Podcasts about infrastructure protection

In this episode of #DefenceDeconstructed the Triple Helix team, David Perry, Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, Dr. Alexander Salt, Geordie Jeakins, Dr. Alexander Wilner, explore how current political dynamics, particularly ongoing elections, the evolving Canada–U.S. partnership, and advances in technology, are influencing the priorities and operations of the CAF and DND. Triple Helix is a network composed of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI), the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University, and industry that explores how a range of emerging technologies intersect with defence. // Guest bios: - Charlotte Duval-Lantoine is the Vice President, Ottawa Operations and a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, as well as Triple Helix's Executive Director and Gender Advisor. She is also a PhD Student at Deakin University, where she studies the influence the culture of the Canadian Army had on the killings of Somali civilians during Operation Deliverance. - Dr. Alexander Salt has a PhD from the University of Calgary's Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies and an MA in Political Studies from the University of Manitoba. His dissertation explores to what extent has the battlefield experience of the U.S. military influenced post-war organizational innovation. - Dr. Alex Wilner is an Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and the Director of the Infrastructure Protection and International Security (IPIS) graduate program, at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. - Geordie Jenkins is an Associate at Oliver Wyman, the leading global aerospace and defence advisory firm. In this role, Geordie advises clients in government-driven sectors in Canada, the United States, and NATO allies on a variety of issues. // Host bio: David Perry is President and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute // Recommended Readings: - “Neuromancer” by William Gibson. - “The Propagation Handbook: A guide to propagating houseplants” by Hilton Carter. - “Foundation” by Isaac Asimov. - “The Ones We Let Down: Toxic Leadership Culture and Gender Integration in the Canadian Forces” by Charlotte Duval-Lantoine. // Defence Deconstructed was brought to you by Irving Shipbuilding. // Music Credit: Drew Phillips | Producer: Jordyn Carroll Release date: 18 April 2025

Customs and Border Protection's Office of Information Technology says it's reviewing the loss of three physical servers, a public records request shows. According to a document produced by CBP's Cybersecurity Directorate, about 200 government devices have been stolen or gone missing in recent years. Of these devices, 140 were cell phones, and just under 40 were laptops. No items were reported to be lost abroad, according to the document. That federal employees would have lost phones and tablets isn't surprising. FedScoop has reported on lost electronics at the U.S. Agency for International Development and NASA, and agencies often review inventories of employee devices. Still, the loss of government-furnished equipment can raise concerns about the security of sensitive data. Some federal employees have even been caught stealing government IT equipment in order to sell it. The loss of three servers is somewhat unusual. The agency did not answer a series of questions about the lost servers, including what data they might have held or whether the losses were ever reported to law enforcement. In response to FedScoop questions, an agency spokesperson said, “CBP is currently reviewing this issue.” The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency must brief Congress on proposed deep cuts to agency personnel, a top Democrat said in a letter to its acting director. California Rep. Eric Swalwell, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, wrote in the letter to acting Director Bridget Bean on Thursday that CISA is obligated to notify Congress of its plans. CISA reportedly plans to cut agency staff by nearly 40%, or 1,300 people. Swallwell wrote in his letter that “upending an agency that plays such an important role in defending the homeland while keeping Congress in the dark is wholly unacceptable,” adding that CISA hasn't provided the subcommittee any justification for the cuts or explained how it will execute its congressionally mandated mission with a fraction of the workforce and resources. CISA had already cut 130 probationary staffers, a move blocked in court before being overturned in an appeal. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

In this episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso sat down with Craig Straw, Director of Safety and Emergency Management for Houston Independent School District (HISD). Listen and learn as he shares his experiences and strategies for back-to-school preparations and school safety management.KEY POINTS:Holistic Approach to School Safety to not only prevent active shooter incidents but also prepare for natural disasters, technological hazards, and mental health crisesThe role of training, mental health support, and the involvement of parents in creating a secure environmentOngoing training, open communication, and building relationships within the school and external agenciesOur guest, Craig Straw, is the Director of Safety and Emergency Management for Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest school district in Texas and the eighth largest in the United States. As the first person to hold this position, Craig serves as the top advisor to the HISD Chief of Police and the Superintendent of Schools. His role encompasses managing strategic, operational, and tactical emergency operation plans, standard response protocols, and school safety audits. He is also responsible for training staff in daily operations, including mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery during emergencies. Craig's career in school safety began after a distinguished 27-year tenure in the United States Air Force, where he retired as a Chief Master Sergeant. His military experience and passion for service led him to transition into school safety roles in Clear Creek ISD and Texas City ISD before joining HISD. Craig holds a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has earned certifications in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design and Infrastructure Protection from Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. Craig is also a dedicated member of The “I Love U Guys” Foundation Board and the National Center for Spectator Sport Safety and Security Board. He is actively involved in the International Association of Emergency Managers, serving on the K-12 Caucus, where he continues to advocate for and contribute to the field of school safety. Craig's commitment to school safety is driven by his belief in both the moral and legal responsibility to protect every life on campus every day.

Latest news from 09 September 2024, as reported in the Ukrainian media. Easy ways to support us: Subscribe to our Patreon to give monthly support https://www.patreon.com/highlightsfromukraine Send us a one-time 'thank you' tip via PayPal at: highlightsfromukraine@gmail.com Out YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3oH111z Special thanks to our top Patreon supporters - Helena Pszczolko O'Callaghan, mattg629, krissi, Jared and Dick Warner!

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour talks with Mark Herrera, Director of Education for the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) and more importantly, with special guest, his granddaughter, Miss Kaylani Herrera, the reigning New Mexico Cinderella State Tot.In the discussion we break from our usual type of Interview to pause and think about talking to our friends and loved ones about having an appropriate security mindset as we head into summer. As we look towards a season of mass gatherings, special events, travel and other situations that may experience security incidents, it's important to help our loved ones think about the potential of threats, being prepared, and having an age-appropriate security mindset. Mark, Kaylani and Andy address: The importance of threat and situational awareness. How to prepare family, not scare them. Age-appropriate security conversations. School safety. And we play Three Questions with Kaylani! Mark is the Director of Safety and Security for the International Association of Venue Managers and recognized as one of the top 25 most influential leaders in the meetings and event industry. In addition, as the Director of Safety and Security for the International Association of Venue Managers, Herrera represents the Department of Homeland Security Office of Infrastructure Protection as the current Chair for the Public Assembly Facility Sub-Sector Council. Herrera is also a seasoned law enforcement officer and trainer, having spent twenty years with the Hobbs, New Mexico, Police Department. See Mark on LinkedIn for his complete bio. Mark on Instagram. Miss Kaylani's Bio. Hi, everyone, my name is Kaylani Herrera. I'm seven years old, currently in the second grade and attend Saint Helena Catholic school. I am your 2023-2024 NM Cinderella state Tot. I recently started competing in the natural pageant world. At my first pageant I was crowned the Lea County overall tot, from there I went on to compete at the state level pageant that was held in June and won the overall New Mexico tot ages 4-6 along with New Mexico State talent competition and first alternate cameo. When I am not busy fulfilling my queen duties, I also am a dancer and Gymnast. I recently competed in my first gymnastics meet and won 4th place overall for my age division. I enjoy spending time with my sister and parents, playing with my dog Dallas as well as talking with my Gpa (Mark Herrera) about how to make the world a safer place.

In the aftermath of the Baltimore Harbor Bridge collapse, questions arise about port security and terrorism threats. Jim Carafano from the Heritage Foundation discusses the incident's implications for national security 

When if comes to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), people sometimes forget that "I" word. Cyber topics seem to consume all of the oxygen these days. But physical infrastructure threats are also real and often connected to the cyber side. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with CISA's Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security, David Mussington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast: Control Loop: The OT Cybersecurity Podcast (LS 34 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: Operational Technology disruptions: An eye on the water sector.Pub date: 2024-02-07Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure. Ransomware attacks in the OT sector. Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million. Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Guest is Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee from the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. On the Learning Lab, we have the concluding part of a 2-part discussion on building community in OT that Dragos Mark Urban had with Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder. Control Loop News Brief.Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure.Exclusive: US disabled Chinese hacking network targeting critical infrastructure (Reuters)Wray warns Chinese hackers are aiming to 'wreak havoc' on U.S. critical infrastructure (NPR)Ransomware attacks in the OT sector.Dragos Industrial Ransomware Analysis: Q4 2023 (Dragos)The Crisis of Convergence: OT/ICS Cybersecurity 2023 (TXOne Networks)Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million.Johnson Controls says ransomware attack cost $27 million, data stolen (BleepingComputer)Schneider Electric confirms ransomware attack.Schneider Electric confirms it was hit by ransomware attack (Silicon Republic)Energy giant Schneider Electric hit by Cactus ransomware attack (BleepingComputer)US sanctions Iranian officials for attacks on critical infrastructure.Treasury Sanctions Actors Responsible for Malicious Cyber Activities on Critical Infrastructure (OFAC)US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on cyberattacks against water infrastructure.US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on safeguarding drinking water infrastructure from cyberattacks (Industrial Cyber)Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition.Senate HSGAC Approves Cyber, Software Bills (Meritalk)Control Loop Interview.Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee testified at the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss threats to water and wastewater ICS/OT systems in the U.S. that have the potential to disrupt operations and pose safety risks and examine the steps needed to secure operational technology in the water sector. Read the press release. Watch the video of the hearing: Securing Operational Technology: A Deep Dive into the Water Sector. Control Loop Learning Lab.On the Learning Lab, Mark Urban is joined by Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder to conclude their discussion of building community in OT. Learn more about Hou.Sec.Con. Learn more about the Dragos Community Defense Program which provides free access to Dragos OT cybersecurity technology for qualifying utility providers to better protect their communities from potentially destructive cyber attacks.Control Loop Audience Survey.Please take a moment to fill out our super quick survey. Thanks!Control Loop OT Cybersecurity Briefing.A companion monthly newsletter is available through free subscription and on N2K Networks website.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from N2K Networks, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast: Control Loop: The OT Cybersecurity Podcast (LS 35 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: Operational Technology disruptions: An eye on the water sector.Pub date: 2024-02-07Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure. Ransomware attacks in the OT sector. Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million. Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Guest is Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee from the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. On the Learning Lab, we have the concluding part of a 2-part discussion on building community in OT that Dragos Mark Urban had with Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder. Control Loop News Brief.Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure.Exclusive: US disabled Chinese hacking network targeting critical infrastructure (Reuters)Wray warns Chinese hackers are aiming to 'wreak havoc' on U.S. critical infrastructure (NPR)Ransomware attacks in the OT sector.Dragos Industrial Ransomware Analysis: Q4 2023 (Dragos)The Crisis of Convergence: OT/ICS Cybersecurity 2023 (TXOne Networks)Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million.Johnson Controls says ransomware attack cost $27 million, data stolen (BleepingComputer)Schneider Electric confirms ransomware attack.Schneider Electric confirms it was hit by ransomware attack (Silicon Republic)Energy giant Schneider Electric hit by Cactus ransomware attack (BleepingComputer)US sanctions Iranian officials for attacks on critical infrastructure.Treasury Sanctions Actors Responsible for Malicious Cyber Activities on Critical Infrastructure (OFAC)US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on cyberattacks against water infrastructure.US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on safeguarding drinking water infrastructure from cyberattacks (Industrial Cyber)Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition.Senate HSGAC Approves Cyber, Software Bills (Meritalk)Control Loop Interview.Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee testified at the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss threats to water and wastewater ICS/OT systems in the U.S. that have the potential to disrupt operations and pose safety risks and examine the steps needed to secure operational technology in the water sector. Read the press release. Watch the video of the hearing: Securing Operational Technology: A Deep Dive into the Water Sector. Control Loop Learning Lab.On the Learning Lab, Mark Urban is joined by Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder to conclude their discussion of building community in OT. Learn more about Hou.Sec.Con. Learn more about the Dragos Community Defense Program which provides free access to Dragos OT cybersecurity technology for qualifying utility providers to better protect their communities from potentially destructive cyber attacks.Control Loop Audience Survey.Please take a moment to fill out our super quick survey. Thanks!Control Loop OT Cybersecurity Briefing.A companion monthly newsletter is available through free subscription and on N2K Networks website.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from N2K Networks, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

