, the reporter who first broke the story, joined the show to walk us through the details of the cyberattack and America’s offensive cyber capabilities. The post https://www.aei.org/multimedia/wth-is-going-on-with-trump-and-russia-cyber-attacks-election-interference-and-more-on-marcs-interview-with-the-president/ (WTH is going on with Trump’s cyberattack on Russia? Discussing Marc’s interview with the President) appeared first on https://www.aei.org (American Enterprise Institute - AEI).

Ellen Nakashima, the reporter who first broke the story, joined the show to walk us through the details of the cyberattack and America’s offensive cyber capabilities. The post WTH is going on with Trump’s cyberattack on Russia? Discussing Marc’s interview with the President appeared first on American Enterprise Institute - AEI.

Ellen Nakashima explains the story behind Russia-backed bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. Sarah Kaplan explains the practical effects of a coronavirus mutation. And, Damian Paletta on the future of the fireworks industry.Read more:Intelligence assessments find that Russian bounties to Taliban-linked militants resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops.This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why. Trump’s tariffs could fizzle fireworks, an American tradition that’s 95 percent made in China.Subscribe to The Washington Post: https://postreports.com/offer

THE PETE SANTILLI SHOW Episode #1946 -Sunday - May 24, 2020 - 6PM Live Broadcast Link: https://youtu.be/o5gCraxfC0I  Attempted Cover-Up - US Attorney In NY Tries To Block Evidence Disproving Russian DNC Hack 1946-6PM n June 2016, Ellen Nakashima, a Deep State favorite from the Washington Post, released a report that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) had been hacked by Russia. The firm that validated this was Crowdstrike and its President Shawn Henry confirmed the claims. In December 2016, Ms. Nakashima followed up her reporting with the outlandish claim that the CIA had determined that Russia hacked the DNC because they wanted Trump to win the election. Nakashima also reported that the the Intel Community had determined that Russia also sent the emails to WikiLeaks. This position was reinforced by the Mueller gang in their efforts to have President Trump removed from office. WikiLeaks did release DNC emails related to John Podesta.   Attempted Cover-Up – US Attorney In New York Tries To Block Evidence Disproving Russian DNC Hack – The Pete Santilli Show http://ow.ly/U8Ay30qJc96  GUEST: Patrick Bergy is an IT security specialist, former candidate for Supervisor of Elections, and PFC in the United States Army. After his honorable discharge from the military, he deployed around the world working as a military contractor providing IT support for the Department of Defense. One of Patrick’s most notable projects was in pioneering social media psychological warfare, also know as Interactive Internet Activities, or IIA, for the Department of Defense in 2008. This was at a time when social networks and smart phones were just taking off. Patrick understood the potential threat such capabilities posed for the very core of U.S. democracy, election integrity. He believed it was already being used by hostile foreign governments.

Origins of the Russia investigation 5/10/16 - Downer meets with Papadopoulos  5/11/16 - Downer called the State Department; McCabe calls the State Department and Strzok/Page are super excited about it. Bongino clip on the absurdity of the FBI's official story    Part 1 - The Witch Hunt   7/18/16 - Flynn is interviewed by Michael Isikoff and asked about his speaking engagement at the Russian TV anniversary dinner. 7/18-19/16 - Just as Flynn is speaking in Russia, Lisa Page and Peter Strozk are texting like wildfire and many of those texts are still heavily redacted. Mid-to-Late July: The FBI receives the Steele Dossier.   7/31/16 - FBI opens Crossfire Hurricane 8/10/16 - FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into Manafort, Page and Papa-D 8/10/16 - Steele Memo with this date conspicuously falls into FBI hands with the dirt they were looking for on Flynn 8/11/16 - Stefan Halper (a spy) shows up asset. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. 8/15/16 - “insurance policy” text from Strozk to Page 8/16/16 - FBI opens the case on Flynn. But why? @JohnWHuber tweet about the predication of the investigation.  10/17/16 - The Trump Team (Trump, Flynn, Christie and others) were given an intelligence briefing, from which Trump and Flynn said they could tell that the intelligence community was not happy with Barack Obama. What Really Happened at Donald Trump's Intelligence Briefing (NBC News) 10/21/16 - The FISA warrant is approved on Carter Page  10/31/16 - Brad Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers write the following article in the New York Times: Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia 11/17/16 - Pres.-Elect Trump offers Flynn the job of National Security Advisor Donald Trump offers retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn job as national security adviser 11/18/16 - Strozk/Page/McCabe are texting each other about Brennan having dinner with Clapper that night….”Just FYSA” (for your situational awareness).  12/29/16 -The completely legal call in question occurs between Flynn/Kislyak Flynn's Name Never ‘Masked' in Call Transcripts Briefed to Obama, Records Indicate (The Epoch Times) Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for US election hacking (The Guardian) 1/4/17 - FBI drafts a letter that says they couldn't find and derogatory info on Flynn; they were going to end the investigation.     Records Show Strzok Intervened when FBI Moved to Close Flynn Investigation Due to Lack of ‘Derogatory Information' (National Review) 1/4/17 - Strozk asks the Flynn case agent to keep the case open for now. @Techno_Fog tweet regarding the FBI closing the Flynn case.  1/5/17 - The big meeting - Obama, Biden, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Yates and Rice Obama knew details of wiretapped Flynn phone calls, surprising top DOJ official in meeting with Biden, declassified docs show (Fox News) -OBAMA KNEW.   1/5/17 - Steele deletes his emails regarding primary source of dossier material. How do we know? EXCLUSIVE: Dossier Author Testified His Emails Were ‘Wiped,' He No Longer Has Documents Related To Primary Source (The Daily Caller) 1/6/17 - Comey meets with Trump at Trump Tower to discuss allegations in the Dossier. (Brennan, Clapper and Rogers are there too.) 1/11/17 - BuzzFeed publishes the Steele Dossier 1/12/17 - David Ignatius writes this article in the Washington Post, which outs Michael Flynn's conversation with the Russian Ambassador: Why did Obama dawdle on Russia's hacking? - The Washington Post  1/12/17 - Pentagon Insider Adam Lovinger blows the whistle on the fact that the Office of Net Assessments (within the Pentagon) is paying Stepan Halper. 1/20/17 - Trump takes office, and Susan Rice sends a weird email to herself. Susan Rice Sent ‘Unusual Email' To Herself Moments Before Trump's Inauguration (The Daily Caller)  1/23/17 - Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller put out this article in the Washington Post: FBI reviewed Flynn's calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit (Washington Post) 1/24/17 - Strzok/Pientka interview Fly --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rat-salad-review/message

The Right Opinion: The Michael Flynn Saga Part 1Origins of the Russia investigation5/10/16 - Downer meets with Papadopoulos 5/11/16 - Downer called the State Department; McCabe calls the State Department and Strzok/Page are super excited about it.Bongino clip on the absurdity of the FBI's official story  Part 1 - The Witch Hunt 7/18/16 - Flynn is interviewed by Michael Isikoff and asked about his speaking engagement at the Russian TV anniversary dinner.7/18-19/16 - Just as Flynn is speaking in Russia, Lisa Page and Peter Strozk are texting like wildfire and many of those texts are still heavily redacted.Mid-to-Late July: The FBI receives the Steele Dossier.  7/31/16 - FBI opens Crossfire Hurricane8/10/16 - FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into Manafort, Page and Papa-D8/10/16 - Steele Memo with this date conspicuously falls into FBI hands with the dirt they were looking for on Flynn8/11/16 - Stefan Halper (a spy) shows up asset. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.8/15/16 - “insurance policy” text from Strozk to Page8/16/16 - FBI opens the case on Flynn. But why?@JohnWHuber tweet about the predication of the investigation. 10/17/16 - The Trump Team (Trump, Flynn, Christie and others) were given an intelligence briefing, from which Trump and Flynn said they could tell that the intelligence community was not happy with Barack Obama.What Really Happened at Donald Trump's Intelligence Briefing (NBC News)10/21/16 - The FISA warrant is approved on Carter Page 10/31/16 - Brad Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers write the following article in the New York Times: Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia11/17/16 - Pres.-Elect Trump offers Flynn the job of National Security AdvisorDonald Trump offers retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn job as national security adviser11/18/16 - Strozk/Page/McCabe are texting each other about Brennan having dinner with Clapper that night….”Just FYSA” (for your situational awareness). 12/29/16 -The completely legal call in question occurs between Flynn/KislyakFlynn's Name Never ‘Masked' in Call Transcripts Briefed to Obama, Records Indicate (The Epoch Times)Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for US election hacking (The Guardian)1/4/17 - FBI drafts a letter that says they couldn't find and derogatory info on Flynn; they were going to end the investigation.    Records Show Strzok Intervened when FBI Moved to Close Flynn Investigation Due to Lack of ‘Derogatory Information' (National Review)1/4/17 - Strozk asks the Flynn case agent to keep the case open for now.@Techno_Fog tweet regarding the FBI closing the Flynn case. 1/5/17 - The big meeting - Obama, Biden, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Yates and RiceObama knew details of wiretapped Flynn phone calls, surprising top DOJ official in meeting with Biden, declassified docs show (Fox News)-OBAMA KNEW.  1/5/17 - Steele deletes his emails regarding primary source of dossier material. How do we know?EXCLUSIVE: Dossier Author Testified His Emails Were ‘Wiped,' He No Longer Has Documents Related To Primary Source (The Daily Caller)1/6/17 - Comey meets with Trump at Trump Tower to discuss allegations in the Dossier. (Brennan, Clapper and Rogers are there too.)1/11/17 - BuzzFeed publishes the Steele Dossier1/12/17 - David Ignatius writes this article in the Washington Post, which outs Michael Flynn's conversation with the Russian Ambassador: Why did Obama dawdle on Russia's hacking? - The Washington Post 1/12/17 - Pentagon Insider Adam Lovinger blows the whistle on the fact that the Office of Net Assessments (within the Pentagon) is paying Stepan Halper.1/20/17 - Trump takes office, and Susan Rice sends a weird email to herself.Susan Rice Sent ‘Unusual Email' To Herself Moments Before Trump's Inauguration (The Daily Caller) 1/23/17 - Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller put out this article in the Washington Post: FBI reviewed Flynn's calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit (Washington Post)1/24/17 - Strzok/Pientka interview Flynn2/9/17 - Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller write another article in WaPo, this time saying that Flynn lied to the FBI.  Newly Revealed Texts Show Strzok, Page Altered Flynn Interview Notes (Newsmax)2/14/17 - Page texts Strzok, "Is Andy good with the 302?"2/15/17 - The 302 for the Flynn interview was finally submitted.New Red Flags Emerging From FBI's Handling of Michael Flynn's Case(RealClearPolitics) 2/16/17 - WaPo Article on the matter:Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador (WaPo)  Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking (NYT) STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!!! Plugs:  The Right Opinion Merch Store:https://bit.ly/2QR5Hkh Subscribe: TheRightOpinion.podbean.comor search “The Right Opinion”On iTunes or Google Play(For your monthly episodes and all exclusive bonus episodes) Twitter, Instagram, Parler, Minds:@RightOpinionPod Email Harrison:TheRightOpinionPod@gmail.com We will also be available on a 24-48 hour delay on: HackerHamin.podbean.comOr search “HackerHamin” on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and more. And Rat Salad ReviewRatSaladReview.com Available on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio and Stitcher This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rightopinionpod.substack.com

The Right Opinion: The Michael Flynn Saga Part 1 Origins of the Russia investigation 5/10/16 - Downer meets with Papadopoulos  5/11/16 - Downer called the State Department; McCabe calls the State Department and Strzok/Page are super excited about it. Bongino clip on the absurdity of the FBI’s official story    Part 1 - The Witch Hunt   7/18/16 - Flynn is interviewed by Michael Isikoff and asked about his speaking engagement at the Russian TV anniversary dinner. 7/18-19/16 - Just as Flynn is speaking in Russia, Lisa Page and Peter Strozk are texting like wildfire and many of those texts are still heavily redacted. Mid-to-Late July: The FBI receives the Steele Dossier.   7/31/16 - FBI opens Crossfire Hurricane 8/10/16 - FBI opens counterintelligence investigations into Manafort, Page and Papa-D 8/10/16 - Steele Memo with this date conspicuously falls into FBI hands with the dirt they were looking for on Flynn 8/11/16 - Stefan Halper (a spy) shows up asset. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. 8/15/16 - “insurance policy” text from Strozk to Page 8/16/16 - FBI opens the case on Flynn. But why? @JohnWHuber tweet about the predication of the investigation.  10/17/16 - The Trump Team (Trump, Flynn, Christie and others) were given an intelligence briefing, from which Trump and Flynn said they could tell that the intelligence community was not happy with Barack Obama. What Really Happened at Donald Trump's Intelligence Briefing (NBC News) 10/21/16 - The FISA warrant is approved on Carter Page  10/31/16 - Brad Lichtblau and Steven Lee Myers write the following article in the New York Times: Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia 11/17/16 - Pres.-Elect Trump offers Flynn the job of National Security Advisor Donald Trump offers retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn job as national security adviser 11/18/16 - Strozk/Page/McCabe are texting each other about Brennan having dinner with Clapper that night….”Just FYSA” (for your situational awareness).  12/29/16 -The completely legal call in question occurs between Flynn/Kislyak Flynn’s Name Never ‘Masked’ in Call Transcripts Briefed to Obama, Records Indicate (The Epoch Times) Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for US election hacking (The Guardian) 1/4/17 - FBI drafts a letter that says they couldn’t find and derogatory info on Flynn; they were going to end the investigation.     Records Show Strzok Intervened when FBI Moved to Close Flynn Investigation Due to Lack of ‘Derogatory Information’ (National Review) 1/4/17 - Strozk asks the Flynn case agent to keep the case open for now. @Techno_Fog tweet regarding the FBI closing the Flynn case.  1/5/17 - The big meeting - Obama, Biden, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Yates and Rice Obama knew details of wiretapped Flynn phone calls, surprising top DOJ official in meeting with Biden, declassified docs show (Fox News) -OBAMA KNEW.   1/5/17 - Steele deletes his emails regarding primary source of dossier material. How do we know? EXCLUSIVE: Dossier Author Testified His Emails Were ‘Wiped,’ He No Longer Has Documents Related To Primary Source (The Daily Caller) 1/6/17 - Comey meets with Trump at Trump Tower to discuss allegations in the Dossier. (Brennan, Clapper and Rogers are there too.) 1/11/17 - BuzzFeed publishes the Steele Dossier 1/12/17 - David Ignatius writes this article in the Washington Post, which outs Michael Flynn’s conversation with the Russian Ambassador: Why did Obama dawdle on Russia's hacking? - The Washington Post  1/12/17 - Pentagon Insider Adam Lovinger blows the whistle on the fact that the Office of Net Assessments (within the Pentagon) is paying Stepan Halper. 1/20/17 - Trump takes office, and Susan Rice sends a weird email to herself. Susan Rice Sent ‘Unusual Email’ To Herself Moments Before Trump’s Inauguration (The Daily Caller)  1/23/17 - Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller put out this article in the Washington Post: FBI reviewed Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador but found nothing illicit (Washington Post) 1/24/17 - Strzok/Pientka interview Flynn 2/9/17 - Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller write another article in WaPo, this time saying that Flynn lied to the FBI.   Newly Revealed Texts Show Strzok, Page Altered Flynn Interview Notes (Newsmax) 2/14/17 - Page texts Strzok, "Is Andy good with the 302?" 2/15/17 - The 302 for the Flynn interview was finally submitted. New Red Flags Emerging From FBI's Handling of Michael Flynn's Case (RealClearPolitics)   2/16/17 - WaPo Article on the matter: Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador (WaPo)    Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking (NYT)   STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!!!   Plugs:    The Right Opinion Merch Store: https://bit.ly/2QR5Hkh   Subscribe: TheRightOpinion.podbean.com or search “The Right Opinion” On iTunes or Google Play (For your monthly episodes and all exclusive bonus episodes)   Twitter, Instagram, Parler, Minds: @RightOpinionPod   Email Harrison: TheRightOpinionPod@gmail.com   We will also be available on a 24-48 hour delay on:   HackerHamin.podbean.com Or search “HackerHamin” on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and more.   And   Rat Salad Review RatSaladReview.com  Available on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio and Stitcher

On Saturday, primary voters in South Carolina will decide which nominee has earned their votes. While Vice President Joe Biden is polling ahead of his rivals in the state, his lackluster performance in Iowa and New Hampshire has called into question his electability. Just a few days later, national attention will shift toward the 14 states casting ballots on Super Tuesday. Darren Sands of BuzzFeed News, Clare Malone of FiveThirtyEight, and Meg Kinnard of AP join Politics to discuss. Voters in Texas will choose their candidate on Super Tuesday. Abby Livingston of The Texas Tribune weighs in on how some Democrats are feeling about the likelihood of Bernie Sanders as the nominee.  Plus, Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post provides analysis regarding reports of Russian interference in the 2020 election process. Finally, a look at the impact of coronavirus on global markets with Reuters' Heather Timmons. 

On Saturday, primary voters in South Carolina will decide which nominee has earned their votes. While Vice President Joe Biden is polling ahead of his rivals in the state, his lackluster performance in Iowa and New Hampshire has called into question his electability. Just a few days later, national attention will shift toward the 14 states casting ballots on Super Tuesday. Darren Sands of BuzzFeed News, Clare Malone of FiveThirtyEight, and Meg Kinnard of AP join Politics to discuss. Voters in Texas will choose their candidate on Super Tuesday. Abby Livingston of The Texas Tribune weighs in on how some Democrats are feeling about the likelihood of Bernie Sanders as the nominee.  Plus, Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post provides analysis regarding reports of Russian interference in the 2020 election process. Finally, a look at the impact of coronavirus on global markets with Reuters' Heather Timmons. 

Donald Trump. Ukraine. Joe Biden. A phone call. Election Interference. Impeachment! What the hell is going on? In this episode, an irritated Jen gives you the backstory that you need to know about the impeachment drama, including what the steps to impeachment are. Prepare yourself: Everyone devoted to the Republican or Democratic parties will be pissed off by this episode. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD167: Combating Russia NDAA CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? CD067: What do We Want in Ukraine CD068: Ukraine Aid Bill CD190: A Coup for Capitalism CD176: Target Venezuela Regime Change in Progress Articles/Documents Article: Pelosi, Trump may reach trade deal despite impeachment by Niv Elis, The Hill, October 3, 2019 Article: This 2016 letter proves that GOP attacks on Biden over Ukraine are nonsense by Alex Ward, Vox, October 3, 2019 Article: Civilian Deaths in U.S. Wars Are Skyrocketing Under Trump. It May Not Be Impeachable, but It’s a Crime. by Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, October 2, 2019 Article: Hunter Biden, the black sheep who might accidentally bring down Trump, explained by Matthew Yglesias, Vox, October 1, 2019 Article: Shoot Migrants’ Legs, Build Alligator Moat: Behind Trump’s Ideas for Border by Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, The New York Times, October 1, 2019 Article: Impeachment inquiry erupts into battle between executive, legislative branches By Karen DeYoung, Josh Dawsey, Karoun Demirjian and John Hudson, The Washington Post, October 1, 2019 Article: McConnell says if House impeaches Trump, Senate rules would force him to start a trial by Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post, September 30, 2019 Article: Trump claim on stalled aid for Ukraine draws new scrutiny by Robert Burns, Lolita Baldor, and Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press, MilitaryTimes, September 30, 2019 Article: Hunter Biden: The Most Comprehensive Timeline by Jim Geraghty, National Review, September 30, 2019 Article: The gas tycoon and the vice president’s son: The story of Hunter Biden’s foray into Ukraine by Paul Sonne, Michael Kranish and Matt Viser, The Washington Post, September 28, 2019 Article: The gas tycoon and the vice president’s son: The story of Hunter Biden’s foray into Ukraine by Paul Sonne, Michael Kranish and Matt Viser, The Washington Post, September 28, 2019 Article: Piety and Power by Tom LoBianco, The New York Times, September 27, 2019 Article: White House Knew of Whistle-Blower’s Allegations Soon After Trump’s Call With Ukraine Leader by Julian E. Barnes, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Katie Benner, The New York Times, September 26, 2019 Article: Democrats, Please Don’t Mess This Up. Impeach Trump for All His Crimes, Not Just for Ukraine. by Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept, September 26, 2019 Document: S. 2583 [Report No. 116-126], September 26, 2019, Pg 144 Article: Here’s what you need to know about the US aid package to Ukraine that Trump delayed by Joe Gould and Howard Altman, Defense News, September 25, 2019 Article: Read the record of Trump’s controversial call to Ukraine’s president Zelensky by Ephrat Livni, Quartz, September 25, 2019 Article: How the Impeachment Process Works by Charlie Savage, The New York Times, September 24, 2019 Article: Trump ordered hold on military aid days before calling Ukrainian president, officials say By Karoun Demirjian, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington Post, September 23, 2019 Article: Ukraine military aid extension passes US House after White House delay by Joe Gould, Defense News, September 19, 2019 Article: US State Department clears Ukraine security assistance funding. Is the Pentagon next? by Aaron Mehta, Defense News, September 12, 2019 Document: S. 2474: Defense Appropriations Act, September 12, 2019, Pg 305 Document: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2020, September 12, 2019, Pg 148 Letter: For Chairman Burr and Chairman Schiff August 12, 2019 Article: Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Campaign? by Adam Entous, The New Yorker, July 1, 2019 Article: What Powers Does a Formal Impeachment Inquiry Give the House? by Molly E. Reynolds, Margaret Taylor, Lawfare, May 21, 2019 Article: U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is recalled after becoming a political target by Josh Rogin, The Washington Post, May 7, 2019 Article: Timeline in Ukraine Probe Casts Doubt on Giuliani’s Biden Claim by Stephanie Baker and Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg, May 7, 2019 Article: How does impeachment work? Here is the step-by-step process by Debbie Lord, Cox Media Group National Content Desk, AJC, April 22, 2019 Article: Trump’s feud with Jerry Nadler rooted in decades-old New York real estate project by Rachael Bade and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post, April 8, 2019 Article: Joe Biden's 2020 Ukrainian nightmare: A closed probe is revived by John Solomon, The Hill, April 1, 2019 Article: Senior Ukrainian official says he's opened probe into US election interference The Hill, March 20, 2019 Article: Top Ukrainian justice official says US ambassador gave him a do not prosecute list The Hill, March 20, 2019 Document: 2019 Funding Report, February 13, 2019 Article: The Danger of President Pence by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, October 16, 2017 Article: Joe Biden, His Son and the Case Against a Ukrainian Oligarch by James Risen, The New York Times, December 8, 2015 Additional Resources Document: H.R. Full Committee Print, Department of State Appropriations Document: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2020, Pg 100 Prepared Remarks: Prepared Remarks by Senator John McCain on America’s Role in Europe’s East, Atlantic Council, December 19, 2013 Sound Clip Sources Interview with Mitch McConnell:, CNBC, September 30, 2019 Speakers: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Transcript: Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY): Yeah, it's a, it's a Senate rule related to impeachment that would take 67 votes to change. So I would have no choice but to take it up. How long you're on it is a whole different matter, but I would have no choice but to take it up. President Trump Meeting with Ukrainian President, C-SPAN, 74th U.N. General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York City, September 25, 2019 Speakers: Donald J. Trump President Zelensky Transcript: 1:45 Volodymyr Zelensky: It’s a great pleasure to me to be here, and it’s better to be on TV than by phone. 3:30 Volodymyr Zelensky: My priority to stop the war on Donbass and to get back our territories, –- thank you for your support in this case, thank you very much. 6:40 Volodymyr Zelensky: And to know when, I want world to know that now we have the new team, the new parliament, the new government. So now we – about 74 laws, new laws, which help for our new reforms, land reform, -- law about concessions, that we – general – and we launched the – secretary, and anti-corruption court. As we came, we launched the anti-corruption court, it began to work on the 5th of September. It was, you know, it was, after five days we had the new – So we are ready, we want to show that we just come, and if somebody, if you, you want to help us, so just let’s do business cases. We have many investment cases, we’re ready. 12:00 Reporter: Do you believe that the emaiIs from Hillary Clinton, do you believe that they are in Ukraine? Do you think this whole -- President Trump: I think they could be. You mean the 30,000 that she deleted? Reporter: Yes. President Trump: Yeah, I think they could very well, boy that was a nice question. I like, that's why, because frankly, I think that one of the great crimes committed is Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 emails after Congress sends her a subpoena. Think of that. You can't even do that in a civil case. You can't get rid of evidence like that. She deleted 33,000 emails after, not before, after receiving the subpoena from the U.S. Congress. 16:00 Translator for Volodymyr Zelensky: During the investigation, actually, I want to underscore that Ukraine is an independent country. We have a new –- in Ukraine, a hired, professional man with a western education and history, to investigate any case he considers and deems -- Speaker Pelosi Announcement of Impeachment Inquiry, C-SPAN, September 24, 2019 Speakers: Nancy Pelosi 0:40 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA): Shortly thereafter, press reports began to break of a phone call by the President of the United States calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election. 4:30 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA): And this week, the President has admitted to asking the President of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The action of the Trump, the actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the President's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) talks with CNN's Erin Burnett, CNN, August 8, 2019 Speakers: Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Transcript: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY): This is formal impeachment proceedings. We are investigating all the evidence, we are gathering the evidence, and we will at the conclusion of this, hopefully by the end of the year, vote to, vote articles of impeachment to the House floor, or we won't. That's a decision that we'll have to make, but that, but that's exactly the process we're in right now. Council of Foreign Relations: Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President Joe Biden, Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Speakers: Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Michael R. Carpenter Presider, Richard N. Haass Transcript: 6:00* Joe Biden: I think there's a basic decision that they cannot compete against a unified West. And I think that is Putin's judgment. And so everything he can do to dismantle the post world war two liberal world order, including NATO and the EU, I think is viewed as they're in their immediate self-interest. 52:00 Joe Biden: I’ll give you one concrete example. I was—not I, it just happened to be that was the assignment I got. I got all the good ones. And so I got Ukraine. And I remember going over, convincing our team and our leaders, that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor, and they didn’t. So they said they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time. 54:00 Joe Biden: But always worked in Kiev because, as I said, look, it's simple proposition. If in fact you do not continue to show progress in terms of corruption, we are not going to be able to hold the rest of Europe on these sanctions and Russia is not going to roll across the inner line here and take over the rest of the country with their tanks. What they're going to do is they're going to take your economy down. You're going to be absolutely buried and you're going to be done, and that's when it all goes to hell. 56:00 Joe Biden: It's a very difficult spot to be in now, when foreign leaders call me, and they do, because I never, ever, ever would say anything negative to a foreign leader, and I mean this sincerely, about a sitting president, no matter how fundamentally I disagree with them. And it is not my role, not my role to make foreign policy. But the questions across the board range from, what the hell is going on, Joe, to what advice do you have for me? And my advice always is to, I give them names of individuals in the administration who I think to be knowledgeable and, and, and, and, and committed, and I say, you should talk to so and so. You should, and what I do, and every one of those times, I first call the vice president and tell him I received the call, tell him, and ask him whether he has any objection to my returning the call. And then what is the administration's position, if any, they want me to communicate to that country. Interview, ABC News, March 30, 2015 Speakers: Mike Pence George Stephanopoulos 8:00 George Stephanopoulos: One fix that people have talked about is simply adding sexual orientation as a protected class under the state civil rights laws. Will you push for that? Mike Pence: I will not push for that. That's not on my agenda. And that's not been an objective of the people of the state of Indiana. Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call, BBC News, February 7, 2014 Speakers: Victoria Nuland Geoffrey Pyatt Watch on YouTube Victoria Nuland: Good. So, I don’t think Klitsch should go into the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Geoffrey Pyatt: Yeah, I mean, I guess. In terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I’m just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to keep the moderate Democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok and his guys, and I’m sure that’s part of what Yanukovych is calculating on all of this. I kind of— Victoria Nuland: I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. What he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know? I just think Klitsch going in—he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenyuk; it’s just not going to work. Victoria Nuland: So, on that piece, Geoff, when I wrote the note, Sullivan’s come back to me VFR, saying, you need Biden, and I said, probably tomorrow for an “atta-boy” and to get the deets to stick. Geoffrey Pyatt: Okay. Victoria Nuland: So, Biden’s willing. Geoffrey Pyatt: Okay, great. Thanks. Senator John McCain on Ukraine, C-SPAN, Atlantic Council of the U.S., December 13, 2013 Speakers: John S. McCain III Watch on YouTube Transcript: 16:45 Sen. John McCain: Finally, we must encourage the European Union and the IMF to keep their doors open to Ukraine. Ultimately, the support of both institutions is indispensible for Ukraine's future. And eventually, a Ukrainian President, either this one or a future one, will be prepared to accept the fundamental choice facing the country, which is this: While there are real short-term costs to the political and economic reforms required for IMF assistance and EU integration, and while President Putin will likely add to these costs by retaliating against Ukraine's economy, the long-term benefits for Ukraine in taking these tough steps are far greater and almost limitless. This decision cannot be borne by one person alone in Ukraine. Nor should it be. It must be shared—both the risks and the rewards—by all Ukrainians, especially the opposition and business elite. It must also be shared by the EU, the IMF and the United States. All of us in the West should be prepared to help Ukraine, financially and otherwise, to overcome the short-term pain that reforms will require and Russia may inflict. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)  

In this episode, Jim Lewis interviews Ellen Nakashima, national security journalist for The Washington Post, recipient of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize, and one of the country's leading journalistic voices on cyber matters. They discuss how she began writing on cybersecurity issues; how cyber and the art of reporting on cyber have changed over time; how journalism can directly influence policy outcomes; and key moments in her career as a national security writer, including the Edward Snowden leaks and Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

This episode of Horns of a Dilemma is part of a special series of live episodes bringing you into the room at the 2019 Intelligence Studies Project Symposium at the University of Texas at Austin. In this first installment, Ellen Nakashima, national security reporter at the Washington Post, sits down with John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, to discuss law enforcement responses to new threats. The event was sponsored by the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, the Clements Center for National Security, and the LBJ School of Public Affairs.   Music and Production by Tre Hester   

Ellen Nakashima on Julian Assange’s arrest in London. Moriah Balingit on challenges for low-income Asian American students. Plus, Marian Anderson and the concert that changed America.