A security researcher has been charged in an alleged multi-million dollar theft scheme targeting Apple. A House committee hearing explores OT security. Fortinet withdraws accidental CVEs. 2023 saw record highs in ransomware payments. A youtuber finds a cheap and easy bypass for Bitlocker encryption. Political pressure proves challenging for the JCDC. New Hampshire tracks down those fake Biden robocalls. European security agencies bolster warnings about Ivanti devices. HHS fines a New York medical center millions over an identity theft ring. On our sponsored Industry Voices segment, Navneet Singh, Vice President of Marketing Network Security at Palo Alto Networks, shares some practical examples of healthcare organizations transitioning to the cloud. Giving that toothbrush story the brushoff. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest On our Industry Voices segment, Navneet Singh, Vice President of Marketing Network Security at Palo Alto Networks, discusses the transition to the cloud and shares some practical examples in healthcare. Selected Reading A Security Researcher Allegedly Scammed Apple (404 Media) US House Homeland Security subcommittee addresses OT threats, CISA's role in securing OT - Industrial Cyber (Industrial Cyber) Operational Technology disruptions: An eye on the water sector. Robert M. Lee's opening statement to before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. (Control Loop podcast) Securing Operational Technology: A Deep Dive into the Water Sector (Homeland Security Events YouTube) Fortinet Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in FortiSIEM (SecurityWeek) Fortinet snafu: Critical FortiSIEM CVEs are duplicates, issued in error (Bleeping Computer) Ransomware hackers raked in $1 billion last year from victims (NBC News) BitLocker encryption broken in 43 seconds with sub-$10 Raspberry Pi Pico — key can be sniffed when using an external TPM (Tom's Hardware) The far right is scaring away Washington's private hacker army (POLITICO) N.H. attorney general says he found source of fake Biden robocalls (NBC News) European security agencies publish joint statement on Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure vulnerabilities (Industrial Cyber) Medical Center Fined $4.75M in Insider ID Theft Incident (GovInfoSecurity) Surprising 3 Million Hacked Toothbrushes Story Goes Viral—Is It True? (Forbes) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © 2023 N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure. Ransomware attacks in the OT sector. Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million. Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Guest is Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee from the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. On the Learning Lab, we have the concluding part of a 2-part discussion on building community in OT that Dragos Mark Urban had with Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder. Control Loop News Brief. Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure. Exclusive: US disabled Chinese hacking network targeting critical infrastructure (Reuters) Wray warns Chinese hackers are aiming to 'wreak havoc' on U.S. critical infrastructure (NPR) Ransomware attacks in the OT sector. Dragos Industrial Ransomware Analysis: Q4 2023 (Dragos) The Crisis of Convergence: OT/ICS Cybersecurity 2023 (TXOne Networks) Ransomware attack against Johnson Controls cost $27 million. Johnson Controls says ransomware attack cost $27 million, data stolen (BleepingComputer) Schneider Electric confirms ransomware attack. Schneider Electric confirms it was hit by ransomware attack (Silicon Republic) Energy giant Schneider Electric hit by Cactus ransomware attack (BleepingComputer) US sanctions Iranian officials for attacks on critical infrastructure. Treasury Sanctions Actors Responsible for Malicious Cyber Activities on Critical Infrastructure (OFAC) US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on cyberattacks against water infrastructure. US House Energy Subcommittee holds hearing on safeguarding drinking water infrastructure from cyberattacks (Industrial Cyber) Bill would add ICS security to President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition. Senate HSGAC Approves Cyber, Software Bills (Meritalk) Control Loop Interview. Dragos CEO and Founder Robert M. Lee testified at the hearing before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection on February 6, 2024. We share Rob's opening statement before the committee. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss threats to water and wastewater ICS/OT systems in the U.S. that have the potential to disrupt operations and pose safety risks and examine the steps needed to secure operational technology in the water sector.  Read the press release. Watch the video of the hearing: Securing Operational Technology: A Deep Dive into the Water Sector.  Control Loop Learning Lab. On the Learning Lab, Mark Urban is joined by Dragos Strategic Accounts Director Sam Van Ryder to conclude their discussion of building community in OT. Learn more about Hou.Sec.Con. Learn more about the Dragos Community Defense Program which provides free access to Dragos OT cybersecurity technology for qualifying utility providers to better protect their communities from potentially destructive cyber attacks. Control Loop Audience Survey. Please take a moment to fill out our super quick survey. Thanks! Control Loop OT Cybersecurity Briefing. A companion monthly newsletter is available through free subscription and on N2K Networks website.

Podcast: Hack the Plant (LS 34 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: CISA's Critical Infrastructure Protection Mission with Jen EasterlyPub date: 2024-02-02As America's Cyber Defense Agency and the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day. In this episode of Hack the Plant, Bryson sits down with CISA Director Jen Easterly to discuss her work on leading CISA's critical infrastructure mission, implementing efforts to make products Secure by Design, and working with private companies to combat ransomware.How has CISA's role evolved since 2018? How do they advance critical infrastructure protection and cyber defense? What are Director Easterly's priorities for 2024? And if she could wave a magic wand, what is one thing she would change? “We need transparency so that we can all work together to protect the ecosystem, because the actors are not ever going to fight fair,” Easterly said. “We need all the collective strength of the community to keep Americans safe and secure.”Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plant. Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryson Bort, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Podcast: Hack the Plant (LS 34 · TOP 3% what is this?)Episode: CISA's Critical Infrastructure Protection Mission with Jen EasterlyPub date: 2024-02-02As America's Cyber Defense Agency and the National Coordinator for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day. In this episode of Hack the Plant, Bryson sits down with CISA Director Jen Easterly to discuss her work on leading CISA's critical infrastructure mission, implementing efforts to make products Secure by Design, and working with private companies to combat ransomware.How has CISA's role evolved since 2018? How do they advance critical infrastructure protection and cyber defense? What are Director Easterly's priorities for 2024? And if she could wave a magic wand, what is one thing she would change? “We need transparency so that we can all work together to protect the ecosystem, because the actors are not ever going to fight fair,” Easterly said. “We need all the collective strength of the community to keep Americans safe and secure.”Join us for this and more on this episode of Hack the Plant. Hack the Plant is brought to you by ICS Village and the Institute for Security and Technology.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryson Bort, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

The smooth function of America's economy is critical for national security, military readiness, and geopolitical influence, making it a likely target for an adversary during a conflict. To quickly recover in the event of a widespread cyberattack on multiple industries, Congress directed the president to establish a Continuity of the Economy (COTE) plan. The Biden administration delivered its response to Congress in August 2023, but the final product provides no plan to ensure rapid economic recovery. It asserts that COTE is sufficiently covered by other emergency response plans, and as a result, fails to grapple with important questions: Does the federal government have the information it needs to determine the order of recovery in the wake of a crisis? Can emergency response plans focused primarily on public health and safety work effectively to restart the economy? Who should be responsible for ensuring existing government plans actually get updated to incorporate COTE? And, critically, what role should the private sector – the owners and operators of the U.S. economy – play in COTE planning and implementation?To address these shortcomings and provide recommendations on how to remedy them, FDD is hosting a virtual discussion with Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection; Tom Fanning, executive chairman of Southern Company; Mark Harvey, former senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, former executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. This panel will be moderated by Dr. Samantha Ravich, chair of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI).

On this day 20 years ago, President Bush said that he had seen "no evidence" that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacksWhile The White House has never formally charged that Mr. Hussein was part of the Sept. 11 plot, President Bush had wondered immediately after the attack whether Saddam Hussein's regime might have had a hand in it.  We discuss that and the testimony from National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism, Richard A Clarke, who claimed the government had failed the American people. IN other news Hurricane Isabel made landfall in the USA this week 20n years ago, which was a welcome distraction for the president amidst all the political turmoil. It forced evacuations right across the east coast of the USA, shut down major infrastructure and did billions of dollars worth of damage.Thank goodness for sport hey? In the NFL Jamal Lewis set the single-game rushing record of 295 yards in the Blatimore Ravens 33-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns. In music Pharrell's 'Frontin'' debuts on the bilboard charts, we've got new albums from David Bowie, Starsailor, DMX and The Darkness give us Permission to Land. Also Billy Corgan announces that Zwan have broken up and diverts his attention to poetry and wrestling. At the box office we've got Robert Rodriguez' 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico. In TV Sharon Osbourne gets a talk show and Australia's Hi-5 celebrates their 200th episode thanks to a bunch of dads who couldn't keep their eyes off the telly.  Bennifer, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are forced to delay/call off their wedding this time 20n years ago because they were getting too much attention. We also say a sad goodbye to a legend as Slim Dusty passes away on the 19th of September 2003. Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.

Last month, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection brought in four tech leaders to talk about our big cybersecurity problem: the lack of people. The hearing was held to assess potential ways to increase the talent pool for cybersecurity candidates. And ensure that pipeline can satisfy the appetite of cyber incidents to come over the next few decades.Anjelica Dortch, the Senior Director for U.S. Government Affairs at SAP America, Inc., Will Markow, the Vice President of Applied Research at Lightcast, Tara Wisniewski, the Executive Vice President for Advocacy, Global Markets, and Member Engagement at ISC2, and Col. Chris Starling (Ret.), the Executive Director for California NPower were all in attendance at the subcommittee hearing. Joining the Security Clearance Careers podcast is Nelson Abbott, who is the Sr. Advanced Director of Program Operations. He tells us more about the subcommittee hearing, what the US is doing wrong in cyber hiring, and how bootcamps like NPower's can help talent pivot to cyber without being buried in debt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour visits with Chris Anderson, Principal Advisor, National Security & Emergency Preparedness, Lumen Technologies. Chris Anderson is an incident management and infrastructure protection expert with three decades of government, military, and private sector experience. He is currently the Principal Advisor for National Security & Emergency Preparedness at Lumen. In addition to his role at Lumen, he is the 2023 Industry Chair of the Communications Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center.Chris previously held a variety of emergency management and national security positions at the Federal Communications Commission and US Department of Homeland Security. He served as the FCC's Chief of Operations and Emergency Management, leading the Commission's incident management activities, operations centers, national security coordination, and Continuity of Operations programs. Prior to joining the Commission, Chris worked in critical infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, serving in a variety of leadership positions in the Office of Infrastructure Protection, including serving as Director of the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center. Chris began his career with a decade on active duty in the U.S. Navy as a helicopter pilot and retired from the Navy Reserve in 2016.Chris is a 2010 graduate of the National War College with a master's degree in National Security Strategy; he holds a second master's degree in Management Information Systems from Bowie State University and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. Chris's background, in the Navy, at DHS, at the FCC and today with Lumen. The wild west days of DHS and what has become CISA ‘working hard, trying to make a difference' Incident response Working in the public and private sector. Chris's thoughts on CISA and improving the private-public partnership Working with NATO. With shout outs to some great leaders and old friends including Bob Stephan, Linda Solheim, Bob Kolasky, Caitlin Durkovich, Steve Bieber, and others 4th of July celebrations, the glorious drink that is coffee, saving the world, and more!