Sept 12, 2018 | Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ellen Nakashima from The Washington Post joins Todt and Cressey to discuss Russia’s activities in the mid-term elections, US military operations in cyberspace, Federal Government and social media companies efforts to counter Russia influence operations, privacy in the age of social media, the realities of reporting in a digital media world and how The Washington Post deals with Trump’s attacks on the media.

Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick have a bombshell story about North Korea producing one, possible two, Hwasong-15 ICBMs at its Sanumdong facility.  Aaron and Jeffrey discuss the role that MIIS and open source played in corroborating the report. This episode brought to you by Jeffrey's new novel, The 2020 Commission Report.   Links of Note: Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick's article in the Washington Post about ICBM production at Sanum-Dong. Ankit Panda's Diplomat article on continuing ICBM production in North Korea. Jeffrey's new book, The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States - A Speculative Novel, can be preordered here! Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!

The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima interviews leaders from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to discuss the most significant cyber threats facing the U.S.

Virginia Heffernan chats with Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter for the Washington Post, about how Washington failed to handle Kremlin trolls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia Heffernan chats with Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter for the Washington Post, about how Washington failed to handle Kremlin trolls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin discusses three stories in this episode:A conspiracy theory says the FSB leaked a hacker's confession to incriminate the U.S. government in the DNC hack!https://meduza.io/en/feature/2017/12/12/new-information-about-russian-officials-orchestrating-the-dnc-hack-could-be-designed-to-pin-the-cyber-attack-on-the-u-s-governmentRelated to this story, see Ellen Nakashima's WaPo report:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/court-document-points-to-kaspersky-labs-cooperation-with-russian-security-service/2017/12/13/14ba9450-df42-11e7-bbd0-9dfb2e37492a_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.5290e4ad429aThese religious traditionalists make for awful posterboys, if tolerance is your thing.https://meduza.io/en/feature/2017/12/11/a-moscow-university-student-is-attacked-and-forced-to-apologize-on-camera-for-offending-muslims-christians-and-all-women-by-criticizing-sexist-traditionsRussian media monitoring and censorship explained.https://meduza.io/en/feature/2017/12/13/a-hybrid-hunt-for-criminal-journalistsSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/kevinrothrock)

Susan Hennessey of Lawfare and Rational Security fame joins Radha and Erin to wade through recertifying the Iran deal, social media shenanigans in the Persian Gulf, and whither the new Russia sanctions. Also on tap: all the leaks! and how we forgot about our $1 billion in foreign loans. Radha swoons over a baby hippo and Erin begs Loren to return so we can talk about Jon and Sansa. Reading: Peter Baker, “Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, But Only Reluctantly,” The New York Times. Monika Nalepa, “The attack on Poland’s judicial independence goes deeper than you may think. Here are 5 things to know,” The Monkey Cage. M. Taylor Fravel, “Danger at Dolam,” The Indian Express. Barkha Dutt, “Could a war break out between India and China — again?” The Washington Post. Mark Champion and Marek Strzelecki, “When Trump Goes Abroad, Radical Change Follows in His Footsteps,” Bloomberg. Jana Winter, Robbie Gramer, and Dan De Luce, “Trump Assigns White House Team to Target Iran Nuclear Deal, Sidelining State Department,” Foreign Policy. Robert Windrem and William Arkin, “Who Planted the Fake News at Center of Qatar Crisis?” NBC News. Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima, “UAE orchestrated hacking of Qatari government sites, sparking regional upheaval, according to U.S. intelligence officials,” The Washington Post. “While Fighting the Odds, Fiona the Hippo Becomes a Social Media Star,” NPR.

Susan Hennessey of Lawfare and Rational Security fame joins Radha and Erin to wade through recertifying the Iran deal, social media shenanigans in the Persian Gulf, and whither the new Russia sanctions. Also on tap: all the leaks! and how we forgot about our $1 billion in foreign loans. Radha swoons over a baby hippo and Erin begs Loren to return so we can talk about Jon and Sansa. Reading: Peter Baker, “Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, But Only Reluctantly,” The New York Times. Monika Nalepa, “The attack on Poland’s judicial independence goes deeper than you may think. Here are 5 things to know,” The Monkey Cage. M. Taylor Fravel, “Danger at Dolam,” The Indian Express. Barkha Dutt, “Could a war break out between India and China — again?” The Washington Post. Mark Champion and Marek Strzelecki, “When Trump Goes Abroad, Radical Change Follows in His Footsteps,” Bloomberg. Jana Winter, Robbie Gramer, and Dan De Luce, “Trump Assigns White House Team to Target Iran Nuclear Deal, Sidelining State Department,” Foreign Policy. Robert Windrem and William Arkin, “Who Planted the Fake News at Center of Qatar Crisis?” NBC News. Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima, “UAE orchestrated hacking of Qatari government sites, sparking regional upheaval, according to U.S. intelligence officials,” The Washington Post. “While Fighting the Odds, Fiona the Hippo Becomes a Social Media Star,” NPR.

African American Women Engineers' Silent Struggle Against Indifference I had a hard time finding a title for this post. I wanted to come up with something that would speak to what people were already searching for. So I went to Google Trends and entered "black women in engineering". The results showed zero interest over the past 5 years. I tried "African American women in engineering". Again, no one was searching for these terms, according to Google. I tried narrowing the search to just the United States. Still, there was nothing. It takes me an average of about 4 hours to produce each podcast episode. This includes curating the news, writing the news summaries, recording the interview, editing the interview, writing the script for the show, recording the show, and a host of other tasks. Suddenly I found myself spending 45 minutes on the title alone. I thought that perhaps I wasn't entering the correct search terms, or that something was wrong with Google's algorithm. Then, after a longer period of time than it probably should have taken, I realized that this is exactly the problem.  I concluded that the lack of search inquiries for "African American women in engineering" over half a decade is further proof of an epidemic. African American women engineers are almost completely invisible. To make matters worse, no one cares. My Google Trends results for "African American women in engineering" But you're going to find out today that only part of my conclusion was true. While African American women engineers are indeed working in near-anonymity, my guest today does care about them. Nicole Yates cares about the dearth of African American women engineers and she wants to do something about it, which is why she edited a recent paper entitled Ignored Potential: A Collaborative Roadmap for Increasing African American Women in Engineering. The paper pulls together insights from some of the best minds working on improving diversity, inclusion and retention in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.   The paper is solutions-focused, but its recommendations address two central statistics: African Americans comprised just 4% of engineering degrees awarded in 2015, which is down a full percentage point, from 5%, in 2006. The number of engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to African American women has declined from 1,100 in 2005, to 809 in 2011 (Slaughter, J. B., Tao, Y., & Pearson, W. (2015). Changing the face of engineering: The African American experience. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press). I hope you'll take some time to explore this issue further and include Nicole and her colleagues in your efforts. Bio Nicole Yates is the National Society of Black Engineers' Senior Research Analyst and Applications Specialist. In this role, she conducts training, produces original research, and coordinates with an external network of researchers who support NSBE's mission.   Nicole holds a Master's degree in Psychology from Stanford University. Her original thesis research focused on the dearth of women in STEM fields, an issue that personally concerns her. Nicole also completed her undergraduate degrees at Stanford (B.A., Psychology and B.A., Drama), where she participated in numerous activities including political advocacy, volunteer tutoring, and service-oriented trips. Prior to joining NSBE, Nicole served as an adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University in her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. Resources Reports Ignored Potential: A Collaborative Road Map for Increasing African-0American Women in Engineering edited by Nicole Yates (NSBE, 2017) Websites National Society of Black Engineers 10K Black Engineers Annually by 2025 Books Working Smarter Not Just Harder by Carl Reid Changing the Face of Engineering  edited by Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, Yu Tao and Willie Pearson, Jr. News Roundup The Department of Homeland Security and FBI issued a joint report warning that hackers have penetrated the computer networks of companies that operate nuclear power plants. Ellen Nakashima at the Washington Post confirmed on Saturday that government officials have officially attributed the hacks to Russia. Russia has taken down entire electric grids in Ukraine, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. At this time, however, U.S. officials are not reporting an imminent threat to civilians as the hacks were executed against administrative and business systems rather than nuclear power operations. However, the hack could be part of larger scale planning operations. Further, the report came with an amber alert, which is the second highest threat level. The U.S. is gradually lifting its laptop ban on flights into the U.S. from majority-Muslim countries. Qatar Airways announced last week that the U.S. government has lifted the laptop ban against it. Qatar Airways joins Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Etihad Airways on the list of airlines on which the U.S. has lifted its laptop ban. The laptop ban on direct flights originating in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey is still in effect on passengers traveling with Royal Jordanian, Kuwait Airways, EgyptAir and Royal Air Maroc. Amazon and Reddit have joined the list of companies that will be participating in an organized, online protest on July 12th against the FCC's proposed measure to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules. Details of what the protest will entail have been kept under wraps. However, Etsy, Mozilla and others will also be participating. Microsoft has announced more layoffs. The company, which is in the midst of a reorganization, announced last week that it would be cutting some 18,000 sales jobs.  This is in addition to the nearly 3,000 jobs the company announced it would be cutting last July.The company is shifting its focus and strategy to cloud-based services according to a memo leaked to the press back on June 30th. Diane Bartz at Reuters reports that President Trump is supporting Apple in the company's appeal against a European Union decision ordering it to pay 13 billion euros ($14.8 billion) in back taxes to Ireland. The Trump administration filed an application to intervene in the appeal which is likely to take place in 2018. The European Commission ruled last year that Ireland granted Apple illegal tax subsidies. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California is allowing Twitter's lawsuit against the United States government to proceed. The U.S. government routinely makes data requests in the course of criminal investigations but only allows Twitter and other tech companies to report to the the public the number range of requests it has received from the feds rather than the exact number. For example, if the government made 2, 700 data requests from Twitter, Twitter might only be able to disclose to the public that the government made between 2,000 and 3,000 data requests. Twitter is arguing, among other things, that this is tantamount to a prior restraint on free speech and that it should be allowed to disclose the exact number of data requests the government has made. The phrase "only in New York" has special meaning for Uber and Lyft. Noam Scheiber at The New York Times reported that the ride sharing companies may have been ripping off their drivers by manipulating their collection of sales tax in New York City. Actual ride receipts show Uber deducted New York State sales tax from what drivers were paid rather than passing the sales tax on to passengers, which is what is required by law. Uber argues the sales tax is built into the base fare. But taxi advocates aren't buying it because receipts from other states show Uber added sales tax to the passengers' final bill. A local investigation into Uber's taxi receipts also showed Uber used the same base rate in both New York City and Connecticut even though Connecticut has different tax laws. The FCC has a new Chief Economist. Jerry Ellig was a Senior Fellow at the conservative Mercatus Center at George Mason University where he had worked since 1996. The Department of Homeland Security is delaying a rule that would help make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs and investors to enter the United States. The rule -- the International Entrepreneur Rule-- was set to go into effect on July 17, but DHS announced today that it's pushing it back at least until March 14, 2018. DHS claims this will give it enough time to solicit comments from the public on the new rule. Harper Neidig in the Hill has the story.    