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 1 of Don't Break the Bank. In this episode, we speak with Joe Baguley, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EMEA, at VMware. In his own words, Joe is the connection between R&D and the field, our customers, and our partners.  He drives all things around that, in terms of where we're going, what we're doing, what's next, and leading the technical community within VMware in EMEA.Joe shares his insights on what the customers he meets with are telling him, the future of IT, and the role of VMware transformation in the cloud era. He discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation, the importance of security and compliance, and how organizations can leverage technology to stay ahead of the competition. He digs into the use of the cloud and its future adoption and whether it has gone too far.  He also talks about how sustainability is becoming an economic requirement, as well as the rise and expanded use of automation in business. 3 Takeaways:Digital transformation is not just about technology, but also about people and processes. Companies need to develop a clear strategy, invest in the right skills, and build a culture of innovation to succeed in this rapidly evolving landscape.Security and compliance are critical components of digital transformation. Organizations must integrate these requirements into their plans from the outset to avoid costly and damaging security breaches in the future.The role of the CTO is evolving from a purely technical role to a more strategic one. As technology becomes more central to business strategy, the CTO is becoming a more strategic partner to the CEO and other business leaders. This requires a different skillset and mindset than traditional IT, including a deep understanding of business strategy and the ability to communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders.Key Quotes: "We're moving from a world where infrastructure was defined by hardware to a world where infrastructure is defined by software. The rise of cloud computing and software-defined infrastructure has enabled us to abstract the underlying hardware and treat it as a pool of resources that can be dynamically allocated to meet the needs of applications and workloads. This has made IT more agile, flexible, and scalable, and has enabled organizations to move faster and innovate more rapidly than ever before.""We need to think about security as an enabler of innovation, not a barrier to it. In today's world, security is not just a technical issue, it's a business issue. Customers and partners are increasingly asking about security and privacy as part of their due diligence process, and they want to work with companies that can demonstrate a strong security posture. By building security into our products and processes from the start, we can differentiate ourselves in the market and create new opportunities for growth.""One of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today is how to balance the need for innovation with the need for operational excellence. It's not enough to just have a great idea, you also need to be able to execute on it reliably and at scale. This requires a different set of skills and processes than traditional IT, and it requires a culture that values both innovation and operational excellence. By balancing these two priorities, we can create sustainable value for our organizations and our customers."Best Career Advice:Focus on building relationships and collaborating with others. Success is not just about what you know, but who you know and how well you can work with them. This is especially important in the technology industry, where innovation often happens at the intersection of different disciplines and perspectives. You need to be able to communicate effectively, build trust, and work together to achieve common goals.Bio:Joe BaguleyCompany: Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EMEA, VMwareJoe Baguley is VMware's Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for EMEA, joining VMware in July 2011. He helps develop and communicate VMware's strategy and vision with customers and partners, using his wealth of experience to help organisations reduce costs and better support users and business needs. As part of VMware's Office of the CTO and its representative in EMEA, Joe assists VMware's customers in understanding how to use today's advances in technology to deliver real business impact as well as working with them to inform VMware's R&D processes.Joe is a recognised leader within the European technical community and considered one of the top 50 most influential leaders in UK IT. He won an award for data leadership in ‘Infrastructure & Protection' in the 2016 Data 50 Awards and appeared in the Computer Weekly UKtech50, the Information Age Top 50 Data Leaders and the Cloud World Series' Cloud 100 community board. He has played a key role in CloudCamp and other events, communicating how cloud technology fits into the broader IT landscape. Joe previously spent ten years at Quest Software where he was CTO of EMEA, shaping its direction and strategy.In addition, Joe is also on several advisory boards at the European Commission and ETSI and is a founding committee member of the Data Centre Specialist Group at the British Computer Society which helped shape the European Code of Conduct for Data Centres.Joe is based in the UK but his remit is across Europe, Middle East and Africa.For more information:Follow Joe on Twitter - @JoeBaguleyand on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joebaguleyJoe's most recent blog: https://blogs.vmware.com/be/2023/02/2023-top-it-observations-by-joe-baguley-cto-emea-vmware/------------About the HostsMatthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.You can find Brian on LinkedIn.

Podcast: Control Loop: The OT Cybersecurity Podcast (LS 33 · TOP 5% what is this?)Episode: Insight from the ISACs.Pub date: 2023-02-08Multiple strains of Russian wiper malware are targeting entities in Ukraine. A high-severity command injection vulnerability affects Cisco devices. The IoT supply chain is threatened by exploitation of Realtek Jungle SDK vulnerability. And US Congressman Andrew Garbarino will serve as the new Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. In Part 2 of 2 in our interview segment from Dragos' Ask the ISACs discussion led by Dawn Cappelli, Dragos' Head of OT-CERT, panelists Tim Chase from the MFG-ISAC, Eugene Kipniss from MS-ISAC, Jennifer Lyn Walker from Water ISAC, and Matt Duncan from E-ISAC return. In the Learning Lab, Dragos' VP Product & Industry Market Strategy Mark Urban concludes his discussion with Lesley Carhart, Dragos' Director of Incident Response for North America, about creating an ICS/OT specific incident response plan. Control Loop News Brief.Russian wiper malware targets Ukraine.Russia's Sandworm hackers blamed in fresh Ukraine malware attack (CyberScoop)APT Activity Report for T3 2022 (ESET)Cyber ​​attack on the Ukrinform information and communication system (CERT-UA)Command injection vulnerability affects Cisco devices.When Pwning Cisco, Persistence is Key - When Pwning Supply Chain, Cisco is Key (Trellix)Cisco IOx Application Hosting Environment Command Injection Vulnerability (Cisco)Congressman Andrew Garbarino to serve as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection.Garbarino Selected To Chair Cybersecurity Subcommittee (Office of Andrew Garbarino)IoT supply chain threatened by exploitation of Realtek Jungle SDK vulnerability.Network Security Trends: August-October 2022 (Unit 42)Realtek SDK Vulnerability Attacks Highlight IoT Supply Chain Threats (Unit 42)Control Loop Interview.The interview is the second part from Dragos' Ask the ISACs discussion led by Dawn Cappelli, Dragos' Head of OT-CERT, with panelists Tim Chase from the MFG-ISAC, Eugene Kipniss from MS-ISAC, Jennifer Lyn Walker from Water ISAC, and Matt Duncan from E-ISAC. Control Loop Learning Lab.In Part 2 of 2, Dragos' VP Product & Industry Market Strategy Mark Urban speaks with Lesley Carhart, Dragos' Director of Incident Response for North America, about creating an ICS/OT specific incident response plan. Control Loop OT Cybersecurity Briefing.A companion monthly newsletter is available through free subscription and on the CyberWire's website.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from N2K Networks, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Multiple strains of Russian wiper malware are targeting entities in Ukraine. A high-severity command injection vulnerability affects Cisco devices. The IoT supply chain is threatened by exploitation of Realtek Jungle SDK vulnerability. And US Congressman Andrew Garbarino will serve as the new Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. In Part 2 of 2 in our interview segment from Dragos' Ask the ISACs discussion led by Dawn Cappelli, Dragos' Head of OT-CERT, panelists Tim Chase from the MFG-ISAC, Eugene Kipniss from MS-ISAC, Jennifer Lyn Walker from Water ISAC, and Matt Duncan from E-ISAC return. In the Learning Lab, Dragos' VP Product & Industry Market Strategy Mark Urban concludes his discussion with Lesley Carhart, Dragos' Director of Incident Response for North America, about creating an ICS/OT specific incident response plan.  Control Loop News Brief. Russian wiper malware targets Ukraine. Russia's Sandworm hackers blamed in fresh Ukraine malware attack (CyberScoop) APT Activity Report for T3 2022 (ESET) Cyber ​​attack on the Ukrinform information and communication system (CERT-UA) Command injection vulnerability affects Cisco devices. When Pwning Cisco, Persistence is Key - When Pwning Supply Chain, Cisco is Key (Trellix) Cisco IOx Application Hosting Environment Command Injection Vulnerability (Cisco) Congressman Andrew Garbarino to serve as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. Garbarino Selected To Chair Cybersecurity Subcommittee (Office of Andrew Garbarino) IoT supply chain threatened by exploitation of Realtek Jungle SDK vulnerability. Network Security Trends: August-October 2022 (Unit 42) Realtek SDK Vulnerability Attacks Highlight IoT Supply Chain Threats (Unit 42) Control Loop Interview. The interview is the second part from Dragos' Ask the ISACs discussion led by Dawn Cappelli, Dragos' Head of OT-CERT, with panelists Tim Chase from the MFG-ISAC, Eugene Kipniss from MS-ISAC, Jennifer Lyn Walker from Water ISAC, and Matt Duncan from E-ISAC.  Control Loop Learning Lab. In Part 2 of 2, Dragos' VP Product & Industry Market Strategy Mark Urban speaks with Lesley Carhart, Dragos' Director of Incident Response for North America, about creating an ICS/OT specific incident response plan.  Control Loop OT Cybersecurity Briefing. A companion monthly newsletter is available through free subscription and on the CyberWire's website.

Brian Harrell, Former Assistant Secretary of Infrastructure Protection at the Department of Homeland Security, joined Jeff Katz to talk about the threats that are posed by foreign nations and domestic terrorists looking to harm American infrastructure and what can be done to protect against it. 

A non-profit think tank known as the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology assembled the thinking of more than 50 thinkers in both cybersecurity and infrastructure. The result is a book that is intended to inform the thinking of both government officials and operators with responsibility for critical infrastructure. To hear how it all came together, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Joyce Hunter, the Institute's Executive Director. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour visits with Brian Harrell, Vice President and Chief Security Officer (CSO) at AVANGRID. Brian currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Security Officer (CSO) at AVANGRID, an energy company with assets and operations in 24 states. He is responsible for the company's cybersecurity, privacy, physical security, threat management, and business continuity.  In 2018, Brian was appointed by the President of the United States to serve as the sixth Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was also the first Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He has spent time during his career in the US Marine Corps and various private sector agencies with the goal of protecting the United States from security threats. Brian is a Board Member and Strategic Advisor to many great companies. Brian on Twitter: @gridsecure  In the discussion we address: Brian's background and path from law enforcement to infrastructure, CISA to AVANGRID  Information Sharing  Preparedness and Best Practices  Evolving threats to energy and infrastructure, including hostile events, insider threats, cyberattacks and nation state threats, 3rd party risk and more  We talk baseball, burgers, and boating, plus shoutouts to some valued friends and partners!  A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include:  AVANGRID. “AVANGRID is a leading sustainable energy company transitioning America toward a clean and connected future headquartered in Orange, CT, and has a footprint in 24 states with $40 billion in assets. Our primary businesses are Avangrid Networks, which serves 3.3 million electric and natural gas customers in the Northeast, and Avangrid Renewables, the third-largest renewable energy company in the U.S. with a diverse onshore and offshore renewable energy portfolio.”  WSJ Pro Research Survey: Preparedness Results, 29 Nov 2022  The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) release of the Resilient Power Best Practices for Critical Facilities and Sites. This document supports emergency and continuity managers with guidelines, analysis, background material, and references to increase the resilience of backup and emergency power systems during all durations of power outages. Improving power resilience can help the nation withstand and recover rapidly from deliberate attacks, accidents, natural disasters, as well as unconventional stresses, shocks, and threats to our economy and democratic system.  The Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC)  GridEx VII – November 14-15, 2023  Space ISAC  DHS CISA on Cyber-Physical Convergence  Gate 15: Blended Threats (update 1.1): Understanding an Evolving Threat Environment (and numerous other blog posts, papers and exercises)

Podcast: The Gate 15 Podcast ChannelEpisode: The Gate 15 Interview EP30: Brian Harrell on Energy & Infrastructure Security, plus baseball, boating & burgers!Pub date: 2022-12-26In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour visits with Brian Harrell, Vice President and Chief Security Officer (CSO) at AVANGRID. Brian currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Security Officer (CSO) at AVANGRID, an energy company with assets and operations in 24 states. He is responsible for the company's cybersecurity, privacy, physical security, threat management, and business continuity.  In 2018, Brian was appointed by the President of the United States to serve as the sixth Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was also the first Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He has spent time during his career in the US Marine Corps and various private sector agencies with the goal of protecting the United States from security threats. Brian is a Board Member and Strategic Advisor to many great companies. Brian on Twitter: @gridsecure  In the discussion we address: Brian's background and path from law enforcement to infrastructure, CISA to AVANGRID  Information Sharing  Preparedness and Best Practices  Evolving threats to energy and infrastructure, including hostile events, insider threats, cyberattacks and nation state threats, 3rd party risk and more  We talk baseball, burgers, and boating, plus shoutouts to some valued friends and partners!  A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include:  AVANGRID. “AVANGRID is a leading sustainable energy company transitioning America toward a clean and connected future headquartered in Orange, CT, and has a footprint in 24 states with $40 billion in assets. Our primary businesses are Avangrid Networks, which serves 3.3 million electric and natural gas customers in the Northeast, and Avangrid Renewables, the third-largest renewable energy company in the U.S. with a diverse onshore and offshore renewable energy portfolio.”  WSJ Pro Research Survey: Preparedness Results, 29 Nov 2022  The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) release of the Resilient Power Best Practices for Critical Facilities and Sites. This document supports emergency and continuity managers with guidelines, analysis, background material, and references to increase the resilience of backup and emergency power systems during all durations of power outages. Improving power resilience can help the nation withstand and recover rapidly from deliberate attacks, accidents, natural disasters, as well as unconventional stresses, shocks, and threats to our economy and democratic system.  The Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC)  GridEx VII – November 14-15, 2023  Space ISAC  DHS CISA on Cyber-Physical Convergence  Gate 15: Blended Threats (update 1.1): Understanding an Evolving Threat Environment (and numerous other blog posts, papers and exercises)The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Gate 15, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Brought to you by The Ontic Center for Protective IntelligenceProduced by AJ McKeonMusic track is titled Roll the Dice by Marc Walloch Contact us at podcast@ontic.co or visit ontic.co/center for more information.

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour speaks with William (Bill) Flynn, the president of Garda Risk Management LLC, specializing in homeland and national security policy and operations with a focus on critical infrastructure security and resilience. Bill is a highly-sought after homeland security expert and is also a partner in The Power of Preparedness (TPOP) an e-learning company that goes beyond stand-up training to provide strategy and tactics to mitigate workplace violence and active assailant threats. He also serves on the board of the Faith-Based Information Sharing & Analysis Organization (FB-ISAO). Bill has served as a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security and was among the original leaders at DHS, where he served in a number of key leadership positions and including as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Infrastructure Protection (since renamed within what is today, CISA), where he led the coordinated national effort to reduce risk to our nation's critical infrastructure. Read Bill's complete bio below! Follow Bill on LinkedIn! Follow The Power of Preparedness on LinkedIn! Follow The Power of Preparedness on Twitter! @TPOPtraining In the discussion we address: Bill's career of public service including time in the U.S. Navy, with the NYPD, and at DHS Bill's ongoing work leading Garda Risk Management and with The Power of Preparedness · Threats, hostile events, behavioral indicators and preparedness Executive security and organizational risk and mitigation Creating a culture of security, the cost of preparedness vs. the costs of recovery, and the “three C's” The Yankees, national monuments and icons, and much more! A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include:  The Power of Preparedness: Online Training for Active Shooter Preparedness & Verbal De-Escalation Customized for Your Industry or Organization  The Gate 15 Hostile Events Preparedness Series (HEPS) and The Power of Preparedness (TPOP)  Faith-Based ISAO & TPOP  Get the White Paper! The Hostile Event Attack Cycle (HEAC), 2021 Update.  NCTC, FBI & DHS: U.S. Violent Extremist Mobilization Indicators 2021 Critical Infrastructure Threat Information Sharing Framework  A Reference Guide for the Critical Infrastructure Community, October 2016 PERSPECTIVE: Mass Shootings Are a Homeland Security Risk; Change starts with an accounting that what has been done – much of it laudable – has not been sufficient to the challenge. (Bill Flynn and Bob Kolasky, in Homeland Security Today, 11 June 2022)  The crisis after the crisis: What grocers can expect after an active shooter incident. Food retail managers should be prepared to handle external communication and support for victims and their families in the aftermath of violence, writes security expert William Flynn. International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) FMI - The Food Industry Association The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA)  Homeland Security - Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP)  Homeland Security - Protective Security Advisor (PSA) Program  Homeland Security - Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP)  On Executive Security, Bill and Andy discussed outspoken leaders and Andy shared comments made by Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey in this recent interview: Whole Foods' John Mackey (Reason, 10 Aug 2022) Gate 15 resources pages  Faith-Based Information Sharing & Analysis Organization Advisory Board

In this episode of the podcast, Steve has a conversation with Richard Clarke about how the threat of cyber war has evolved over the past decade,  the politics of cybersecurity,  and the need for accountable leaders in the face of evolving threats and emerging technology such as ransomware and artificial intelligence.       Richard is one of the world's leading experts in security, cyberspace, and terrorism. He served in the Whitehouse for Reagan, both Bushes, and Clinton - appointed by Clinton as the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism.   To listen to more episodes or join our periodic mailing list, visit https://www.nonconformistinnovation.com Thanks to our Season 4 sponsors: BetterCloud and Secuvy

In this episode Michael and I talk about the regulations that protect Chinese networks and information systems. Two closely connected subsystems of China's cybersecurity regime aim directly at maintaining security in these areas: critical information infrastructure (CII) and multi-level protection. - Michael D Frick holds a doctorate in Business Economics and a master's in Modern Sinology. He works as consultant advising businesses on Chinese regulatory aspects. You can find out more about his book “Chinese Industry 4.0” at: https://sinopeerpress.com/ The book is available as ebook and in print format at Apple or Amazon. Michael can be contacted via Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-michael-frick-16853a1b or via email mailto:info@sinopeer.com – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast was produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

On this week's Industrial Talk we're talking to Peter Doggart and Keith Walsh, with Armis about "The Launch of CIPP, The Critical Infrastructure Protection Program".  Get the answers to your "Cyber Security" questions along with Peter and Keith's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview! Finally, get your exclusive free access to the https://industrialtalk.com/wp-admin/inforum-industrial-academy-discount/ (Industrial Academy) and a series on “https://industrialtalk.com/why-you-need-to-podcast/ (Why You Need To Podcast)” for Greater Success in 2022. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy! PETER DOGGART'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doggart/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doggart/) Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/armis-security/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/armis-security/) Company Website: https://www.armis.com/ (https://www.armis.com/) KEITH WALSH'S CONTACT INFORMATION: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-walsh-ba13152/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-walsh-ba13152/) Kroll Website: https://www.kroll.com/en (https://www.kroll.com/en) PODCAST VIDEO: https://youtu.be/-iWMwWM76O4 THE STRATEGIC REASON "WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST": https://industrialtalk.com/why-you-need-to-podcast/ () OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: NEOM:  https://www.neom.com/en-us (https://www.neom.com/en-us) AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/ (https://www.aidash.com/) Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html (https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html) Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/ (https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/) Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/ (https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/) Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/ (https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/) We the 15:https://www.wethe15.org/ ( https://www.wethe15.org/) YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX: LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/ (https://lifterlms.com/) Active Campaign: https://www.activecampaign.com/?_r=H855VEPU (Active Campaign Link) Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/ (https://www.socialjukebox.com/) Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader): https://industrialtalk.com/wp-admin/inforum-industrial-academy-discount/ () Business Beatitude the Book Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES...The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES! TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES! https://industrialtalk.com/business-beatitude-reserve/ ( Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount) PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: SUMMARY KEYWORDS critical infrastructure, armis, peter, scott, devices, vulnerabilities, conversation, problem, exploits, industrial, ot, business, increase, risks, threats, understand, environment, program, visibility, solution 00:04 Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's 00:21 go Hello, and welcome to industrial talk the ever expanding industrial ecosystem that features incredible companies, wonderful people, solving problems making my life, your life and the world a better place to live. Now in this podcast, we're going to be talking to RMS, and pharmacists get this great program called critical infrastructure...

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour speaks with Ben Taylor, Executive Director for the Cannabis ISAO. Ben Taylor is the Executive Director of the Cannabis-ISAO. Ben also serves as a Risk Analyst to several Information Sharing & Analysis Centers and has previous security and operations experience as an Army Officer as well as working through the Department of Homeland Security's (then) Office of Infrastructure Protection (now part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency [CISA]). Ben has also spent several years in marketing and partner development roles within the tourism industry, to include working to promote Cannabis tourism in Oakland, California. To learn more about Cannabis ISAO, visit the Cannabis ISAO website, or on Twitter: @CannabisISAO and LinkedIn. In the discussion we address: Ben's background and the work he's doing with Cannabis-ISAO today Some background on the development of Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) and Organizations (ISAOs) Physical security challenges for the Cannabis Industry Cybersecurity threats and issues facing the sector Scams, and other threats facing the community Among other topics, Ben plays three questions with Andy to discuss dogs, favorite books, and more! A few references mentioned in or relevant to our discussion include: Cannabis ISAO website https://cannabisisao.org Cannabis ISAO Security Town Hall https://cannabisisao.org/2022/03/cannabis-security-town-hall/ Cannabis ISAO blog and Director's Cut posts https://cannabisisao.org/home/blog/ Cannabis ISAO Director's Cut: December 03, addressing a ransomware incident in the Cannabis Industry https://cannabisisao.org/home/report-incident/ Report an Incident - Cannabis ISAO https://cannabisisao.org/home/report-incident/ Get Involved - Cannabis ISAO https://cannabisisao.org/home/get-involved/ Executive Order -- Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing (13 Feb 2015) https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/13/executive-order-promoting-private-sector-cybersecurity-information-shari Executive Order -- Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (12 Feb 2015) https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity Presidential Policy Directive -- Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (12 Feb 2015) https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil PDD-63 - Critical Infrastructure Protection (20 May 1998) https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/12762 Nerd Out Security Panel Discussion: EP 13. Cannabis ISAO! (18 May 2021) https://gate15.global/nerd-out-security-panel-discussion-ep-13-cannabis-isao/ The Cybersecurity Evangelist: EP 8 – The ISAC Series, Part 4 – Faith-Based ISAO (10 Mar 2021) https://gate15.global/the-cybersecurity-evangelist-ep-8-the-isac-series-part-4-faith-based-isao/ Blog Post: So why a Cannabis ISAO? (02 Apr 2021) https://cannabisisao.org/2021/04/blog-founder/ Tucky Blunt Twitter https://twitter.com/BluntTucky Uncle Ike's https://ikes.com/locations/white-center/

The war Russia has waged on Ukraine has seemed largely kinetic, but the most effective weapons weilded thus far have been consumer technologies. Putin has pursued a hybrid warfare strategy, yet the Ukrainians have fought his mendacious claims with the realities of conflict captured by mobile devices and social media. Bogged down by guerilla fighting in Ukrainian cities, Putin will view offensive cyber action and aggressive information warfare as increasingly appealing options. Richard Clarke, former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterrorism, and the nation's first "Cyber Czar," will give us an inside look at what the world has learned about the spillover of warfare in an era of advanced cyber threats.In his latest book, The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats, Clarke delves deep into the political and economic calculations of cyber conflict. He also provides concrete steps that can be taken to achieve cyber resilience, during peacetime and amidst international conflict, including building more resistant systems and raising the costs for escalations in cyberspace. About the speaker: Richard A. Clarke served for thirty years in national security policy roles in the US Government, first in the Pentagon, then the State Department, and finally for an unprecedented decade of continuous service for three Presidents in the White House.In the White House National Security Council for President Bush (41), Clinton, and Bush (43) he served as Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs, National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism ("Terrorism Czar'), and Special Advisor for Cyberspace (the first "Cyber Czar").  Earlier, in the State Department he had been appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence in the Reagan Administration and was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs in the Bush (41) Administration. In the latter capacity, he coordinated elements in support of the First Gulf War. In the Pentagon and the State Department, he participated in a series of multilateral and bilateral nuclear arms control negotiations.Following his government career, Dick Clarke was an on-air analyst for ABC News for fifteen years, taught at the Harvard Kennedy School for five years, lead a security risk management consulting firm (Good Harbor), and served on corporate advisory boards and Boards of Directors, as well as chairing or serving on state and federal advisory boards on cybersecurity (including President Obama's Advisory Group on Technology and Intelligence, the "NSA Review Group").  He is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Institute, an eight decade old educational institution based in Washington. He was a member of President Obama's 2008 Transition team.Clarke's books include both non-fiction (5) and fiction (4). His seminal work on terrorism and al qaeda, Against All Enemies, was a number one NY Times best seller. His 2010 volume Cyber War, co-authored with Rob Knake, was a Washington Post bestseller and acknowledged as an early and foundational book in the field. Its sequel, the Fifth Domain; Defending our Country, our Corporations and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats, also written with Knake, was published in 2019.Clarke is the host of the FUTURE STATE podcast. He is the recipient of membership in the Cybersecurity Hall of Fame, the RSA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Champion of Freedom Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. A graduate of Boston Latin School, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT, Dick Clarke is a resident of Virginia.