Can Using Emojis Get You in Trouble? You know what emojis mean. Otherwise, you wouldn't use them. Right? One recent University of Minnesota study found that there can be vast differences between what you and your recipient think that emoji means.Use the wrong emoji, and you may have some explaining to do.  What you think is a smile on your iPhone could look more like a grimace on the recipient's end who is using a different device. Cases in which courts must determine what emojis mean are few and far between, but they do appear from time to time. In one case, a University of Michigan law student accused a fellow student of stalking. The fellow student had texted the victim messages calling himself a "petty bastard" and saying that he wanted to make her "feel crappy". The fellow student attempted to argue that the "wry" emoticons he used negated the threatening and harassing nature of the other texts.   The court disagreed and held that the emoticons did not change the meaning of the texts. My guests today believe that while litigation involving emojis is sparse, uncertainty around what emojis mean could have important implications in legal proceedings down the road. Bios Joe Sremack (LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joesremack) is the Owner of Boxer Analytics. Joe has over a decade of information technology and consulting experience. He develops and implements solutions to advise corporate and legal clients in matters involving complex technology issues. Mr. Sremack's expertise is in IT assessments, electronic discovery, and complex data analytics involving transactional and disparate data. A computer scientist by training, Mr. Sremack has conducted numerous matters involving system investigations, data analysis, and the evaluation of technology solutions. He has advised clients across the United States and internationally in matters such as class-action settlement distribution, intellectual property theft, bankruptcy, financial fraud, healthcare regulatory investigations, and antitrust disputes. He has worked with clients in industries including telecommunications, finance, healthcare, energy, government, retail, and insurance. He is a frequent publisher and speaker on issues related to electronic discovery and transactional data. He attended the College of Wooster where he majored in Computer Science and Philosophy, and North Carolina State University, where he earned his Masters in Computer Science. Gabriella Ziccarelli (@IPwithGZ) is an Associate specializing in Intellectual Property at the law firm of Blank Rome. Ms. Ziccarelli has extensive experience advising and securing successes for her clients on a wide array of intellectual property matters. She provides full service intellectual property strategic guidance to her clients in a wide range of industries, including hardware and software, broadcast television, electrical power, and government contracting. Prior to joining private practice, Ms. Ziccarelli served as a volunteer law clerk to the Honorable Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal of the Northern District of California. She has also worked in-house at a variety of high-technology companies. During law school, she was an active member of the intellectual property community where she helped forge important relationships between intellectual property students, academics, and practitioners through symposia, speaking engagements, and hiring events. She also served as the editor-in-chief of the nationally ranked Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal.  Ms. Ziccarelli was recognized for her excellence in the field as a 2013 nominee for the prestigious American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation Jan Jancin Award for excellence in Intellectual Property Law. Before law school, Ms. Ziccarelli was an advocate for higher education initiatives and served as student body vice president to a more than 40,000-person constituency at the University of Arizona while working closely with the Arizona Board of Regents and Arizona Students' Association. She co-founded the Junior Cats Youth Mentoring program for at-risk youth and was a volunteer for the Pima County Attorney's Office Community Justice Board. Ms. Ziccarelli is an engaged member of both the intellectual property and high-tech communities. Ms. Ziccarelli speaks on a variety of issues that pertain to women in the technology profession and women in the law. She is also a regular contributor to American Intellectual Property Law Association publications. Ms. Ziccarelli is an Inaugural Fellow of the Internet Law and Policy Foundry. She is also a graduate of the Leading Women in Technology Wilpower program for female leaders in the technology industry. Ms. Ziccarelli currently serves as an advisory board member for Seed Spot DC, a startup accelerator serving minority entrepreneurs. Ms. Ziccarelli a graduate of the University of Arizona and the Santa Clara University School of Law. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Resources Websites Blank Rome LLC Boxer Analytics IP with GZ Books Bossypants by Tina Fey Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation by Charna Halpern News Roundup Cybercriminals executed another massive, worldwide ransomware cyberattack last week which primarily hit the Ukraine, but also reached Russia, India, the United States and several other countries. The so-called Petya virus again used an exploit that was developed by the National Security Agency. Even Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko was hit. Andrew Roth and Ellen Nakashima report in the Washington Post. Many experts suspect Russia is responsible. Dustin Volz and Justin Menn report for Reuters that U.S. Senators are highly suspicious of Russia-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Labs and they are seeking to ban the U.S. military from using Kaspersky. The E.U. has fined Google $2.7 billion. The E.U.'s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Google suppressed its competitors' shopping search results in favor of its own. According to a blog post by Google SVP and General Counsel Kent Walker, the company is considering an appeal.  The implications for Google in the U.S. are unclear as, in recent weeks, President Trump has sought to engage Alphabet and Google in his effort to revamp government technology.   Michael Birnbaum reports in the Washington Post. Wireless and cable companies are trying to figure out how to consolidate in an increasingly saturated and competitive marketplace. Cable companies are concerned about cord-cutters. Wireless companies are worried about a saturated mobile market in which most customers are already spoken for. To address these challenges, Sprint is in talks to provide wireless service to Charter and Comcast, according to the Wall Street Journal. Comcast and Charter would invest in Sprint's network, and Sprint would give Comcast and Charter access to its wireless network. Shalini Ramachandran, Ryan Knutson and Dana Mattioli report this in the Wall Street Journal. Julia Floretti at Reuters reports that major social networks are combining efforts to take down terrorist content.  Facebook, Google's YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft have formed a working group dubbed The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. The group will share solutions for dealing with content posted by terrorist organizations and individuals. In a separate matter, German lawmakers have passed a measure which would fine social networks up to $57 million for failing to take down hate speech within a reasonable period of time. That's set to take effect on October 1st . Anton Troianovsky and Schechner report in the Wall Street Journal. A federal court in Northern California is allowing the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against Qualcomm to proceed. The federal government is accusing Qualcomm of anticompetitive practices in the mobile device chip market in which Qualcomm has a near monopoly. Stephen Nellis has the story in Reuters. Dan Primack at Axios reported last week that Uber is in the process of negotiating with the Securities and Exchange Commission a way to allow Uber to share equity with its drivers. Industry experts see such an arrangement as a way to slow down driver turnover rates. Finally, a new GAO report has found significant fraud and abuse with the FCC's Lifeline program. The Lifeline program subsidizes broadband for low-income consumers. The GAO audit found that it couldn't verify whether some 36% of subsidy recipients were actually eligible. As much as $1.2 million went to recipients who didn't exist or who were dead. Mike Snider has the story in USA Today.  

In our 171th episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Michael Vatis, Maury Shenk, Jon Sallet, and Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov discuss: new developments in breach law; Justice Kennedy’s gassy ode to the “Cyber Age"; DOJ’s merger authority growing firmer?; Germany authorizes law enforcement hacking; Germany also admits spying on the US; European Council prepares sanctions in response to cyberattacks; Russia beats Western companies into sharing cyber data; oral argument in LabMD goes badly for the FTC; solicitor General seeks review of Microsoft case; CIA contractors show cyberskills by hacking snacks. Our guest interview is with Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter at The Washington Post. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

Dr. Maya Rockeymoore (@MayaRockeymoore) leads Global Policy Solutions, a Washington, DC-based policy firm that makes policy work for people and their environments. A former adjunct professor in the Women in Politics Institute at American University, Maya has also served as the vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), senior resident scholar at the National Urban League, chief of staff to Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), professional staff on the House Ways and Means Committee, and as a CBCF legislative fellow in the office of Congressman Melvin Watt (D-NC) among other positions. Maya's areas of expertise include health, social insurance, income security, education, women's issues and youth civic participation. She is the author of The Political Action Handbook: A How to Guide for the Hip-Hop Generation and co-editor of Strengthening Community: Social Insurance in a Diverse America among many other articles and chapters. Rockeymoore serves on the board of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the National Association of Counties and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. The recipient of many honors, she was named an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow in 2004 and is the recipient of Running Start's 2007 Young Women to Watch Award. A regular guest on radio and television shows, Maya has appeared on NPR, CNN, Black Entertainment Television, ABC World News Tonight, Fox News, Al Jazeera and C-SPAN. Her opinions have also been quoted by the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, LA Times, Boston Globe, Black America Web, and Houston Chronicle among other prominent national news sources. In this episode, we discussed: the potential impact of autonomous vehicles on driver jobs. how the impact of autonomous vehicles will affect people of color, particularly men, in the driver job market. policy recommendations for ensuring the downside economics of autonomous vehicles will not disproportionately impact drivers along racial and gender lines. Resources Center for Global Policy Solutions PAPER: Stick Shift: Autonomous Vehicles, Driving Jobs, and the Future of Work by Dr. Algernon Austin, Cherrie Bucknor, Kevin Cashman, and Dr. Maya Rockeymoore (Center for Global Policy Solutions, 2017) Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance   NEWS ROUNDUP The Department of Justice is now officially considering charges against individual members of WikiLeaks. The Obama administration did not press charges against WikiLeaks on First Amendment grounds, saying that WikiLeaks should be considered a news organization. The Trump DOJ is looking to reverse that course. Matt Zapotsky and Ellen Nakashima report in the Washington Post. The FCC deregulated broadcasters and companies offering business data services in orders released during the Commission's open meeting last week. The FCC voted to allow market forces to solely govern the prices for business data services that small businesses, schools, police departments, schools and other organizations pay for data. Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn issued a strong dissent saying it is "one of the worst she has seen in her years at the Commission". The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy opposed the changes, as did the EU ambassador to the U.S., who said the changes would favor U.S. companies in violation of World Trade Organization norms. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and supporters of the rule changes argued the FCC had accumulated plenty of data over the last 12 years to make an informed decision about the BDS rules. And as far as the broadcast rules -- the Commission reinstated the UHF discount allows broadcasters to count only half of viewers who receive tv broadcasts via UHF towards the 39 percent market ownership cap. Amir Nasr has this story in Morning Consult. FCC Chair Ajit Pai has publicly stated that he wants his agency to stay out of the federal government's review of AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. The way to do that is to ensure that no broadcast licenses are at stake, since broadcast licenses are firmly within the FCC's jurisdiction. Well, the FCC last week approved Time Warner's sale of WPCH-TV in Atlanta to Meredith broadcasting, thus removing a broadcast license, but as Jon Brodkin notes in Ars, Time Warner still holds several additional licenses that enable Time Warner to transmit its cable network programming on HBO, CNN and its other properties. At over $2 million, AT&T contributed more than any other company to Trump's transition team.   The FCC is still working on overturning net neutrality, but Ajit Pai reportedly held meetings with several tech companies to get their insights on what revised rules might look like. Last week, Pai spoke with representatives from Facebook, Oracle, Cisco and Intel--Cecilia Kang has more in The New York Times.

Alexandria McBride is Director of Environment and Sustainability at ITI. Alexandria develops and advocates positions on domestic and international policies related to energy efficiency and environmental priorities. She currently serves on the Board for the Center of Diversity and the Environment and is the Chair of the NAACP-DC Climate and Environmental Justice Committee. Prior to ITI, Alexandria coordinated the re-launch of the Tishman Environment and Design Center, an academic hub based at The New School that utilizes design, policy and social justice approaches to solve pressing environmental issues. She was also a manager at The Engine Room, an international NGO using technology and data to support social and environmental causes. Alexandria was formerly the Chief Financial Officer at Groundswell, a D.C.-based nonprofit aimed at unlocking communities' economic power to grow sustainability on the local level. As the CFO and Executive Management Team member, Alexandria oversaw the organization's financial and operational functions and worked closely with program directors to identify and implement systems that improve the efficiency and quality of Groundswell's impact. Prior to joining Groundswell, Alexandria served in multiple project and operational management roles at the ExxonMobil Environmental Services Company, where she helped steward environmental cleanup projects across the Mid-Atlantic. She also managed the transfer of environmental responsibility during ExxonMobil's multimillion dollar divestment of properties in New York and New Jersey. In addition to this work, Alexandria was nominated to support ExxonMobil's STEM education and diversity efforts. Alexandria holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Environment from Howard University and a M.S. in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management from the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy.   In this episode, we discussed the top 3 environmental tech policy issues policymakers should be focusing on. a review of environmental legislation ITI is advocating for. how advocates can work most effectively with a potential Scott Pruitt Environmental Protection Agency. Resources ITI Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes News Roundup   Tech sector leaders reacted in strong opposition to Trump's immigration ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries. The leaders of major tech companies cited not just the effect the ban would have on their bottom lines, but on what they personally felt. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it is time for the nation to link arms and that the ban is un-American. Lyft CEO Logan Green said the ban runs counter to Lyft's inclusive culture and said the ban conflicts with both Lyft and the nation's core values. Google's Sergey Brin, whose family fled Russia in 1979, participated in the protest at San Fracisco International Airport saying that he too is a refugee. The company also released statement. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg released a statement opposing the measure, as did Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who is an India-native. But President Trump has not budged, although Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham  -- both Republicans -- publically opposed the executive order on Monday. -- Journalists covering violent protests during Trump's inauguration parade were arrested and charged with felony rioting. Journalism advocates have been denouncing the charges. Jonah Engles Bromwich has the story in The New York Times. -- As late as Wednesday, Trump Senior Advisors Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon had active private email address on the Republican National Committee domain. While there is nothing illegal about using an RNC domain to keep political and state business separate--the George W. Bush administration was accused of using RNC domains to quote-unquote "lose" 22 million emails. And the Trump campaign of course accused Hillary Clinton of breaking the law when she used her own private email domain for official State Department Business. The RNC was also hacked into last summer, raising questions about the security of the RNC's email server. Nina Burleigh covers this for Newsweek. -- FBI Director James Comey will be staying on under Trump. Comey is 4 years into his 10-year term. Matt Zaptosky and Ellen Nakashima at the Washington Post note that it would be extremely unusual for a president to remove an FBI director, even though Comey is see by many in Washington to have interfered with the U.S. election by making public specious claims about Hillary Clinton's emails just 11 days before the election. -- The White House ordered the Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Health and Human Services to stop making social media posts, blogging, and updating official content until getting approval from White House officials, according to a report by the New York Times' Coral Davenport. So-called black ops websites of the White House and the National Park Service, which claim to be operated by actual federal employees posting to Twitter anonymously, emerged following the order. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denies the White House gave any such directive.  The black ops Twitter handles include @RoguePOTUSStaff and @AltUSNatParkService. -- Russian officials have arrested on suspicion of treason a Russian cyberintelligence official whom Americans said oversaw hacks that interfered with the U.S. presidential election. It's not clear what Sergei Mikhailov, a senior officer of the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B.,--basically the new KGB--actually did, but Andrew Kramer has the story in the New York Times. -- Verizon is reportedly making a bid for Charter Communications. Charter is valued at around $80 billion. Charter acquired Time Warner Cable last year. Shalani Ramchandran, Ryan Knutson and Dana Mattioli have the story in the Wall Street Journal. -- Finally, Brian Fung reports for the Washington Post that Trump has named Maureen Olhausen acting Federal Trade Commission Chair. Olhausen, a free-market Republican, has been with the agency since 201. Her term expires in 2018.

Tom Kamber (@thomaskamber) is the founder and executive director of OATS, where he has helped over 20,000 senior citizens get online, built more than 30 free technology centers, created the seniorplanet.org digital community, and launched the Senior Planet Exploration Center—the country's first technology-themed community center for older adults. His work has been covered in major national media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, Univision, MSNBC, and the TODAY Show. Tom is active in shaping technology policy and serves on the City of New York's Broadband Task Force, and on the State of New York's Broadband Adoption Task Force. Tom teaches courses on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy at Columbia University and has published widely in academic journals on topics including housing policy, crime and geography, advertising strategy, broadband technology, and technology adoption by senior citizens. Prior to founding OATS, Tom worked as a tenant organizer working with low-income residents in Harlem and the South Bronx. He has a B.A. in Latin from Columbia College and a PhD in Political Science from the City University of New York. In this episode, we discussed: key challenges older adults face getting online. how OATS helps older adults use technology to stay engaged and enhance their overall quality of life. specific policy recommendations for ensuring older adults are both connected and actively using technology.  Resources   OATS Senior Planet This Chair Rocks by Ashton Applewhite SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard NEWS ROUNDUP Missy Ryan, Ellen Nakashima and Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post report that the Obama administration has announced sanctions against Russia for executing cyberattacks on American institutions, including the Democratic National Committee, and releasing sensitive material to the public, in an effort to sway the November presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. The sanctions include the shutting down of two Russian facilities in Maryland and on Long Island which U.S. officials believe were used to collect intelligence. President Obama also expelled 35 Russian agents believed to be involved in the hacks. The President also said the U.S. may undertake covert activity to undermine Russia. But the Kremlin has vigorously denied the hacks, with Russsian President Vladimir Putin calling President Obama's response "irresponsible diplomacy". Yet, Putin has said Russia will hold off on a tit-for-tat response and not expel U.S. agents working in Russia or close American facilities there, until they see how Trump will respond following the inauguration on January 20th. Camila Domonoske has the story for NPR. Here's the link to the DHS and FBI report on the Russian intrusion, which has been dubbed Grizzly Steppe. Andrew Kramer has a nice piece in the New York Times describing how Russians recruited hackers for its cyberwar against the United States.  -- Ellen Nakashima also reported in the Washington Post that President Obama has signed a bill that would work to split U.S. Cybercommand from the National Security Administration in order to promote administrative efficiency. But the split can't happen unless it is approved by the defense secretary and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of staff, which may or may not happen under the Trump administration.  -- House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to stop sit-ins by members of Congress on the House floor. Speaker Ryan introduced a rules package last week which would attempt to curtail live streaming on the house floor by imposing sanctions of $500 for the first livestreaming offense and $2,500 for each subsequent offense, with ethical citations also a possibility. Back in June, Democrats had live-streamed a sit-in on the House floor to protest Republicans' failure to introduce gun control legislation. The livestream was organized in response to the fact that Republican leaders had turned off tv cameras in the chamber, preventing the public from viewing the sit-in on C-Span.     