Richard Clarke (@ghsrm) is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism for the United States, and is the co-author of Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes. [Note: This is a previously broadcast episode from the vault that we felt deserved a fresh pass through your earholes!] Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/620 What We Discuss with Richard Clarke: What is the Cassandra Coefficient? Discover how to use the Cassandra Coefficient to filter signal from noise when it comes to warnings. Understand how to spot your own cognitive biases and what you can do to diminish their effect on your decisions. Learn to persuade people to see things from your perspective and motivate them to take action. Find out what someone at the top levels of government does when their personal politics don’t agree with those of the current administration. And so much more… Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Miss the conversation we had with Gift of Fear author and security legend Gavin de Becker? Catch up with episode 329: Gavin de Becker | The Gift of Fear Part One here! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Does your city run a computer-controlled water plant? Wastewater? Natural Gas? Learn what the risks are and hear from an expert in critical infrastructure cyber protection from SkyHelm Technologies, hosted by OMAG's Kevin Sesock.

Over 38 years of Law Enforcement for the city of Chicago. He is an subject matter expert in threat assessment, Unmanned Drones, Infrastructure Protection, Large scale active threat drills, Active Shooter threats, and counterterrorism tactics. He has additional training in Bomb Threat Managaement, Protective measures, Surveillance detection, Radiological detection, weapons of mass destruction, and dignitary protection. But what made him one of Chicagos toughest cops was the 14 shootouts that he survived. These shootouts had everything from knife wielding maniacs to snipers on rooftops shooting at the police below them.

Podcast: Cyber Security Weekly Podcast (LS 37 · TOP 2.5% what is this?)Episode: Episode 292 - Critical Info Infrastructure Protection in Singapore with Cyber Security Agency of SingaporePub date: 2021-10-24Interview by Jane Lo, Singapore Correspondent with Lim Thian Chin (Director, Critical Info Infrastructure Division, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore) Thian Chin is leading the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Division at the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA). The division is responsible for building the cyber resilience of the Nation's essential services across 11 CII sectors covering government, utilities, transport and services clusters. His team works with sectoral regulators to strengthen the cyber resilience of CII owners, to promote confidence-building measures and to deepen the public-private partnership between the government and CII stakeholders. Thian Chin also represents Singapore in International and regional cybersecurity forums where he shares his knowledge on cybersecurity resiliency and capability building. Thian Chin has over 19 years of experience in Information & Technology governance, risk management, resilience and compliance, and Operational Technology cybersecurity. Prior to joining CSA in August 2015, he was responsible for the regional Technology Governance function in United Overseas Bank. He also led the Technology Risk function in GIC from 2008 – 2013. In his earlier years, he was a Manager and had led a team of auditors in Information Technology in Ernst & Young. Thian Chin holds an Executive Masters (Cybersecurity) with Brown University, a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University and is an alumnus of the George C Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He is certified as a GICSP, CGEIT, CDPSE, CRISC, CISM, CISSP, CISA, and SABSA practitioner. In this podcast, Thian Chin shared some highlights* on cybersecurity and operational technology (OT) at the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW 2021), and the OT Cybersecurity Expert Panel (OTCEP), organized by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Touching on cybersecurity incidents highlighted in the “Singapore Cyber Landscape 2020” such as ransomware and supply chain, he noted the increasing complexity of the threat landscape. He discussed some common perceptions of the cybersecurity professionals and the engineers running the operating infrastructure, including infrastructure “air gap” and cultural differences such as skills and language, and security goals (“CIA” - versus “SRP”). Referring to one of Singapore's largest cyber incidents in the CII sector, and the recent threats, he shared perspectives on how government policies such as the OT-ISAC, the OT Cybersecurity Code of Practice (updated in 2019) and the Cybersecurity Competency Framework (2021) help to boost cyber defenses. With the recent release of the “Singapore Cyber Security Strategy 2021”, he also several areas of focus for the CII cybersecurity ecosystem, including structuring an approach to managing supply chain risks and building cyber resiliency profiles. *also included highlights from OT-ISAC (Operational Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Centre) and ISACA Singapore Chapter Recorded: 15th October 2021 (SGT 8.30am)The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MySecurity Media, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

Interview by Jane Lo, Singapore Correspondent with Lim Thian Chin (Director, Critical Info Infrastructure Division, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore) Thian Chin is leading the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Division at the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA). The division is responsible for building the cyber resilience of the Nation's essential services across 11 CII sectors covering government, utilities, transport and services clusters. His team works with sectoral regulators to strengthen the cyber resilience of CII owners, to promote confidence-building measures and to deepen the public-private partnership between the government and CII stakeholders. Thian Chin also represents Singapore in International and regional cybersecurity forums where he shares his knowledge on cybersecurity resiliency and capability building. Thian Chin has over 19 years of experience in Information & Technology governance, risk management, resilience and compliance, and Operational Technology cybersecurity. Prior to joining CSA in August 2015, he was responsible for the regional Technology Governance function in United Overseas Bank. He also led the Technology Risk function in GIC from 2008 – 2013. In his earlier years, he was a Manager and had led a team of auditors in Information Technology in Ernst & Young. Thian Chin holds an Executive Masters (Cybersecurity) with Brown University, a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University and is an alumnus of the George C Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He is certified as a GICSP, CGEIT, CDPSE, CRISC, CISM, CISSP, CISA, and SABSA practitioner. In this podcast, Thian Chin shared some highlights* on cybersecurity and operational technology (OT) at the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW 2021), and the OT Cybersecurity Expert Panel (OTCEP), organized by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Touching on cybersecurity incidents highlighted in the “Singapore Cyber Landscape 2020” such as ransomware and supply chain, he noted the increasing complexity of the threat landscape. He discussed some common perceptions of the cybersecurity professionals and the engineers running the operating infrastructure, including infrastructure “air gap” and cultural differences such as skills and language, and security goals (“CIA” - versus “SRP”). Referring to one of Singapore's largest cyber incidents in the CII sector, and the recent threats, he shared perspectives on how government policies such as the OT-ISAC, the OT Cybersecurity Code of Practice (updated in 2019) and the Cybersecurity Competency Framework (2021) help to boost cyber defenses. With the recent release of the “Singapore Cyber Security Strategy 2021”, he also several areas of focus for the CII cybersecurity ecosystem, including structuring an approach to managing supply chain risks and building cyber resiliency profiles. *also included highlights from OT-ISAC (Operational Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Centre) and ISACA Singapore Chapter Recorded: 15th October 2021 (SGT 8.30am)

In the latest episode of Nerd Out, Dave welcomes in Ben Taylor, Executive Director of the Cannabis Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO). Their conversation looked at the evolution of the industry and the needs that an ISAO can provide to help those in the ever-growing Cannabis industry look at threats and develop strategies to protect their customers and organizations. Ben talked through the announcement of the ISAO and the next steps including offerings on their website and social media platforms. Dave and Ben also looked at the challenges that ISAOs face in getting attention and gaining members, but highlighted the value that they bring and the value of information sharing to the overall strength of the industry. To learn more about Cannabis ISAO, visit their website: https://cannabisisao.org or check out their social media accounts. Twitter: @CannabisISAO and LinkedIn: @CannabisISAO  Ben Taylor is the Executive Director of the Cannabis-ISAO. Ben also serves as a Risk Analyst to several Information Sharing & Analysis Centers, and has previous security and operations experience as an Army Officer as well as working through the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Infrastructure Protection. Ben has also spent several years in marketing and partner development roles within the tourism industry, to include working to promote Cannabis tourism in Oakland, California.

Host Pc looks at public information to analyze two criminals that need to be investigated for using their "position" in perpetrating crimes against US. They went to ds universities, then moved to questionable relationships with big-tech, and then found their way back to government where they used their position to be involved in coup*against*US. CRIMINAL CALLOUT!!!Cyrus Vance Jr is the son of a CFR and Trilateral Commission member who served as Secretary of State under President Carter, who also was CFT & Trilateral Commission member. Jr is trying to make a name for himself today by harassing President Trump for tax records previous to his term. This has never been allowed, but now the ds members are trying to create issue so President Trump can't seek public office ever again. More is detailed in the podcast recording. The second criminal WE THE PEOPLE need to arrest is Christopher (Chris) Krebs. He too went to university not far from Langley, and then worked for microsoft before applying for a job with federal government Homeland Security as Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection. His job was abolished after he was fired as it is now obvious that position is one of questionable integrity. Or maybe it's just the people who are in those roles. Know what I mean?FELLOW AMERICANS, we have to hold these criminals who work against US accountable for the crimes they have committed. Yes, they protect each other, but WE THE PEOPLE are a digital army moving to capture the criminals, hold them accountable, arrest them, and see them serve life at the spa aka gitmo. Stay tuned for more in depth reporting coming soon as WE are on the trail of the global cabal criminals and will not stop until they are arrested and serving time for what they have done to US. For those who do. I salute you!!!PcSupport the show (https://neo420.com/shop-cbd/donation/)

In this episode of The Gate 15 Interview, Andy Jabbour talks with Mark Herrera, Director of Education for the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM; @IAVMWHQ). In this podcast we discuss a range of issues from the pandemic's impact to venues, to security and preparedness with broad applicability to all organizations - from venues to places of worship, and across events and facilities of all types. We discuss a wide range of issues from the impacts of COVID on venues and events, and what lies ahead in 2021, ideas on enhancing security through conflict management and professionalism, and lot more. Mark talks about the importance of “programming the mind through mental preparation” noting that, “the body will go where the mind has been, if the mind hasn't been there the body will not follow.” Mark is always full of great quotes. Some are shared below; listen to the conversation for more great insight and Herrera-isms! In the discussion we address: Mark's backstory IAVM The pandemic's impact to venues Where the venue community is going in 2021 Resetting security and the physical threat environment Organizational and personal security best practices And more! Mark Herrera: Herrera is the Director of Education & Life Safety for the International Association of Venue Managers and recognized as one of the 25 most influential leaders in the meetings and event industry. As part of his duties, Mark teaches Situational Awareness-Mindset training aimed at giving venues the tools to be safer and more secure.   The training emphasizes on Exceptional Focus, Performance, and Control in Extreme Situations and Risk Mitigation through Guest Services Interjection. In addition, as the Director of Education for IAVM, Herrera represents the Department of Homeland Security Office of Infrastructure Protection through the Public Assembly Facility Sub-Sector Council. For Mark's complete bio, see below. Twitter: @IAVM_Herrera; LinkedIn; Instagram; Facebook. ·      IAVM on Twitter; LinkedIn; Instagram; Facebook. And learn about: ·      IAVM's Academy for Venue Safety and Security ·      IAVM's VenueConnect 2021, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, 02-05 Aug 2021

Podcast: Hack the PlantEpisode: Critical Infrastructure Protection & ICSPub date: 2021-01-26For today's episode, I'm joined by Dale Peterson, who is on the leading edge of helping security conscious asset owners in a range of sectors effectively manage and reduce cyber risk to their Industrial Control Systems (known as an “ICS”). ICS is a computer system that monitors or controls a physical process. They  exist everywhere: power generation, water supply systems, transmission, product manufacturing. We talk today about some of the key cyber vulnerabilities in these systems, and the relationship between the government and the private sector, how CEOs and other decision makers should evaluate and deploy resources to deal with ICS cyber threats, and the importance of regulators developing metrics for improving cyber security relative to ICS systems. The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryson Bort, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

For today's episode, I'm joined by Dale Peterson, who is on the leading edge of helping security conscious asset owners in a range of sectors effectively manage and reduce cyber risk to their Industrial Control Systems (known as an “ICS”). ICS is a computer system that monitors or controls a physical process. They  exist everywhere: power generation, water supply systems, transmission, product manufacturing. We talk today about some of the key cyber vulnerabilities in these systems, and the relationship between the government and the private sector, how CEOs and other decision makers should evaluate and deploy resources to deal with ICS cyber threats, and the importance of regulators developing metrics for improving cyber security relative to ICS systems. 