No one really knows what Donald Trump plans to do as US Commander in Chief, but the United States' most influential war mongers have a plan. In this episode, hear the highlights from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing - a hearing that was kept off of C-SPAN and had no one in attendance - and get some insight into the advice our next President will be given to direct our nation at war. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Hearing Highlighted in this Episode Emerging U.S. Defense Challenges and Worldwide Threats, Senate Armed Services Committee, December 6, 2016 Witnesses Robert Kagan Served in the State Department in the Reagan administration Co-founder of the Project for a New American Century, a think tank that laid out a plan for the United States to use our massive military to force a global order centered around American control. Served on the 25 member State Department Foreign Affairs Policy Board under Hillary Clinton & John Kerry. Current: Senior Fellow, Project on International Order and Strategy, The Brookings Institution Current: Board of Directors for the Foreign Policy Initiative Family: "First Family of Military Interventionists” Married to Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State, European & Eurasian Affairs in the Obama administration Father: Donald Kagan, Yale professor and co-chairman of the Project for a New American Century report outlining the global dominance plan Brother: Frederick Kagan, military historian & author, member of the American Enterprise Institute and Project for a New American Century. Was co-architect of the surge (with General Keane) Sister in law: Kimberly Kagan, President at the Institute for the Study of War General Jack Keane Chairman, Institute for the Study of War Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army during the key Bush years, 1999-2003. Board of Directors at General Dynamics Shawn Brimley Executive Vice President and Director of Studies, the Center for a New American Century National Security Council from Feb 2011-October 2012 Research Associate at CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) from April 2005-Feb 2007 Columnist at War on the Rocks Council on Foreign Relations member *Clip transcripts below Sound Clip Sources YouTube: Julian Assange tells RT that the Russian government was not the source of Clinton campaign emails, posted November 5, 2016. YouTube: Julian Assange on Dutch television program Nieuwsuur to talk about the danger to their sources and the murder of Seth Rich, posted August 9, 2016. Local News Story: 27-Year-Old DNC Staffer Seth Rich Shot, Killed in Northwest DC by Pat Collins and Andrea Swalec, NBC Washington DC, July 11, 2016. Additional Reading Book: The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas P.M. Barnett, May 2005. Article: Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House by Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, December 9, 2016. Article: Army accelerates Active Protection Systems technology by Kris Osborn, Defense Systems, October 13, 2016. Press Release: Artis announces Army APS contract award, Business Wire (Berkshire Hathaway), September 28, 2016. Article: Seth Rich: Inside the Killing of the DNC Staffer by Jeff Stein, Newsweek, August 20, 2106. Twitter: Wikileaks offers $20,000 reward for information about Seth Rich's murder Article: Debbie Wasserman Shultz to Resign D.N.C. Post by Jonathan Martin and Alan Rappeport, New York Times, July 24, 2016. Article: Wasserman Shultz immediately joins Clinton campaign after resignation by Victor Morton, The Washington Times, July 24, 2016. Article: Army Pushes Missile Defense For Tanks: MAPS by Sydney Freedberg, Breaking Defense, April 25, 2016. Article: How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk by Mark Landler, New York Times, April 21, 2016. Email: John Podesta & Staff email his username & password, Wikileaks document, February 9, 2015 Blog post: Iron Curtain: Active Protective System (APS), by the editors of RicardCYoung.com, May 30, 2013. Miscellaneous Sources Webpage: Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go Recommended Podcast Episodes CD108: Regime Change CD102: The World Trade Organization: COOL? CD093: Our Future in War Jen's appearance on The Sea Hawkers Podcast, November 16, 2016. Hearing Clip Transcipts {18:30} Chairman John McCain: Our next president will take office as the U.S. confronts the most diverse and complex array of global security challenges since the end of the Second World War. Great power competition, once thought a casualty of the end of history, has returned as Russia and China have each challenged the rules-based order that is the foundation of our security and prosperity. Rogue states like North Korea and Iran are undermining regional stability while developing advanced military capabilities that threaten the United States and our allies. Radical Islamist terrorism continues to pose a challenging threat to our security at home and our interests abroad, and the chaos that has spread across the Middle East, and on which our terrorist enemies thrive, has torn apart nations; destroyed families; killed hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children; and sent millions more running for their lives. But today—today—President Obama will deliver a speech in Florida, touting his counter-terrorism successes. I’m not making that up. Ugh. Yet, even a glimpse at the chaos enveloping the Middle East and spreading throughout the world reveals the delusion and sophistry of this president and his failed policies. In short, when our next president is inaugurated, just six weeks from now, he will look out on a world on fire and have several consequential strategic choices to make: how to address Russian or Chinese aggression, how to confront threats from North Korean, whether to alter our relationship with Iran, how to improve and quicken our campaign against ISIL, how to counter the instability radiating from Syria, how to ensure a victory in the war in Afghanistan, and I could go on, not to mention the overwhelming challenge of cybersecurity. Our next president will not have the benefit of time and cautious deliberation to set a new strategic course for the nation; that work begins with a series of decisions that will present themselves immediately on day one. That’s why it’s so important to get these things right from the outset. As we ponder these strategic questions, we must also consider our military posture around the world. We must decide the appropriate military presence in Europe and reverse reductions made by the Obama administration under the assumption that Russia was a partner. We also need a fresh look at further steps to enhance U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region. We need to uphold our commitments to allies and partners, including by finally providing lethal assistance to Ukraine and standing by the opposition in Syria. We need to push back against the spread of Iranian malign influence in the Middle East. This starts in Iraq where the eventual liberation of Mosul will intensify the sectarian struggle for power and identity. We need to finally give our troops in Afghanistan what they need to succeed—permanent and flexible authorities to engage the enemy and troop levels based on security conditions on the ground. Here at home we need to return to a strategy-based defense budget. Our next president would need more than $100 billion over and above the Budget Control Act caps just to execute our current defense strategy, which is insufficient since it predates Russian invasion of Ukraine and ISIL’s rampage across Syria and Iraq. This will require our next president to negotiate a broad bipartisan agreement on the budget that brings an end to the dangerous and misguided Budget Control Act. {30:50} General Jack Keane: I’m delighted to be here with Dr. Kagan, a good friend, and let me just say something about Dr. Kagan here and his family. His father, himself, his wife, his brother, and his sister-in-law all made— Sen. John McCain?: All have exceeded—Keane: —a great contribution to this country, believe me. {35:45} Gen. Jack Keane: The reality is we need more combat brigades. The reality is we need more ships. The reality is we need more aircraft. It’s indisputable. {37:20} Gen. Jack Keane: The United States has not fielded a single active protection system on a tank yet or any other combat vehic— But your committee has mandated they do it, and you put some money in there for them to do it. Now, listen, if you don’t know what active protection system is, let me take you through it for a second. You put sensors on a vehicle that track an incoming round to the vehicle, and as the round is about to hit the vehicle, you actually have a kill system on the vehicle that kills the round before it hits. Brilliant technology. Where do we get all of that from? Private sector. It has to do with microchip technology and incredible software programs. Out there on a private sector, smart guys, small-business guys, got it; DARPA had a program over ten years ago to look at this; technology’s proven, and the United States military ground forces still haven’t put it on anything. What’s wrong with that? It has nothing to do with money. It doesn’t have anything to do with the White House. It doesn’t have anything to do with Congress. It doesn’t have anything to do with OSD. You know what it is? It’s the damn bureaucracy inside the Army. They push back on new technology because they want to design it themselves because you give them money to do it. These are the laboratories and the tech bases. It’s the acquisition bureaucracy that stalls this. When I was vice chief of staff for the Army, I had no idea about all of that, and it took me a year or two to figure out what I was really dealing with—bureaucrats and technocrats that were stalling the advance of a great army. That’s out there, and you’ve got to bore into that with this committee. The military and Defense Department needs help to break down that bureaucracy. {43:20} Gen. Jack Keane: Let me just say something about the DOD business side of the House. Certainly, we are the best fighting force in the world; we are first rate at that. But we’re absolutely third rate at running the business-like functions of DOD because we’re not good at it; we don’t know enough to be good at it. We’re managing huge real estate portfolios. We’re managing huge lodging capabilities. We’re one of the biggest motel owners in the United States. We’re managing the largest healthcare enterprise in the world. The amount of maintenance that we’re doing from a pistol to an aircraft carrier is staggering. Those are all business functions. Business functions. They’re all non-core functions. And we’re also managing new product design and new product development, using business terms, and we don’t do well at this, and there’s a ton of money involved in it. We’ve got to get after that money, and we’ve got to do better at it. And I think we should bring in, as a number-two guy in the Department of Defense, a CEO from a Fortune 500 company in the last five years that’s done a major turnaround of a large organization. We need business people to help us do this. We need a CFO, not a comptroller, in DOD. That CFO has the background that’s necessary to look at business practices in the DOD, where cost-basis analysis and performance, internal-controlled auditing, rigorous financial reviews, cost efficiency, and dealing with waste, those are the kinds of things we need—desperately need them because the money is there. You want to do so much more—some of that money is sitting right there in the budget. {46:55} Gen. Jack Keane: ISIS is the most successful terrorist organization that’s ever been put together. We’re making progress against them in Iraq, to be sure. We do not have an effective strategy to defeat them in Syria, because we don’t have an effective ground force. And we have no strategy to deal with the spread of ISIS to thirty-five other countries. I’m not suggesting for a minute that we’re involved in all of that, but I think we can tangibly help the people who are. {47:35} Gen. Jack Keane: In Iraq, we will retake Mosul. How long will depend on how much ISIS wants to resist; they didn’t resist in Fallujah and Ramadi that much. But after we take Mosul, if we have sectarian strife in Mosul, where we do not have unity of governance and unity of security, then that is going to contaminate the political unity and the country as a whole, which is so desperately needed. And that is a major issue for us. The major geopolitical issue for the United States and Iraq is political unity with their government and diminishing Iran’s strategic influence on Iraq. That is what we should be working on. {48:52} Gen. Jack Keane: The Syrian civil war, a major human catastrophe, to be sure, is a tractable problem, I think as any of us have had to deal with. The reality is we squandered the opportunities to change the momentum against the regime—I won’t list them all, and you’re aware of it—but right in front of us, I still believe we could put safe zones in there to safe guard some of those humans up near the Jordanian and Turkish border and that de facto would be a no-fly zone. I think it would also aid the Syrian moderates and likely attract some others to that movement. {49:49} Gen. Jack Keane: Afghanistan—let me just say, the war is not winnable under the current policy. We cannot win. And that’s the reality of it. We’ve got sanctuaries in Pakistan. No insurgency’s ever been defeated with sanctuaries outside the conflict area. Pakistani-Afghan national security forces do not have the enablers they need to be able to overcome the Taliban, who have resurged. {55:55} Robert Kagan: I want to talk about a subject that we don’t like to talk about in polite company, and it’s called world order. We naturally focus on threats to the homeland and our borders, and we talk about terrorism, as we must, as something that is obviously of utmost importance, has to be a top priority to protect the homeland. But as we look across the whole panoply of threats that we face in the world, I worry that it’s too easy to lose sight of what, to my mind, represent the greatest threats that we face over the medium- and long term and possibly even sooner than we may think, and that is the threat posed by the two great powers in the international system, the two great revisionist powers international system—Russia and China, because what they threaten is something that is in a way more profound, which is this world order that the United States created after the end of World War II—a global security order, a global economic order, and a global political order. This is not something the United States did as a favor to the rest of the world. It’s not something we did out of an act of generosity, although on historical terms it was a rather remarkable act of generosity. It was done based on what Americans learned in the first half of the twentieth century, which was that if there was not a power—whether it was Britain or, as it turned out, it had to be the United States—willing and able to maintain this kind of decent world order, you did not have some smooth ride into something else. What you had was catastrophe. What you had was the rise of aggressive powers, the rise of hostile powers that were hostile to liberal values. We saw it. We all know what happened with two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century and what those who were present at the creation, so to speak, after World War II wanted to create was an international system that would not permit those kinds of horrors to be repeated, and because the understanding was that while Americans believed very deeply in the 1920s and ’30s that they could be immune from whatever horrors happened out there in the world that it didn’t matter to them who ran Europe or who ran Asia or who did what to whom as long as we were safe, they discovered that that was not true and that ultimately the collapse of world order would come back and strike the United States in fundamental ways. And so Americans decided to take on an unusual and burdensome role of maintaining world order because the United States was the only power in the world that could do it, and the critical element of maintaining that world order was to maintain peace and stability in the two big cockpits of conflict that had destroyed the world and had produced repeated conflicts from the late nineteenth century onward, and that was Europe and Asia. The United States accomplished something that no other power had been able to accomplish before. It essentially put a cork in two areas that had been known for the constant warfare, put an end to an endless cycle of war between France and Germany, between Japan and China; and that was the stable world order that was created after World War II, that America gradually thrived in, that produced the greatest era of great-power peace that has been known in history, the greatest period of prosperity, the greatest period of the spread of democracy. {1:01:24} Robert Kagan We especially cannot take our eye off what I believe is ultimately the main game, which is managing these two revisionist powers and understanding what they seek. We cannot be under any illusions about Russia and China. We will find areas of cooperation with them—they both partake and benefit from and, in some case, sort of feed off of the liberal world order the United States has created—but let us never imagine that they are content with this order, that they do not seek fundamentally eventually upend this order, especially on the security side, to create a situation which they think ought to be the natural situation which is they being hegemonic in their own region. China has a historical memory of being hegemonic, dominant in its region. Russia has a historical memory, which Putin has expressed on numerous occasions, of restoring its empire, which stretched right into the heart of Central Europe. As far as they are concerned, the order that the United States has created is unfair, disadvantageous to them, temporary, and ought to be overturned. And I can only say that in the process of overturning that the history teaches that overturning does not occur peacefully. And so it should be our task both to prevent them from overturning it and to prevent them in a way that does not produce another catastrophic war. {1:04:00} Robert Kagan: It’s unfortunate that after these eight years in which this signal has been sent that during this political campaign, the president-elect comments during the campaign as well as those of his surrogates have only reinforced the impression that the United States is out of the world-order business—comments about whether the United States really should support NATO allies; comments about Estonia being in the suburbs of St. Petersburg; complaints about the need to defend Japan and is that an equitable thing; the fact that both candidates came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is really, in my eyes, a strategic deal more than a trade deal, designed to pull the United States and its Asian partners together. All the elements of this campaign have only sent even greater shockwaves throughout the world about what the United States stands for. So, in a certain sense, yes, the next administration has a big hole to dig out of; it also has to dig out of a hole, to some extent, of its own making. And so we need to see, in the early stages, in the very early stages, I would say, a clear repudiation of all that rhetoric; some clear signs that this new administration understands the importance not only of reassuring allies but a willingness to bolster our commitment to those allies, because after all, the challenge from the revisionist powers is increasing; therefore it’s not enough to say we’re committed to the defensive allies; we have to show that our capacities are increasing along with those of the increasing threat which, of course, gets to the defense budget, which I don’t have to talk to this committee about. {1:22:00} Robert Kagan: I’m very dubious that unless you actually increase the top line that you’re going to get what you need, because I just think, you know, you can only squeeze so far and be as brilliant as you can be. Brilliant is never going to be your answer, so I think the answer is there’s going to have to be more spending, and, you know, I’m not a budget expert at large either, but I would say we have to do whatever we need to do. We have to—if we need to raise taxes or we need to have some package that does that, if we need to find other ways of, you know, dealing problems like entitlement spending to do it, we have to do it. I mean, I lived through the Reagan years. There were increases in defense budget, which were offset by political bargains of one kind or another that required increases in domestic spending which led to increased defense budgets. We survived the—I mean, in overall deficits. We survived the deficits and won the Cold War. So I would say we are going to have to, as a nation, take this seriously enough to pay for it. {1:46:45} Senator Angus King: So selection of leaders is a crucial element, looking for innovative and willingness to move. Let me— Gen. Jack Keane: You’ve got to force the R&D effort, and you’ve got to talk to civilian—you’ve got to talk to defense industry on a regular basis because the defense industry is spending their time thinking about your function. They’re all also spending research dollars on it. You have to have regular communication with them. Let them know where you’re trying to go, bring them into it to help contribute to it, drive your own people to work with them as well. We can accelerate this process rather dramatically. King: And I would suggest that we have to. {1:50:00} Senator Joni Ernst: I would like to get your thoughts on ISIS in Southeast Asia because I do think it’s something that we haven’t spent a lot of time focusing on—we’re not talking about it nearly enough—and Islamic extremist groups in Southeast Asia, like the Abu Sayyaf group, they are all coming together under the flag of ISIS, and it’s a bit concerning. {1:52:20} Shawn Brimley: One of the tangible second-order benefits that we get from forward deploying our troops and capabilities overseas is we have that daily connectivity, and we have that daily deterrent prowess in places around the region. One of the debates that you see and hear inside the Pentagon, or one of the debates that we had inside the Pentagon as pertains to, say, the Marines in Darwin, for instance, is, you know, you start to break apart these larger entities, like a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, for instance, and you start to put a company here in Southern Philippines and put a task force of some kind in Australia. And there’s a tradeoff between doing that, which gives you that kind of daily interaction with local communities, the ability to do a counter-terrorism operations, for instance. But there is some risk that it becomes more difficult to quickly bring those capabilities back together for a larger threat, responding to a larger threat. And that’s the balance that DOD, particularly OSD, has to grapple with every day. {1:53:50} Senator Joni Ernst: General Keane, could you talk a little bit more about militarily what we could be doing in that region and the use of forces? * General Jack Keane*: Yeah, absolutely. And ISIS has expanded into 35 countries, and we don’t really have a strategy to deal with any of that. We’re focused on the territory that they took, certainly in Iraq and Syria, and I’m not saying that’s not appropriate—that should be a priority—but commensurate with that priority, we should be addressing these other areas as well. And a lot of the identification with ISIS is aspirational but they also have affiliates in these countries—this is one of them—and with an affiliate, they actually sign a document together to abide by certain ISIS principles and rules. And in some cases they direct, some cases they provide aid, but in most cases there’s no direction, and that’s largely the case here. But I believe what the United States can do with its allies is, you know, we’ve been at war with organizations like this now for 15 years, and our reservoir of knowledge and capability here is pretty significant, and it far exceeds anybody else in the world, but we have allies that are participating with us. There’s much we can do with them in sharing intelligence and helping them with training and also helping them with technology—not expensive technology, but things that can truly make a difference with those troops, and I don’t think we necessarily have to be directly involved in fighting these forces ourselves, but aiding and supporting these forces and having a strategy to do that— {1:57:55} Senator Jeanne Shaheen: You also talked about taking retaliatory action against Russia for what they’re doing. What kinds of efforts would you suggest we look at in terms of trying to retaliate or respond to what Russia’s doing in the United States? Robert Kagan: Well, I’m sure there’re people better equipped to answer that question than I am, but I would, you know, publish the Swiss bank accounts of all the oligarchs around. I mean, there are all kinds of things that you could do that would cause— Shaheen: Yeah, keep, keep saying a few— Kagan: Well, I mean— Shaheen: A few more of those because I think those are helpful. Kagan: You know, you could talk about all the ways in which you could reveal stuff about the way Putin has manipulated his own elections. I mean, there’s all kinds of stuff out there, which, if you were of a mind to do it, you could do that would be embarrassing of one kind or another. I mean, these people have money stashed all over the world. They have dachas, they have villas, etc. This is a kind of a Mafia organization where part of the game is everybody holding together. There are ways to create divisions and difficulties. I mean, I’m sure, as I say, there are people who could, if you put them to the task—and for all I know they have been put to the task—you could come up with a whole list of things. And, by the way, I wouldn’t make an announcement of it; they would understand what had happened. But until we do something like that, it’s just open season for them to do this, and so I think we need to treat this like any other weapons system that’s being deployed, because they are treating it like a weapons system. {2:00:32} Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: One of the things, General Keane, that you pointed out is that there is a predilection to try and kill some of the innovative programs so that the Pentagon can actually do those themselves. We had this experience with the Small Business Innovation Research program as we’re going into this NDAA because the initial effort was to try and increase the amount of money that DOD is making available to small businesses to do innovation, and I think we’ve heard from a number of panelists previously that this is one of the best research programs that still exists within—for small businesses to produce innovation that’s used by the Department of Defense. So, is this the kind of initiative that you’re talking about that there may be, for whatever reason, efforts to try and keep it from putting more money into that small-business effort to produce innovation?* Gen. Jack Keane*: I certainly encourage that. You know, the active protection system that I was talking about and that when DARPA made a call to the people to come forward and they knew that this would be an advanced technology that could actually change warfare, the contractor that the United States Army has gone to is a small-business contractor. So here’s this small-business contractor, conceptualized this capability themselves, and it will revolutionize combat warfare as we go forward. They also have technology, interesting enough, and they’ve brought military leaders out to see it, they can stop a bullet. In other words, a 50-caliber bullet, they can kill a bullet. And it’s all because of everything—all of this is available in the private sector. Microchip technology, as I mentioned, and unbelievable software apply to that technology. Well, that’s revolutionary technology that I just mentioned to you. It changes warfare. And so that is something we should be investing in. We should put money behind this. I have no affiliation with this organization—let’s get that straight. {2:05:27} Senator Mike Lee: For several decades, Congress, quite regrettably in my opinion, has deliberately abdicated many of its constitutional responsibilities, and it’s just sort of handed it over to the executive branch, being willing to take a backseat role—a backseat role, at best—in determining America’s role around the world and how we’re going to combat threats that face us. The result ends up being a foreign policy that is made primarily within the executive-branch bureaucracy and Washington-insider circles, informed, as they tend to be, by the interests and the aspirations of the so-called international community. This is a circle that increasingly becomes untethered from any clear lines of accountability, connecting policy, policy makers, and the American people. For instance, the U.S. military is currently operating in the Middle East under a very broad, I believe irresponsibly broad, interpretation of a 15-year-old authorization for the use of military force, using it as justification to engage in a pretty-broad range of actions, from intervening in two separate civil wars to propping up a failing Afghan government. Meanwhile, the executive branch seems increasingly inclined to choose and identify and engage threats through covert actions, and that further helps the executive branch to avoid the scrutiny that would be available if stronger Congressional oversight existed, and they avoid that kind of scrutiny and public accountability. This may be convenient for members of Congress who want nothing more than to just have someone else to blame for decisions that turn out to be unpopular or unsuccessful, but it’s an affront to the Constitution. And it’s more than that; it’s more than just an affront to a 229-year-old document—it’s an affront to the system of representative government that we have dedicated ourselves to as Americans, and I think it’s an insult to the American people who are losing patience with a foreign policy that they feel increasingly and very justifiably disconnected from, notwithstanding the fact that they’re still asked from time to time to send their sons and daughters into harm’s way to defend it. So as we discuss these emerging threats to our national security, I’d encourage this committee and all of my colleagues to prioritize the threat that will inevitably come to us if we continue to preserve this status quo and to exclude the American people and their elected representatives, in many cases ourselves, from the process. So I have a question for our panelists. One of the focuses of this committee has been on the readiness crisis within the military, brought about by the conflicts we’re facing in the Middle East and by a reduction in the amount of money that the Pentagon has access to. The easy answer to this is often, well, let’s just increase spending. That’s not to say that that’s not necessary now or in other circumstances in particular, but setting aside that, that is one approach that people often come up with. But another option that I think has to be considered, and perhaps ought to be considered first, is to reexamine the tasks and the priorities that we’re giving to our military leaders and to ask whether these purposes that we’re seeking readiness for are truly in the interest of the American people, those we’re representing, those who are paying the bill for this, and those who are asked to send their sons and daughters into harm’s way. * Sen. John McCain: Senator’s time has expired. *Lee: So,-- McCain: Senator’s time has expired. Lee: Could I just ask a one-sentence question, Mr. Chairman, to— McCain: Yes, but I would appreciate courtesy to the other members that have—make one long opening statement, it does not leave time for questions. Senator’s recognized for question. Lee: Okay. Do you believe that the Congress, the White House, and the executive branch agencies have done an adequate job in reaching consensus on what the American people’s interests are and on calibrating the military and diplomatic means to appropriate ends? {2:10:43} Robert Kagan: I don’t accept this dichotomy that you posited between what the Congress and the President do and what the American people want. I mean, when I think of some of the—first of all, historically, the executive has always had tremendous influence on foreign policy—whatever the Constitution may say, although the Constitution did give the executive tremendous power to make foreign policy. If you go back to Jefferson, the willingness to deploy force without Congressional approval, you can go all the way through 200 years of history, I’m not sure it’s substantially different, but in any case, that’s been the general prejudice. The Founders wanted energy in the executive and particularly in the conduct of foreign policy. That was the lesson of the Revolutionary War. That’s why they created a Constitution which particularly gave power to the executive. But also, I just don’t believe that the American people are constantly having things foisted on them that they didn’t approve of. So one of the most controversial things that’s happened, obviously, in recent decade that people talk about all the time is the Iraq war, which was voted on; debated at length in Congress; 72 to 28, I think was the vote, or something like that. The American people, public opinion, was in favor of it, just as the American people was in favor of World War I, the Spanish-American War later. These wars turn out to be bad or badly handled, the American people decide that it was a terrible idea, and then people start saying, well, who did this? And the American people want to find somebody to blame for doing these things; they don’t want to take responsibility for their own decisions. I don’t believe we have a fundamentally undemocratic way of making foreign-policy decisions; I think it’s complicated, I think mistakes are made. Foreign policy’s all about failure. People don’t want to acknowledge that failure is the norm in foreign policy, and then they want to blame people for failure. But I think the American people are participants in this process. {2:22:26} Senator Lindsay Graham: We’re talking about important things to an empty room. Just look. Just look. So, Iran with a nuke. Number one—I’m going to ask, like, 45 questions in five minutes. Give brief answers if you can. If you can’t, don’t say a word. Do you believe that the Iranians in the past have been trying to develop a nuclear weapon, not a nuclear power plant, for peaceful purposes? Shawn Brimley: Yes. Gen. Jack Keane: Nuclear weapon, yes. Graham: All right, three for three. Do you believe that’s their long-term goal, in spite of what they say is to have a nuclear weapon? Keane: Yes. Brimley: [nods] Robert Kagan: [thumbs up] Graham: Okay. Do you believe that’d be one of the most destabilizing things in the world? Brimley: Yes. Graham: Do you believe the Arabs will get one of their own? Brimley: Yes. Kagan: [nods] Graham: Do you believe the Iranians might actually use the weapon if they’d gotten one, the Ayatollah? Brimley: [nods] Keane: Well, I think that—before I answer that, I think there’s just as great a chance that the Arabs would use their weapon as a first right to take it away. Graham: Okay, then, so, we don’t know—well, let’s have— Bob, you shook your head. If you’re Israel, what bet would you make? Kagan: [speaks, but mic is not on] Graham: Okay, but what if he wants to die and he doesn’t mind taking you with him? What does he want? Does he want to destroy Israel, or is he just giddy? Kagan: [speaks, but mic is not on] Graham: When the Ayatollah says he wants to wipe Israel out, so it’s just all talk? Kagan: I don’t know if it’s all talk, and I don’t blame people for being nervous. We lived under—the United States, we all lived under the shadow of a possible nuclear war for 50 years. Graham: Yeah, but, you know, on their worst day the Russians didn’t have a religious doctrine that wanted to destroy everybody. Do you believe he’s a religious Nazi at his heart, or you don’t know? And the answer may be you don’t know. Kagan: I believe that he clearly is the—believes in a fanatical religion, but— Graham: Here’s what I believe. Kagan: I’m not—okay, go. Graham: Okay, I believe that you ought to take him seriously, based on their behavior. Number one— Keane: I think we should take him seriously. Whether they’re religious fanatics or not, I don’t think is that relevant. Clearly, their geopolitical goals to dominate the Middle East strategically, to destroy the state of Israel, and to drive the United States out of the Middle East, they’ve talked about it every single year— Graham: Well, do you think that’s their goal?Keane: Yes. Graham: Okay, so do you- Keane: Of course it’s their goal. And not only is it their goal, but they’re succeeding at it. Graham: Do you think we should deny them that goal. Graham: Good. North Korea—why are they trying to build an ICBM? Are they trying to send a North Korean in space? What are they trying to do? Brimley: They’re trying to threaten us. Kagan: To put a nuclear weapon on it— Graham: Do you believe it should be the policy of the United States Congress and the next president to deny them that capability? Brimley: I believe so. Graham: Would you support an authorization to use military force that would stop the ability of the North Koreans to develop a missile that could reach the United States? Do you think Congress would be wise to do that? Brimley: I think Congress should debate it. I remember distinctly the op-ed that Secretary William Perry and Ashton Carter— Graham: I’m going to introduce one. Would you vote for it if you were here? Kagan: Only if Congress was willing to do what was necessary to a followup—Graham: Well, do you think Congress should be willing to authorize any president, regardless of party, to stop North Korea from developing a missile that can hit the homeland? Kagan: Only if Congress is willing to follow up with what might be required, depending on North Korea’s response. Graham: Well, what might be required is to stop their nuclear program through military force; that’s why you would authorize it. Kagan: No, but I’m saying that if I’m—the answer is yes, but then you also have to be willing, if North Korea launched—Graham: Would you advise me— Kagan: —that you’d have to be willing to— Sen. John McCain: You have to let the witness. Graham: Yeah, but he’s not giving an answer, so here’s the question. Kagan: Oh, I thought I— Graham: Do you support Congress—everybody’s talking about Congress sitting on the sidelines. I think a North Korean missile program is designed to threaten the homeland; I don’t think they’re going to send somebody in space. So if I’m willing, along with some other colleagues, to give the president the authority—he doesn’t have to use it—but we’re all on board for using military force to stop this program from maturing, does that make sense to you, given the threats we face? Keane: I don’t believe that North Korea is going to build an ICBM, weaponize it, and shoot it at the United States. Graham: Okay, then, you wouldn’t need the authorization to use military force. Keane: Right. And the reason for that is— Graham: That’s fine. Keane: The reason—Senator, the reason they have nuclear weapons is one reason: to preserve their regime. They know when you have nuclear weapons we’re not going to conduct an invasion of North Korea. South Korea’s not going to do it; we’re not going to do it. Graham: Why are they trying to build ICBM? Keane: They want to weaponize it. Graham: And do what with it? Keane: I don’t bel— Kagan: Preserve their regime. Graham: Okay, all right. So, you would be okay with letting them build a missile? Kagan: No, but— Graham: Would you, General Keane? Keane: They’re already building a missile. Graham: Well, would you be willing to stop them? Keane: I would stop them from using it, yes. Graham: Okay. Keane: I’m not going to stop them from— Graham: Assad—final question. Do all of you agree that leaving Assad in power is a serious mistake? Brimley: Yes. Keane: Yes, absolutely. Graham: Finally, do you believe four percent of GDP should be the goal that Congress seeks because it’s been the historical average of what we spend on defense since World War II?Kagan: Pretty close. Graham: Thanks. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations

Melinda Epler (@changecatalysts) is Founder and CEO of Change Catalyst, a certified B Corp whose mission is to empower diverse, inclusive and sustainable tech innovation through education, mentorship and funding. Change Catalyst won a Certified B Corporation "Best for the World” award for community impact in 2014 and “Best in the World” overall in 2015. Melinda has more than 20 years of experience elevating brands and developing business innovation strategies for social entrepreneurs, mature social enterprises, Fortune 500 companies and global NGOs. As Founder & CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda empowers diverse, inclusive and sustainable tech innovation through events, education, mentorship and funding. Through Tech Inclusion, an initiative of Change Catalyst, she partners with the tech community to solve diversity and inclusion together. Her work spans the full tech ecosystem, from Education to Workplace, Entrepreneurship and Policy. Melinda speaks, mentors and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, social entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurs and investing. She is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker – her film and television work includes projects that exposed the AIDS crisis in South Africa, explored women's rights in Turkey, and prepared communities for the effects of climate change. She has worked on several television shows, including NBC's The West Wing. In this episode, we discussed: building bridges toward inclusiveness in tech after a damaging and divisive presidential campaign season key areas the diversity and inclusion and policy communities should focus on in a Trump administration. Resources Insight Timer Headspace Tara Brach Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg NEWS ROUNDUP Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and members of the intelligence community want President Obama to fire National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers, according to Ellen Nakashima at The Washington Post. Clapper and Rogers cite numerous instances of security breaches under Rogers' watch, including one by Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Harold T. Martin III, who was arrested in August for the largest ever theft of classified government data. There was also another breach in 2015 allegedly carried out by an individual whose name has not been disclosed, but who has since been arrested. President-elect Trump is considering putting Rogers in charge of all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, and Congressional Republican leaders have come out in support of Rogers, including California Representative David Nunes who also serves on Trump's transition team, who praised Rogers in the Washington Post. Rodgers is also the head of U.S. Cyber Command. Ash Carter has not been impressed with Rogers' performance in that role, either, as the cyber command's operations in Syria and Iraq have been largely unsuccessful, according to Carter. Further annoying Carter and Clapper is the fact that Rogers met with Trump last week unbeknownst to the White House. Further complicating matters, Clapper and Carter are also looking to split Cyber Command from the National Security Administration, a move opposed by Senate Republicans including John McCain. Meanwhile, as Mallory Shelbourne at The Hill reports, at a news conference in Peru last week, President Obama called Rogers a "patriot". In separate comments, Obama told German newspaper Der Spiegel that he had no plans to pardon Edward Snowden. The president said Snowden would first need to appear before a court. -- Mark Jamison, a member of Trump's tech policy transition team, suggested in a blog post last week that maybe the FCC shouldn't exist. Jamison wrote, "Most of the original motivations for having the FCC have gone away." He also said there are few monopolies in telecom, an assertion with which FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has disagreed. Brian Fung has this story in the Washington Post. -- A new Stanford University report found that most students from Middle School to college are unable to tell the difference between sponsored content and real news. The study of 7,804 students found 82% could not tell what was sponsored and what was real. Seventy percent of middle schoolers also found no reason to distrust a finance article that was written by the CEO of a bank. Amar Toor has the story on The Verge. -- Downloads of the encrypted messaging app Signal have soared by 400% since Donald Trump's election, according to Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike. Governments have the ability to tap unencrypted text messages for intelligence gathering. Paresh Dave has the story in the LA Times. -- Following a successful effort to get the FCC to clear its entire November meeting agenda, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Senate Commerce Committee Chair John Thune have now asked Federal Trade Commission Chair Edith Ramirez and Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Elliott Kaye not to move forward on any controversial regulations. Upton and Thune wrote that the American people decided to make a change on November 8th and that agencies should this refrain from passing new regulations. Trump, of course, lost the popular vote by over 2 million. -- Finally, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai issued a statement last week praising Trump's Department of Justice nominee Jeff Sessions. The Washington Post reports that Sessions is widely seen as a climate change skeptic and his entire career has been dogged by accusations that Sessions is a virulent racist, which cost him a federal judgeship back in '86. Sessions has been quoted as saying that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was "okay, until he learned that they smoked marijuana." Pai is reportedly on the short list to become Trump's nominee to Chair the FCC.  