On this edition of Parallax Views, was 9/11 preventable? Our guest on this September 11th anniversary edition of Parallax Views, Mark Rossini, who worked as the FBI's point man in the CIA's Bin Laden Unit (aka ALEC Station), makes the case it was in his piece "In Re: 9/11". As an FBI agent working in ALEC Station alongside fellow FBI agent Doug Miller, Mark became privy to the CIA's monitoring of two 9/11 hijackers, Flight 77's Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, and a "Terror Summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia from January 5th-8th, 2000. Through their monitoring of these activities, the CIA discovered that the two future 9/11 terrorist had VISAs to the U.S. When Doug Miller wrote a report on the summit, however, the CIA told both he and Rossini not to send it to the FBI. For 19 years Mark Rossini has been troubled by the question of WHY the CIA did not share this vital bit of information with the CIA. His conclusions, which were independently corroborated by National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke, is that elements of the CIA made a catastrophic decision after the Kuala Lumpur Summit that they kept under wraps to preserve their own careers and reputations. This decision, which Rossini makes a strong circumstantial case for having occurred, involved an illegal recruitment operation and Saudi Arabia's intelligence services aka the Mabahith. Rossini believes that, if this circumstantial case is true, then 9/11 may well have been preventable.And yes, this is the same Mark Rossini featured heavily in Lawrence Wright's book The Looming Tower and as a character in the TV series of the same name. PLEASE READ MARK ROSSINI'S ANALYSIS OF 9/11 https://undicisettembre.blogspot.com/p/mark-rossini-inre911.html In this conversation we discuss: - The FBI's John O'Neil, known as Bin Laden's arch-nemesis (who, after leaving the FBI shortly before 9/11 perished in the towers on that fateful day) and the conflicts between O'Neil and the CIA, specifically former BIn Laden Unit head honcho Michael Scheuer - The concept of "The Wall", which many believe led to botched communications before 9/11 between the FBI and CIA, and why Rossini believes "The Wall" isn't a sufficient explanation for the CIA's withholding information regarding the Malaysia terror summit from the FBI - The relationship between the CIA and Saudi Arabia's Mahabith; the special relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. - FBI agent Steve Bongardt and his angry email to Dina Corsi in July of 2001 regarding the CIA, FBI, and al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar; Bongardt wrote that, “Someday somebody will die—and, Wall or not, the public will not understand why we were not more effective.” - CIA Director George Tenet's comments pertaining to 9/11 - And much, much more. This Episode Brought to You By:The War State:The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963byMichael SwansonofThe Wall Street Window

On this edition of Parallax Views, was 9/11 preventable? Our guest on this September 11th anniversary edition of Parallax Views, Mark Rossini, who worked as the FBI's point man in the CIA's Bin Laden Unit (aka ALEC Station), makes the case it was in his piece "In Re: 9/11". As an FBI agent working in ALEC Station alongside fellow FBI agent Doug Miller, Mark became privy to the CIA's monitoring of two 9/11 hijackers, Flight 77's Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, and a "Terror Summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia from January 5th-8th, 2000. Through their monitoring of these activities, the CIA discovered that the two future 9/11 terrorist had VISAs to the U.S. When Doug Miller wrote a report on the summit, however, the CIA told both he and Rossini not to send it to the FBI. For 19 years Mark Rossini has been troubled by the question of WHY the CIA did not share this vital bit of information with the CIA. His conclusions, which were independently corroborated by National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke, is that elements of the CIA made a catastrophic decision after the Kuala Lumpur Summit that they kept under wraps to preserve their own careers and reputations. This decision, which Rossini makes a strong circumstantial case for having occurred, involved an illegal recruitment operation and Saudi Arabia's intelligence services aka the Mabahith. Rossini believes that, if this circumstantial case is true, then 9/11 may well have been preventable.And yes, this is the same Mark Rossini featured heavily in Lawrence Wright's book The Looming Tower and as a character in the TV series of the same name. PLEASE READ MARK ROSSINI'S ANALYSIS OF 9/11 https://undicisettembre.blogspot.com/p/mark-rossini-inre911.html In this conversation we discuss: - The FBI's John O'Neil, known as Bin Laden's arch-nemesis (who, after leaving the FBI shortly before 9/11 perished in the towers on that fateful day) and the conflicts between O'Neil and the CIA, specifically former BIn Laden Unit head honcho Michael Scheuer - The concept of "The Wall", which many believe led to botched communications before 9/11 between the FBI and CIA, and why Rossini believes "The Wall" isn't a sufficient explanation for the CIA's withholding information regarding the Malaysia terror summit from the FBI - The relationship between the CIA and Saudi Arabia's Mahabith; the special relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. - FBI agent Steve Bongardt and his angry email to Dina Corsi in July of 2001 regarding the CIA, FBI, and al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar; Bongardt wrote that, “Someday somebody will die—and, Wall or not, the public will not understand why we were not more effective.” - CIA Director George Tenet's comments pertaining to 9/11 - And much, much more. This Episode Brought to You By:The War State:The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963byMichael SwansonofThe Wall Street Window

A bill from a House Republican would start to carry out recommendations from the Congressionally-chartered Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The bill has a lot to say about the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other federal cyber efforts. Joining me with details, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation, New York Representative John Katko (R-NY).

Show #249 | Guest: Richard A. Clarke | Show Summary: Cyberwar—or cyber-anything, has always carried a whiff of science fiction about it. But it's not fiction, it's certainly not entertainment, and, terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke warns us— multiple cyberwars are underway already. The battlefronts range from simple identity theft to the disruption of nuclear programs and medical care. The Pentagon even has a word for this new front line: the fifth domain. That's where ongoing skirmishes for our security as individuals and as citizens are being fought. Richard A. Clarke has long experience in American security matters. He's served as a key advisor on intelligence and counterterrorism to three US presidents. In 1998 President Bill Clinton appointed him as the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism for the U.S. National Security Council. His latest book, The Fifth Domain: Defending our Country, Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats, calls on that long experience to tackle one of the most pivotal battlegrounds in modern security.

SPEAKERS Richard Clarke Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterrorism; Co-Author, The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats In Conversation with Audrey Cooper Editor in Chief, San Francisco Chronicle This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 23rd, 2019.

Our guest today is Richard A. Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States. Under President George W. Bush he was appointed Special Advisor to the President on cybersecurity. He’s currently Chairman of Good Harbor Consulting. He’s the author or coauthor of several books, the latest of which is titled The Fifth Domain - Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats. This is an extended version of an interview originally aired on the July 19, 2019 edition of the CyberWire daily podcast. Thanks to our sponsors FTI Cybersecurity.  

Richard Clarke's latest book is called the Fifth Domain and it outlines what has change - and not changed - since his first book on cyberwar written a decade ago. Clarke is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism under President Clinton.

K3chang is out, about, and more evasive than ever. Data breached at Bulgaria’s National Revenue Agency has turned up online in at least one hacker forum. Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency received close scrutiny and a tepid reception on Capitol Hill this week. Emsisoft offers some common-sense reflections on why local governments are attractive ransomware targets. Please patch BlueKeep. And a hair care product is vulnerable to hacking. Johannes Ullrich from the SANS Technology Institute with tips on ensuring your vulnerability scans are secure. Guest is Richard Clarke, former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States, and coauthor of the book The Fifth Domain. For links to all of today's stories check our our CyberWire daily news brief: https://thecyberwire.com/issues/issues2019/July/CyberWire_2019_07_19.html  Support our show

Richard Clarke's latest book is called the Fifth Domain and it outlines what has change - and not changed - since his first book on cyberwar written a decade ago. Clarke is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism under President Clinton.

  Bio Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble (@safiyanoble) is an Associate Professor at UCLA in the Departments of Information Studies and African American Studies, and a visiting faculty member to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor in Department of Media and Cinema Studies and the Institute for Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She is the author of a best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press), which has been widely-reviewed in journals and periodicals including the Los Angeles Review of Books, featured in the New York Public Library 2018 Best Books for Adults (non-fiction), and recognized by Bustle magazine as one of 10 Books about Race to Read Instead of Asking a Person of Color to Explain Things to You. Safiya is the recipient of a Hellman Fellowship and the UCLA Early Career Award. Her academic research focuses on the design of digital media platforms on the internet and their impact on society. Her work is both sociological and interdisciplinary, marking the ways that digital media impacts and intersects with issues of race, gender, culture, and technology. She is regularly quoted for her expertise on issues of algorithmic discrimination and technology bias by national and international press including The Guardian, the BBC, CNN International, USA Today, Wired, Time, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The New York Times, and Virginia Public Radio, and a host of local news and podcasts, including Science Friction, and Science Friday to name a few. Recently, she was named in the “Top 25  Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers of 2019” by Government Technology magazine.  Dr. Noble is the co-editor of two edited volumes: The Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Culture and Class Online and Emotions, Technology & Design. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, and is the co-editor of the Commentary & Criticism section of the Journal of Feminist Media Studies. She is a member of several academic journal and advisory boards, including Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Library & Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Fresno where she was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for 2018.    Resources  Safiya U. Noble Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya U. Noble (NYU Press: 2019) Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media by Sarah T. Roberts (Yale University Press: 2019)   News Roundup   FTC is investigating YouTube over children’s privacy The Federal Trade Commission is investigating YouTube over children’s privacy concerns, according to the Washington Post. The Alphabet subsidiary faces steep fines if it’s found to have violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits tracking and targeting children under 13. The FTC and YouTube both declined to comment.   Lawmakers divided over election security The Hill reports that GOP lawmakers are divided over election security, with some, including Mitch McConnell, who think additional legislation is unnecessary to deal with the challenges posed by technology. Other Republicans, like Lindsay Graham think there’s more we can do.    Facebook plans cryptocurrency, Maxine Waters resists We reported last week that Facebook announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency called Libra. But House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters is pushing back. Waters asked Facebook to place a moratorium on the release of its cryptocurrency until after Congress has had a chance to review it. Virginia Senator Mark Warner agreed. Both lawmakers said the company’s troubled past is a warning sign. Waters has scheduled a hearing for July 17.    DHS moving global biometric data to Amazon Cloud The Department of Homeland Security stated in request for information it released last week that it would be moving the data of hundreds of millions of people around the globe to Amazon Web Services. The DHS is moving the data to a Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) System, hosted by AWS, which will upgrade the agency’s ability to link biometric and biographical data to DNA. The system is designed to quickly identify anyone who’s in the database such as suspected criminals, immigration violators, terrorists and, frankly, you, if you’re in the database.   Google’s board rejects shareholder proposals to fight sexual harassment and boost diversity The Guardian reports that Google parent Alphabet’s board of directors voted down thirteen shareholder proposals that would have ended forced arbitration for sexual harassment claims by contract workers, addressed ethical concerns stemming from AI and China, and several other social concerns. The board voted against the proposals despite a protest happening outside the company’s headquarters during the vote.   Apple CEO Tim Cook calls out big tech Apple CEO Tim Cook called out big tech at a Stanford Commencement speech last week. He said tech companies need to accept responsibility for the chaos they create and that “Lately it seems this industry is becoming better known for a less noble innovation – the belief you can claim credit without accepting responsibility … We see it every day now with every data breach, every privacy violation, every blind eye turned to hate speech, fake news poisoning out national conversation, the false miracles in exchange for a single drop of your blood.”   Members call on tech companies to address law firm diversity concerns In a letter penned by Missouri Representative Emanuel Cleaver, members of the House of Representatives are calling on tech companies to diversify the ranks of outside counsel the companies use. Currently, tech companies retain large law firms notorious for their dismal diversity records and segregating lawyers of color into contractor roles. Congressman Cleaver, along with Representatives Robin Kelly, G.K. Butterfield, and Barbara Lee sent the letter to Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Intel, HP, Cisco and Facebook.   Fairfax County gets first state funding for autonomous vehicles Fairfax County Virginia and Dominion Energy landed a $250,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation for an autonomous electric shuttle in Merrifield. The pilot will be part of a larger potential effort to build a largescale autonomous transportation system in Virginia. This first pilot will connect the Dunn Loring MetroRail Station with the Mosaic district. Under the deal, Dominion will purchase or lease the vehicle and Fairfax County will handle operations.   Events   Tues., 6/25 Senate Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Optimizing for Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms 10AM Hart 216   House Committee on Homeland Security: Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism Artificial Intelligence and Counterterrorism: Possibilities and Limitations 10AM Cannon 310   House Committee on Small Business: Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure Broadband Mapping: Small Carrier Perspectives on a Path Forward 10AM Rayburn 2360   House Energy & Commerce Committee: Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Stopping Bad Robocalls Act 2PM Rayburn 2123   House Committee on Financial Services Task Force on Financial Technology: Overseeing the Fintech Revolution: Domestic and International Perspectives on Fintech Regulation 2PM Rayburn 2128   House Committee on Homeland Security: Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation                                                  Cybersecurity Challenges for State and Local Governments: Assessing How the Federal Government Can Help 2PM Cannon 310   House Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Continuing Challenges to the Voting Rights Act Since Shelby County v. Holder 2PM Rayburn 2141     House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology: Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight Election Security: Voting Technology Vulnerabilities 2PM Rayburn 2318       Transformative Technology of DC How the Future of Work and STEM are impacting social wellbeing, digital transformation and mindset growth through tech 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT District Offices 10 G Street Northeast   GEICO Data Science Tech Talk & Open House 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT 5260 Western Avenue Bethesda, MD 20815   Wed., 6/26   House Committee on Homeland Security Examining Social Media Companies' Efforts to Counter Online Terror Content and Misinformation 10AM Cannon 310   House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Artificial Intelligence: Societal and Ethical Implications 10AM Rayburn 2318   House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology: Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics NASA’s Aeronautics Mission: Enabling the Transformation of Aviation 2PM Rayburn 2318   Wine Wednesday Founding Farmers 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT Founding Farmers, Reston 1904 Reston Metro Plaza   Thurs., 6/27   Federal Trade Commission PrivacyCon 8:15AM-5PM FTC Constitution Center 400 7th ST., SW   Ford Motor Company Fund  HERImpact Entrepreneurship Summit 9:30AM-4PM Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business 3700 O St NW   General Assembly Inside the Minds of Brilliant Designers 6:30-8:30PM General Assembly, 509 7th Street NW, 3rd Floor      Fri., 6/28   Federal Communications Commission Workshop on Promoting Multilingual Alerting 9AM-2:30PM FCC   Tues., 7/2   Universal Service Administrative Company Lifeline Program Consumer Support Training for caseworkers, service agents, and support professionals 9:30AM-12PM Universal Service Administrative Company 700 12th St., NW