Chad Marlow (@ChadAaronMarlow) is Advocacy and Policy Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where his focus is on privacy and technology. Mr. Marlow's work on issues ranging from police body cameras, to government surveillance, to data privacy has been the subject of media coverage throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and South America. Mr. Marlow holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. in Government from Connecticut College. In 2007, City & State (New York) newspaper named Mr. Marlow to its “Rising Stars: 40 Under 40” list. In this episode, we discussed: surveillance tactics by police that disproportionately affect racial, ethnic and religious minorities. how dispersed police departments coordinate with other jurisdictions in a way that collectively infringes privacy and civil rights. what municipalities should do to ensure their surveillance practices are transparent and informed by local communities. Resources: American Civil Liberties Union   THE NEWS Yahoo secretly scanned emails at the behest of the U.S. government, reports Joseph Menn at Reuters. Last year, Yahoo apparently built a secret program designed to scan all emails coming into Yahoo's servers for keywords determined by the NSA or FBI. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer reportedly agreed to develop the software over objections by other Yahoo Senior Executives. This news comes during a difficult month for Yahoo, and it all comes as Yahoo and Verizon have been negotiating what started out as a $4.8 billion acquistion of Yahoo by Verizon.  But late last month, Yahoo announced hackers accessed personal information in some 500 user accounts, causing Verizon to ask for a $1 billion discount on the purchase. ---- David Sanger and Charlie Savage at the New York Times reported that the Obama administration -- namely, National Intelligence Director James Clapper -- has formally accused Russia of hacking into the servers of the Democratic National Committee and servers belonging to other influentials in order to influence the U.S. presidential elections. Clapper's statement noted that only Russia's QUOTE “senior most officials could have authorized these activities. Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta was hacked soon after the statement was released. It is not clear how the Obama administration will respond. ---- A federal contractor by the name of Harold Thomas Martin, III who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton was arrested in August at his home in Glen Burnie, MD for stealing highly classified data and information -- according to information provided by U.S. officials just last week.  Booz Allen is also Edward Snowden's former employer. Officials are trying to figure out whether Martin played a role in posting online a cache of top secret NSA hacking tools. Ellen Nakashima has the full story for the Washington Post. ---- Senate Commerce Committee Chair Republican John Thune joined a chorus of cable industry lobbyists and several civil rights groups last week by going after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, asking him to release the latest version of the set top box rules. The FCC delayed a vote on the new set-top box rules which would open up the set-top box market to more competition, giving consumers a choice between the set-top box they lease from their carrier, and a set-top box they can use to access the content they have already paid their provider for as well as content from so-called over-the-top providers such as YouTube and Netflix. Chairman Wheeler has kept the current rule under wraps and cable industry advocates are challenging him to release a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the set-top box rules -- rules they are expected to oppose anyway. So it's  basically like like “come on punk! Come on punk! I dare you to release the rules! I dare you!” Schoolyard bully stuff. Ali Breland has the story at the Hill. ----FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler also announced last week that the Commission will vote on new Internet Service Provider privacy rules at its next open meeting on October 27th. In a blog post, the Chairman wrote QUOTE “Under the proposed rules, an ISP would be required to notify consumers about what types of information they are collecting, specify how and for what purposes that information can be used and shared, and identify the types of entities with which the ISP shares the information. In addition, ISPs would be required to obtain affirmative ‘opt-in' consent before using or sharing sensitive information. Information that would be considered ‘sensitive' includes geo-location information, children's information, health information, financial information, social security numbers, web browsing history, app usage history, and the content of communications such as the text of emails. All other individually identifiable information would be considered non-sensitive, and the use and sharing of that information would be subject to opt-out consent.” END QUOTE---- Today, for the first time in 120 years, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a design patent case -- this one between Samsung and Apple. The lower court awarded Apple some $584 million back in December. Samsung wants to claw back about $400 million of that, saying it's excessive because it's based on Samsung's total profits, rather than the profits attributable to the 3 patents the court found Samsung to have violated (the rounded corners on the face of the smartphone, the metal rim around the phone, and the display grid).

In our 132nd episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Markham Erickson, and Meredith Rathbone discuss: EU proposal on surveillance software exports; Gmail privacy suit trimmed, but Spokeo ruling keeps it alive; California passes law requiring removal of actor ages by database sites on request; and FCC pulls set-top box plan from meeting agenda. Our interview is with Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

7 AM - 1 - Both candidates are seen unfavorably. 2 - Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima talks about Russian hackers targeting state election systems. 3 - The News with Marshall Phillips. 4 - Colin Kaepernick controversy continues.

Nicole Reitz-Larsen (@reitzlarsen) is a secondary classroom teacher with 15+ years teaching experience. She has taught everything from AP/IB Computer Science, to German, Multimedia and Business related courses. She loves working with students and is passionate about equity in education and providing opportunities for all students to be successful. She works with teachers nationwide on the CS10K.org site and with Code.org to promote the importance of computer science, assist districts in implementing computer science K-12 in schools to broaden participation of underrepresented students of color and females. You can often find her facilitating Computer Science workshops nationwide, presenting at teacher conferences or meet ups because she loves working with educators to provide them with resources, and teaching strategies around equity and inquiry, while creating an environment that is inclusive of all students, as well as in the classroom which she calls home.   In this episode, we discussed: the key challenges students face in the computer science classroom and best practices for helping them overcome them. tools parents can use to help their kids learn computer science. Resources: Code.org CS10K Made with Code Scratch Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg NEWS Anonymous hackers some experts believe have Russian ties released a trove of tools the National Security Agency uses to exploit bugs on the Internet to conduct spying operations. For years, the NSA has resisted efforts by institutions to reveal the bugs it was exploiting so they could be fixed. Now, those bugs are on full display for all the world to see. Ellen Nakashima covers this story at the Washington Post and Andy Greenberg is covering it for Wired.----Hackers believed to have Russian ties also got into billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundations' files last week, according to Julian Hattem at the Hill. Two thousand documents were released giving an inside look into how the powerful Democratic supporter and his Foundations operate. ---- Google isn't out of the woods yet regarding the way it scans emails to serve up ads. Google scans not just Gmail messages, but also anyone interacting with Gmail, from any domain. The plaintiffs sued Google in the Northern District of California alleging that the company's email scanning practices violate wiretapping provisions of both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California's own state privacy laws. Google argued the practice is within the ordinary course of business. But US District Judge Lucy Koh disagreed, ordering the case to move forward. Joe Mullin covers this for Ars Technica.----It looks like internet service providers are going to have to start putting some of its users on blast for copyright infringement-even before they have been convicted of it. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled last week that Cox must pay $25 million to BMG Music for failing to notify users that they had infringed music copyrights by participating in illegal file sharing. BMG enlisted a 3rd party to monitor Cox' users for infringement and when it found infringement, notified Cox. But Cox then prevented its users from receiving notifications. So the court ruled Cox now owes BMG a $25 million penalty. Brian Fung has that story at the Washington Post. ---- Univision has won the bid for Gawker Media's bankruptcy assets. Gawker announced last week it would be ceasing operations. The announcement was made after months of speculation about the fate of the company, following a devastating $140 million judgment against Gawker in favor of Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan sued Gawker for posting a video showing Hogan having sex with radio Bubba the Love Sponge's wife. Keepin it classy, baby! Anyway, Univision's bid for Gawker's assets was $135 million, pending approval by the Bankruptcy Court. Lukas Alpert has the story in the Wall Street Journal.----Finally, The DOJ and FTC are seeking comment on proposed rules to update the guidelines we use to license intellectual property. The comments are due September 26th.