Is the threat at the Southern Border really as severe as President Trump claims it to be? On this episode of ‘The Global Cable', our Director Bill Burke-White sits down with national security expert Richard Clarke to find out. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, Clarke served in the federal government for 30 years, rising to become National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism and a member of the National Security Council. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Security Management, working with governments across the world to advise them on risk. While in recent months the migration crisis at the United States' Southern border has dominated the news agenda, Burke-White and Clarke discuss the new developments that Clarke feels actually put the United States at risk. In a world where data can cross borders more easily than people – with espionage in the tech sector, and the threat of cyber-attack – the two talk about ways the United States can ensure its security.

Chemical storage facilities exist all over the country and one of them recently caught fire, poisoning the residents Houston, Texas for three days. In this episode, learn about a Department of Homeland Security program - the CFATS program- designed to protect us from terrorist attacks on dangerous chemical storage facilities like the one in Texas and also discover what needs to be done to ensure that CFATS actually protects us from the threats these chemical facilities pose. There is still work to be done. 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! House Homeland Security Committee Committee Members How to Contact: For Senators: firstname_lastname@lastnameofsenator.senate.gov (underscore between first and last) For Representatives: firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov Hearings Securing Our Nation's Chemical Facilities: Stakeholders Perspectives on Improving the CFATS Program, House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation, March 12, 2019. YouTube 370 views Witnesses: John Morawetz: Health and Safety Representative ICWUC Health and Safety Representatives International Chemical Workers Union Council Dr. Mike Wilson, Ph.D, MPH: National Director, Occupational and Environmental Health Program, BlueGreen Alliance Pamela Nixon: President, People Concerned About Chemical Safety Kirsten Meskill: Director, Corporate Security, BASF Sound Clips: 13:00 Chairman Cedric Richmond (LA): Since CFATS was established, the number of ‘high risk’ chemical facilities has dropped by half. 13:10 Chairman Cedric Richmond (LA) I believe - and DHS agreed - that there is an opportunity to take the data on how facilities are reducing risk and use it to develop voluntary best practices that other facilities could use to reduce risk. 13:20 Chairman Cedric Richmond (LA) Also, it is not clear to me that CFATS facilities are including employees in the development of site security plans, vulnerability assessments, or inspections – as they are required to by law. 13:30 Chairman Cedric Richmond (LA) Finally, if CFATS is going to be successful, we need to be sure that the program is taking all relevant factors into account to assess risk. Otherwise, we can’t trust that CFATS is truly capturing the nation’s highest risk facilities. For example, right now, DHS does not consider whether the facility is located near a hospital, a school, a residential area, a military base, a power plant, or close to other chemical facilities. Any of these factors could make a facility a more attractive target, or make an event even worse for the surrounding community. 21:00 Dr. Mike Wilson: In the area of emergency response, CFATS gives authority to the secretary to provide information to local governments and I quote "to help ensure that first-responders are properly prepared and provided with the situational awareness needed to respond to security incidents at covered chemical facilities," endquote. This is useful but it's not sufficient if the objective is to give firefighters the ability to respond effectively to an industrial chemical incident. As we know from the experience of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, or EPCRA, firefighters need much more than chemical information. They need to talk to the people who run the facilities in their jurisdiction. They need to get inside those facilities regularly to see how chemicals are stored and processed in order to imagine what could go wrong. They need to train side by side with facility operators. This is pre-fire planning and it's crucial to a safe and effective response and it requires an ongoing commitment by industry. That commitment however needs to be explicitly required under CFATS, more so than what is currently recommended within the non mandatory risk based performance standards because the fact is that except in an emergency, many facilities are reluctant to invite firefighters and other responders in to look around their property, let alone to pull out their equipment and conduct training. I speak to this based on my own 13 years of work as a professional firefighter, EMT, and paramedic. During which time I responded to about 10,000 emergency calls including to industrial chemical releases and fires. I can tell you that to do their job, firefighters need both information and access, and they're like, they're more likely to get these if facilities are required to provide them on a routine basis under CFATS. 22:30 Dr. Mike Wilson Our second recommendation pertains to the role of frontline workers in site security. The existing CFATS language on employee input is helpful but too generic to be effective. Depending on the inclinations of the facility, the term employee input can mean everything from a manager checking the box to get workers sign off on a fully executed site security plan, or it could mean a real seat for workers at management's decision making table. In any case, the right of workers to participate meaningfully in site security decision making needs to be explicit in CFATS because just as they are reluctant to give routine access to firefighters, many facilities are reluctant to seriously involve frontline workers in decision making and yet industry itself recognizes that workers have a great deal of knowledge and experience to contribute. We suggest that you consider language from the 2017 process safety management regulations in California, which require oil refineries to involve workers throughout all phases of process safety decision making. If adopted by CFATS this type of language will help ensure that the insights of frontline workers are genuinely integrated into site security. 23:15 Dr. Mike Wilson Finally, our third recommendation pertains to risk reduction. CFATS is based on a risk management framework, which assumes that dangerous chemicals used at a facility cannot be reduced or eliminated, so they have to be surrounded by layers of protection. Industry is far more innovative and clever than this, of course, and DHS has reported that under CFATS, thousands of facilities have voluntarily taken action to reduce their use of dangerous chemicals by consolidating them from multiple sites into one or two sites, replacing a hazardous chemical with a less hazardous one, reducing the total quantity held on site, or switching to a less concentrated form. These approaches can make a facility much safer, and they have the effect of reducing the desirability of the facility as a target of opportunity. CFATS could do more to encourage or require facilities to implement these types of approaches, and we encourage you to make these changes during reauthorization. 36:45 Kirsten Meskill Over the past four years, the Department of Homeland Security has significantly improved it's administration of the CFATS program and has had a positive impact on enhancing security at chemical facilities. 37:30 Kirsten Meskill While industry was pleased that Congress passed the short term extension in January to avoid a complete shutdown of CFATS, I think we all agreed that it is not the best solution going forward. Longer authorization periods provide important stability for planning security investments and allow DHS to operate the program efficiently and effectively. 38:30 Kirsten Meskill Recently, DHS has been implementing a risk based performance standard at 200 high risk facilities, those that are at tiers one and two. This requires facility operation operators to collect sensitive personal information from thousands of employees and contractors for DHS to vet against the terrorist screening database. DHS is now planning to extend the program to an additional 3000 low risk tier three and four facilities. This will expand vetting to tens of thousands of more employees and contractors. ACC and its members are concerned that was such an expansion is unnecessary and will put personal information at risk. Furthermore, it is unclear what benefit is associated with the additional vetting given the cost. 58:30 Kirsten Meskill At BASF, and I think at many of the companies of our size, many of our facilities, we have worked to reduce our risk. And so we are now down to either three or four tier levels. And so, as I mentioned earlier, this is an enormous number of folks that we have to do the additional screening on, but perhaps the more complicated would be the contractors and visitors that we have on site. And that's where it gets a little bit, a lot more complicated to ensure that all those individuals that are coming onto our site day in, day out, have gone through the screening process. And it's costly. It's very expensive, needless to say for us, as well as for the contractors that support us. 1:07:30 Kirsten Meskill: Our concerns are exposing personal data of thousands more thousands and thousands and thousands of employees and contractors for this terrorist database screening. And whether the value actually is there for the cost and for the, the potential risk of exposing this personal data to cybersecurity risks. Rep. Kathleen Rice (NY): But don't you think that's one of the core ways to ensure security at these facilities? Meskill: Well, we are conducting our own background screening anyway, which includes, you know, criminal background checks also. So it seems duplicative. Yes. Rep. Rice: So have you communicated that? Meskill: Yes. Rep. Rice: And are there any questions that they include in their review or their background check that you do not? Meskill: I cannot answer that question. I don't know the answer to that. Rep. Rice: Okay. Thank you. Mr Chairman. Security Our Nation's Chemical Facilities: Building on the Progress of the CFATS Program, House Committee on Homeland Security, February 27, 2019. YouTube 649 Views Witnesses: David Wulf: Director, Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security Nathan Anderson: Acting Director, Homeland Security & Justice, US Government Accountability Office Sound Clips: 2:30 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): Through CFATS, DHS works with chemical facility owners and operators to make sure they have safeguards in place to prevent a bad actor from gaining access to dangerous chemicals stored onsite. In the past, this program has enjoyed broad, bipartisan support on and off the Hill. Officials in the Bush Administration, including former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, were among the first to call for a federal rule to secure chemical facilities. And, officials from the Trump Administration are among the most recent. Last November, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote to Congress urging us to reauthorize CFATS: “[W]e continue to face one of the most serious terrorist threat environments since 9/11. Foreign terrorist organizations are urging recruits to use simple weapons, including toxic chemicals, to target public spaces and events.”Clearly, this threat has not abated. Yet, the Department’s authority to carry out CFATS came very close to lapsing last month that caused this Committee to pass a short-term bill extending the program until 2020. For eight years, CFATS was tied to annual appropriations cycles. Lacking the certainty of a multi-year authorization, DHS struggled to keep staff, develop long-term policies, and work with a regulated community that did not know if the rules would apply the following year. In 2014, Congress worked on a bicameral, bipartisan basis to finally put an end to this pattern by passing a multi-year authorization. I had hoped to work collaboratively in the last Congress, as we did in 2014, to give CFATS a long-term reauthorization. Unfortunately, that did not come to pass, and we once again found ourselves with no alternative but to pass another short-term extension. As Chairman, I do not intend to let that happen again. 5:30 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): Six years ago, there was a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas that caused catastrophic damage and took the lives of first responders who had been called to the scene. On the screen above you is a picture of that scene where volunteer firemen went to that location not knowing what they were going to and they lost their lives. So we need to close that loophole because as a volunteer fireman myself, those public spirited first responders did not know what they were going to until it was too late. So if CFATS had been in place those individuals probably, given the information available, would not have approached it in the same light. 6:45 Rep. Mike Rogers (AL): Now, before I begin, I would like to express my extreme disappointment that the majority staff denied the minority's requests for a witness at today's hearing. Under rule 11 of the rules of the house, the minority is afforded at least one witness at each committee hearing. If denied a witness, the minority is entitled to a separate hearing to take testimony from its witnesses. So pursuant to rules of the house, I'm providing the chairman with a letter signed by the Republican members of the community, formerly invoking our right to a separate hearing of the full committee to hear from minority witnesses. 8:40 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): Consistent with the rules that we adopted for this committee, similar to the rules we've had before, we offered a government witness to this government panel and from my understanding, that was not accepted. But you could have had a government witness and we will respond in writing, but the rules we apply are the same rules that this committee has always operated under. 