Rachel Rodgers (@RachelRodgersEsq) is a business lawyer turned business coach, intellectual property strategist, and the creator of Small Business Bodyguard. In 2013, she created the Small Business Bodyguard: Cover Your Bases, Cover Your Assets, Cover Your Ass. This game-changing legal resource has been called “fun and engaging” by New York Times bestselling author Chris Brogan and a “graduate-level course on how to build a strong foundation for your business” by CEO of OurDeal, Kyle Durand. Rachel is known in the legal industry and beyond for being an innovator and master of productizing services and creating high-quality, high profit products. SBB and the other legal kits she has created have been transformative, generating half a million dollars in revenue in just two years and serving 1,700 small businesses around the country. And she achieved those results with almost no active marketing because she simply didn't have the time (she literally launched SBB with a newborn in her arms). When she's not taking care of clients, she enjoys baking in the kitchen (barefoot, with rosé in hand), lifting weights, juicing (the green kind, not the steroid kind), reading to her toddlers, being a “dance mom” to her girls and going on new adventures with her family (her favorite destination being the South of France, of course!). In this episode, we discussed: Critical first steps every business owner should take to prevent legal headaches. How to stop working "in your business" and start working "on it" to catapult your success. How to establish strategic partnerships and alliances with other entrepreneurs. Resources The Rodgers Collective Small Business Bodyguard Slack Helpscout Mastermind Dinners by Jason Gaignard The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks NEWS Julia Love at Reuters reports that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton are pulling in Silicon Valley funding anywhere near what Mitt Romney and Barack Obama did in 2012. Trump has pulled in less than 6% of what Romney did and while Clinton has significantly outraised Trump in the Valley, she's raised less than half of what Obama did there. The full story is at Reuters.com. ---- Curt Woodward at the Boston Globe reports that, as financial firms and retail outlets have significantly tightened their fraud prevention tactics, criminals have now turned to hacking health care records. The health care records of 4.5 million people have been compromised this year, and while this is down from last year, the long term consequences are much more severe than those of financial data breaches. ---- Security software maker Check Point has uncovered a huge security flaw in Android phones known as Quadrooter. The breach affects as many as a billion phones, including high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy 7 and HTC 10. Ina Fried at Recode has more. ---- Three House Democrats are calling for GOP leaders to investigate Donald Trump for encouraging Russia to hack into the 30,000 emails still missing from the private email server Hillary Clinton used when she served as Secretary of State. Congressmen Patrick Murphy from Florida, Andre Carson from Indiana and Eric Swalwell from California are all asking a House panel to investigate. Check out Haroun Demirjian's (DE-MEER-JOHN'S_ full coverage in the Washington Post. —— Privacy advocates are getting worried about customers exchanging their privacy for lower-priced internet services. David Lazarus at the LA Times points to Comcast and AT&T who offer customers lower prices in exchange for tracking their online behavior. Advocates are worried the model is creating a society of privacy haves and have-nots in which privacy will only be available to people willing to pay for it. ---- The federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled last week that entities that mimic government agencies must observe the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement for searches and seizures. The case involved a defendant who sent child pronography via his AOL account, which AOL then flagged and sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which it was required to do. A Department of Homeland Security special agent then obtained a tip through NCMEC's system and then a search warrant to search the suspect's home. The court found that NCMEC should never have opened the email without a warrant in the first place, since it was acting on the government's behalf. Cyrus Farivar has more full coverage at Ars Technica. --- A federal judge on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued a largely sealed ruling last week criticizing the FBI's new gag order rules. Gag orders demand secrecy from companies regarding data requests the FBI makes to investigate national security cases. The new gag order rules require the FBI to review either on the “close of an investigation” or on the “three year anniversary of an investigation”, whether a gag order is still necessary. So this means the FBI could, theoretically at least, at the close of every single investigation, deem the gag orders to still be necessary, and keep them in place indefinitely. But these are just criticisms. The judge did not order a revamping of the rules. Ellen Nakashima at the Washington Post has the story. ---- Finally, Greenberg Traurig—the international law firm— will be lobbying on behalf of the Pokemon Company International, which has come under scrutiny after the release of its widely popular Pokémon Go game. The game has caused concern among lawmakers regarding distracted driving and the potential for pedophiles to exploit the game to harm children. For example, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned sex offenders on parole from using Pokemon Go for fear they would put down lures to entice children to come to a particular location. Greenberg Traurig will work to counter that negative perception among federal lawmakers. Megan Wilson at the Hill has more.  

8 AM - 1 - More emojis and Mister Thrump stuff. 2 - Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima on her piece: "FBI wants access to Internet browser history without a warrant in terrorism and spy cases". 3 - The News with Marshall Phillips. 4 - A pet parrot may have witnessed a murder.

1 - University of Portland Encourages Students to Report "Incidents of Discomfort" to Campus Emergency Hotline. 2 - Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima talks about her story: "Apple vows to resist FBI demand to crack iPhone linked to San Bernardino attacks". 3 - The News with Marshall Phillips. 4 - Fun texts.

8 AM - 1 - University of Portland Encourages Students to Report "Incidents of Discomfort" to Campus Emergency Hotline. 2 - Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima talks about her story: "Apple vows to resist FBI demand to crack iPhone linked to San Bernardino attacks". 3 - The News with Marshall Phillips. 4 - Fun texts.

In our ninety-second episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker, Maury Shenk, Michael Vatis, and Jason Weinstein discuss: appeals court clears accused ‘Cannibal Cop’ of all charges; the fate of the Safe Harbor negotiations; foreign pressure on US companies to aid surveillance; tech companies dodge liability; and stalemate over law requiring a warrant. In our second half we have an interview with Washington Post reporter Ellen Nakashima and Tony Cole, the Global Government CTO with FireEye. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

It's law! The USA Freedom Act, which reauthorizes and privatizes portions of the Patriot Act, is being called a victory for privacy... but it's not. In this episode, find out all the details of the bill that was signed into law just hours after this episode was recorded, including how it continues bulk data collection and lets the most powerful men in the United States get away with breaking the law. Please support Congressional Dish: Click here to contribute with PayPal or Bitcoin; click the PayPal "Make it Monthly" checkbox to create a monthly subscription Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! H.R. 2048: USA Freedom Act of 2015 Title I: FISA business records reforms The government will need to provide "a specific selection term to be used for the basis" for the data being collected The term can't be the name of a telecom, unless that telecom is under investigation The term can't be a "broad geographic region, including the United States, a city, a county, a State, a zip code, or an area code" The term must be something that "specifically identifies an individual, account, or personal device." The government will have 180 days to comply after the bill is signed into law Limits ongoing phone call record collection to 180 days unless extended Orders the telecoms to keep secret the order from the government to turn over call records The Attorney General can require records be turned over in "emergencies" if he/she informs a judge and applies for the warrant within 7 days. If the warrant is denied, nothing collected under the Attorney General's emergency power will be admissible in court, "except with the approval of the Attorney General if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any person." The Attorney General will be in charge of determining if the standards above are met. Eliminates a clause that lets a judge immediately dismiss a protest from a company fighting a FISA order Gives immunity to any company that hands over information under a FISA order or an emergency order from the Attorney General Companies will be paid for "expenses incurred" producing the information or assisting the government with FISA or emergency orders "Call detail record" will not include the contents of the call, the person's name, address or financial information, or the cell phone's GPS location. The bill expressly says that nothing in the USA Freedom Act will limit the government's authority to get orders from the secret FISA court, as authorized in by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Title II: FISA pen register and trap and trace device reform The Attorney General will get to determine the privacy procedures for the use of tracing devices installed to track phone numbers dialed in monitor Internet communications. Title III: FISA acquisitions targeting person outside the United States reforms "Limits on use of unlawfully obtained information" can be waived if the government fixes whatever illegal thing they were doing, which would allow information they collected before the fix to be used in court. Within 180 days after enactment, FISA court judges will pick at least five people to serve as amicus curiae - "friends of the court" - to argue on behalf of privacy and civil liberties. FISA court judges will write the rules for the amicus curiae participation. The FISA court gets to decide if the amicus curiae's participation is appropriate The Director of National Intelligence must make publicly available "to the greatest extent practicable" any FISA court decision that includes "a significant construction or interpretation of any provision of law" The decision, order, or opinion can be released to the public in redacted form The Director of National Intelligence can waive the requirement to make FISA decisions, orders, and opinions public as long as they say it's "necessary to protect the national security of the United States or properly classified intelligence sources or methods". Title V: National Security Letter reform National Security Letter (NSL): Letters served by the FBI to telecoms that allow the FBI to secretly demand data. There is a gag order on anyone who receives these letters, guaranteeing that the public is not told and that there is no judicial review. Allows NSLs to be issued for telephone, financial, and consumer records if the order "specifically identifies a person, entity, telephone number, or account as the basis for a request". There will be a gag order, preventing companies from telling anyone that the FBI is requesting the information, as long as the order also has a notification of the telecoms right to judicial review and if the FBI says disclosure could result in: "A danger to the national security of the United States" "Interference with a criminal, counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation" "Interference with diplomatic relations" (new) "Danger to the life or physical safety of any person" Title VI: FISA transparency and reporting requirements Orders the government to submit a bunch of new reports to Congress Allows companies served with National Security Letters to publicly report approximately how many NSLs they've received They can only report the number of FISA orders and NSLs subject to a gag order to the nearest thousand They can only report the number of FISA orders and NSLs not subject to a gag order to the nearest 500. They can report twice a year on the total number of orders, directives, and NSLs served to the nearest 250 These reports are only allowed to cover NSLs for the previous 180 days Once a year, they can report on the total number of orders, directives, and NSLs they were required to comply with to the nearest 100 The FISA court, if their ruling "includes significant construction or interpretation of any provision of law or results in a change of application of any provision of this Act", will have to submit their decision or denial of disclosure petition to Congress within 45 days Title VII: Enhanced national security provisions Emergency monitoring of a person outside the United States is limited to 72 hours without a warrant Extends PATRIOT Act and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 provisions until December 15, 2019. Title VIII: Safety of Maritime Navigation and Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation Allows civil forfeiture of property of people suspected of trying to harm a United States ship Gives a fine of up to $2,000,000 and possible life in prison to a person who possesses radioactive material or a device with intent to damage people or property or someone who threatens to do so. Sound Clip Sources Hearing: House Judiciary Committee Markup of H.R. 2048 from April 28, 2015 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 20, 2015 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 31, 2015, Part 1 Senate Floor Proceeding: May 31, 2015, Part 2 Speech: President George W. Bush speaks at Kansas State University, January 23, 2006. Television Appearance: President Barack Obama on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, August 6, 2013. Hearing: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lies to Congress, March 12, 2013. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: HBO, October 5, 2014 Information Presented in This Episode USA Freedom Act Article: White House backs bill that would end NSA bulk collection of phone records by Ellen Nakashima and Mike DeBonis, Washington Post, May 11, 2015. Article: House Votes to End NSA’s Bulk Phone Data Collection by Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times, May 13, 2015. Article: House reaches deal on bill to end NSA phone collection by Associated Press, April 30, 2015. Article: House Says No To NSA Bulk Data Collection As Fight To End Mass Surveillance Gathers Momentum by Thomas Fox-Brewster, Forbes, May 14, 2015. Article: US Congress to vote on bill banning NSA from bulk-collecting phone calls by Spencer Ackerman and Sabrina Siddiqui, The Guardian, May 13, 2015. Patriot Act Expiring Provisions Legal Summary: Section 206 - Roving Surveillance Authority under FISA by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. Legal Summary: Lone Wolf by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. Legal Summary: Section 215 - Access to Business Records under FISA ("Libraries Provision") and Section 214 - Pen Register and Trap and Trace Authority under FISA by Mary DeRosa, American Bar Association. NSA Surveillance System Article: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, December 16, 2005. Article: The NSA is Building the Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) by James Bamford, Wired, March 15, 2012. Article: The NSA's New Spy Facilities are 7 Times Bigger Than the Pentagon by Aliya Sternstein, Defense One, July 25, 2013. Article: In NSA-intercepted Data, Those Not Targeted Far Outnumber The Foreigners Who Are by Barton Gellman, Julie Tate, and Ashkan Soltani, Washington Post, July 5, 2014. Editorial: Meet Executive Order 12333: The Reagan Rule That Lets the NSA Spy on American by John Napier Tye, Washington Post, July 18, 2014. Podcast Appearance ProfitCast Episode #48: Effective NON-Marketing Ways to Grow Your Podcast - Interview with Jen Briney Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Bill of Rights Song by Rhythm, Rhyme, and Results Let Their Heads Roll by Jack Erdie (found on Music Alley by mevio)

This CSIS podcast series, funded by FireEye, interviews cybersecurity experts from different sectors to explore the effectiveness of cyber red lines and the different roles the government and private sectors have in cybersecurity policy. Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She focuses on issues relating to intelligence, technology and civil liberties. She previously served as a Southeast Asia correspondent for the paper. She wrote about the presidential candidacy of Al Gore and co-authored a biography of Gore, and has also covered federal agencies, Virginia state politics and local affairs. She joined the Post in 1995.

Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and ACLU Chief Anthony Romero go mano a mano at a Federalist Society Event over Edward Snowden, metadata collection, standing in national security cases, and other thing--and find some surprising areas of agreement. Moderated by Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post.

--{ GMO Corn to Beans, the Method is the Means: "What if the Military-Industrial Complex Should Control the Entire Industry of Your Food, Promising Abundance, Manna from Heaven, While Their Real Motive is Food as Weapon? Forty Years Ago, Great Meetings, Oration, World Leaders Discussed Depopulation, Third-World to be Taken Down Fast, First-World Countries to be Left 'til Last, Gradually Succumbing to Crippling Disease, Sterilized, Media-Guided with Ease, Ponder the News, in Your Mind Mull Statements by Philanthropists Advocating a Cull, Illness and Suffering, No Consciences Prick The Guardian Class as Vast Peoples are Sick" © Alan Watt }-- Continuing Problem with Yahoo Hosting Website - Cyber Attacks - Public Treated as Children, Given "Plausible" Excuses. Dangers of Genetically Modified Food and Soya, Health Effects - Infertility, Bringing Down Population - Billionaire Philanthropist Club - Malthusian Fake Charts. Anti-Terrorism Laws Worldwide - Predictability in Totalitarian Regime, Daily Data Collection - "Terrorist" Definition. Processed and Canned Food, MSG (Addictive) - No Free Enterprise - Agri-Business Corporations, Heinz - Quaker Oats and MIT Radiation Experiment for Children. Cadmium, Norwich Aerial Spraying (by Government) - Diabetes Type II - Labeling of GMO Food - Modified Coffee Beans. U.S. Cybersecurity Czar - Takedown of Politically Incorrect Websites and Nuisances - History of Internet, Electronic Surveillance. Pre-Arrest on Suspicion of Committing a Crime - "Minority Report" movie - Trashing of Rights. MSG in Crop Spray, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Bees, Poisonous Pollen. Eugenics, Foundations, Funding of NGOs and Lobbying (by You) - Canada Funding Groups for Radical Change. Fuels, Trucking and Transportation, Costs Passed on to Consumer - Reduced Population. (Articles: ["Soya alert over cancer and brain damage link" by Antony Barnett (guardian.co.uk) - Aug. 13, 2000.] ["MIT to Pay Victims $1.85 Million in Fernald Radiation Settlement" by Zareena Hussain (tech.mit.edu) - Jan. 7, 1998.] ["Greenpeace shoppers guide to GMO-Free Food" (scribd.com).] ["Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate" by Ellen Nakashima (washingtonpost.com) - May 26, 2009.] ["MSG as Crop Spray" (msgtruth.org).] ["Notice of Filing of Pesticide Petitions" Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov).] ["Glutamic Acid; Pesticide Tolerance Exemption" Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov).] ["How the Government funds lobby groups to lobby it for money" by Ed West (telegraph.co.uk) - May 25, 2009.] [Video: "Rachel Maddow: Indefinite detention? Shame on you... President Obama" (youtube.com).]) *Title/Poem and Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - May 27, 2009 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)