18:30 Nathan Anderson: I will speak first to the department's efforts to identify high risk chemical facilities. Just identifying the universe of facilities that should even be regulated under CFATS has been and may always be a huge challenge. There's no one complete data source of facilities that have chemicals. In 2014 we found that DHS used self reported and unverified data to determine the risk of facilities holding toxic chemicals that could threaten surrounding communities if released. We recommended that DHS should better verify the accuracy of facility reported data. Dhs implemented this recommendation by revising its methodology so it now calculates the risk of toxic release rather than relying on facilities to do so. 20:15 Nathan Anderson: A key quality assurance function involves actions to ensure compliance. And in 2015 we reported that DHS had conducted compliance inspections at 83 of the roughly 1700 facilities with approved security plans. At that time, we found that nearly half of the respective facilities were not fully compliant with their approved security plans and the DHS did not have documented procedures for managing facilities compliance. We recommended that DHS document procedures for managing compliance. As a result, DHS revise CFATS procedures, which we are currently reviewing to determine if they sufficiently document the processes being used to track on compliant facilities and ensure facilities implement plan measures as outlined in their security plans. On a positive note, DHS recently told us that they have conducted more than 2000 compliance inspections. 23:00 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): You saw the picture on the screen earlier about the 12 first responders in West, Texas who unfortunately lost their lives because they were basically responding to an incident that we could possibly cover under CFATS. Now the law requires DHS to share such information as is necessary so Mr. Anderson, you indicated in your testimony that GAO surveyed first responders and emergency planners last year about whether such critical information is getting shared. Tell us what you found in that survey. Nathan Anderson: Of course. As part of our work, we looked at 13, or interviewed 13 or 15 local emergency planning committees. These committees cover about 373 high risk facilities. And 13 of those 15 local emergency planning committees did not have access to the information in CFATS that could potentially be useful to first responders and emergency planners. 27:30 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): So the majority of the information that was available just was not being shared. Nathan Anderson: I think it's a situation of access. DHS has stood up something called the IP Gateway, which is a forum and a vehicle for communicating that kind of information to first responders. I think this is a situation where the first responders either did not have access or were not familiar with how to use the IP Gateway system. Rep. Thompson: So Mr. Wulf, can you provide the committee with, what do you see as the way forward in this respect? David Wulf: Absolutely, Mr Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity. So obviously, sharing of information with first responders is of the utmost importance and it's something that we highly prioritize as a result. Those who may be called upon to respond to incidents at facilities, high risk facilities or other facilities holding chemicals, need information about those facilities. They need information about the chemical holdings so they know what they are walking into when they attempt to save lives and property. So we have redoubled our efforts over the past couple of years to reach to local emergency planning committees. In fact, in 2018 we visited more than 800 of those local emergency planning committees and we are right now in the midst of a push to reach committees, emergency planning committees, associated with the highest populations CFATS covered facilities in the various counties, the top 25% of those counties across the country. I think another important thing to remember is that CFATS and our chemical security inspectors across the country promote sharing of information with first responders and do that in a way that connects them directly with the facilities. So one of the CFATS risk based performance standards, RPBS nine, was focused on response and it requires that every high risk facility reach out to make contact with their local first responders. And in many cases, our inspectors - our CFATS team - facilitates that contact and that communication. So I think that is another important way in which we are continuing to get the word out and we're pushing, as well, information about that IP Gateway and signing more and more folks up every day to give them access to the portal. Rep. Thompson: Before I lose my time, you know, there was this requirement that at least 25% that you referenced in your comments would be done by the end of March. Where are you percentage wise with hitting that target? Wulf: We're on track to have that done by the end of March. Rep. Thompson: And after that, what's the next target? Wulf: We will continue, you know, circling back and we have, we have met with literally thousands of local emergency planning committees and we're committed to continuing to, to ride that circuit and to ensure that relevant folks, those who have a need to know information about chemical facilities and chemical holdings because they may be called to run into those facilities, have the information. Rep. Thompson: Well, the reason I say that, as I look at the membership of the committee present, a lot of us represent volunteer fire departments in our respective districts. So I think it's really incumbent upon us to push this information out to those departments so that those first responders - who are unpaid doing their civic duty - would not be put at risk simply because the information that's available is not being shared. Can you give the committee some kind of a guesstimate as to when the process can be completed? Wulf: Well, I would say that it's going to be an ongoing, kind of continuing effort. I don't think we will ever stop the outreach, but we will get through those 25%, sort of highest density counties in the next month. I would, I would suspect that, you know, toward the end of this calendar year, we will have gotten to most of the other LEPCs across the country as well. 45:00 Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (NM): In the questions that Chairman Thompson asked, we, I'm glad to hear the DHS is on track for the March 2019 a deadline for doing the outreach to the, uh, high risk chemical facilities. Does that information sharing, uh, include the specific chemical holdings stored, uh, on the sites that the first responders will be responding to? David Wulf: Yes, it does. So first responders who have a facility in their sort of area of jurisdiction can have access and we want them to have access to that information. 47:30 Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (NM): We also discussed a little bit the outreach that's done to employees of facility plans, so the training and exercise and drills that are done, but also limiting access on a need to know basis. I'd like to know a little bit about the input requirement, that there's a requirement to get input from at least one employee, where applicable, or a labor union representative in forming the facility plan. Do inspectors confirm that that input requirement has been complied with? David Wulf: Inspectors will raise that issue during an inspection and will hear from facilities to what extent they have involved employees and or as, as kind of relevant, resident bargaining unit members in the process. So, yup, those discussions happen during inspections. Rep. Torres Small: Are inspectors required to speak with those employees or union representatives? Wulf: It is not a requirement. Rep. Torres Small: And if it is determined, even if they're not speaking with the employees or labor unions that there was not an employee or labor union representative consulted, does that result in disapproving of the security plan? Wulf: It does not. It does not. We sort of leave to the discretion of those who are responsible for the security of the facility, the extent to which it actually is practical to involve, you know, however many employees in the process. Rep. Torres Small: Even though the CFATS Act requires that input? Wulf Well, the CFATS Act talks about involvement to the extent practical. Rep. Torres Small: Thank you. 55:00 Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI): I'm from Michigan and we have a large number of these facilities including two in my district and then just outside my district, in Detroit, we had a big chemical fire in years past. So this one's really of interest to my community. I'm guessing my first question, Mr. Wulf is just on accountability. So how would a member of Congress know after March whether the facilities in his or her district have communicated effectively with local law enforcement that there's a shared understanding of kind of the risks? Like how would I know that after March? David Wulf: Are you talking about the communication with the first responders? Rep. Slotkin: Yeah. Because we had this Detroit fire years ago, years ago, but my understanding is we did not have full awareness by the first responders and we didn't lose anyone, but it certainly was a potential risk. So how would I feel comfort that my local responders have been informed with what they need? Wulf: So I think, um, I can tell you with confidence that all facilities within the CFATS program, all facilities covered by CFATS, will have made connections with their relevant local first responders. It is a, it is a requirement of the of the program. It is the focus of one of our risk based performance standards - number nine of 18. It is something that we verify and facilitate, so you can rest assured that that is happening across the 3,300 highest risk chemical facilities and their relevant first responders across the country. 59:30 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): Mr. Wulf, can you provide the committee with how many actions you've brought on facilities inspected that have been found in noncompliance? David Wulf: Sure. And I guess it's kind of a two part answer because of the way the CFATS program and our enforcement processes work. Of course, you know, we strive to work with facilities to bring them into a compliance and by and large facilities have done a good job and are in compliance with their plans. In upwards of 80 cases we have had to resort to our enforcement authorities and to issue, um, a, an administrative order that per the law, um, gives facilities a certain amount of time, um, to get their act together and, and, uh, alleviate whatever the issue might be. We've gotten to the point with five facilities where we have had to issue a civil monetary penalty. Uh, and that has proven in those cases to be the additional impetus facilities needed to come into compliance. Rep. Thompson: So everybody's in compliance. Wulf: Everybody is currently in compliance. We have, you know, it's, this is a dynamic population, right? So facilities are in different stages of perhaps working on their site security plans, getting them to approval. But facilities against which we have been forced and issued civil penalties have come into compliance. 1:00:15 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): Those two facilities in Ms. Slotkin's district, is there a directory that she can go to or is there a way that she can get with you and you can say these two facilities are compliant? David Wulf: Yes, absolutely. If they're CFATS facilities we're glad to sit down and talk through what exists. Rep. Thompson: That was really what she was trying to get to. Wulf: We're glad to get you that information and talk. Rep. Thompson: Thank you. 1:04:00 Rep. Dan Crenshaw (TX): Director Wulf, back to you. Should the risk based performance standards be modified to reflect the evolving threat from drones or other unmanned aerial vehicles? David Wulf: Yeah, so the, uh, the drones question, uh, is a, is an important one for sure. And it is a continually evolving sort of threat vector. Uh, I think as they stand the risk based performance standards, uh, account for and we certainly engage with facilities, um, on the reporting of significant incidents. Uh, and we do take in, um, you know, a decent number of reports associated with overflight or flights nearby, high risk chemical facilities of unmanned aircraft aircraft system. So I think we have the tools in place from an incident reporting standpoint. Um, our counterparts at the Federal Aviation Administration I know are working toward a broader framework, uh, and we are working with them on that for critical infrastructure. Rep. Crenshaw: Because it's prohibited under federal law to, to, to interfere with the operation of a drone right now. So is that, is that part of the conversation? I mean, to allow essentially facilities to defend themselves. Is that conversation ongoing?. Wulf: That is probably a part of the broader conversation for sure. And you know, it's, it's an issue that, um, that we had the department are, um, are looking at, not just from a chemical facility angle, but across all critical infrastructure, uh, infrastructure sectors. 1:08:30 Rep. Val Demings (FL): Mr. Wulf, my questions are for you. When DHS is considering whether a facility is high risk, do you include in that methodology or whatever process you use, would you factor in if the facility would be located to a elementary school for example, or a nursing home or hospital? David Wulf: Yes, so we factor in - it's a good question - we tier for a couple of major different threat streams, one of which focused on theft and diversion of chemicals, the other which is focused on facilities where there could be a release into a surrounding community. In those cases of release, we absolutely factor in the surrounding population. One of the things we were able to make some significant headway on, as we kind of basked in the stability that was afforded by long term authorization, was a complete retooling of our risk assessment methodology. So we're now more accurately able to model those surrounding populations and tier more accurately. Rep. Demings: Also studies show that chemical facilities tend to be concentrated in low income and minority communities. In determining facility risks, does DHS consider whether a facility is in close proximity to other chemical facilities that could exacerbate the impact of an attack on an already vulnerable population? Wulf: We certainly consider what is in the surrounding area by way of, by way of population as we do our tiering. Rep. Demings: And so when you consider the proximity to those populations, those low income already very vulnerable areas, what do you factor into? What is it exactly that you were considering or looking at? Wulf: Well, we are considering where the population is located in proximity to a facility and we are kind of modeling, you know, were there to be an incident that caused a release of chemicals, what part of that population would be impacted and what number of fatalities could potentially occur as we're thinking about the tiering. Rep. Demings: Okay. So when you say where the population is located, what exactly does that mean? Could you help me with that? Wulf: It means like how many people are located either, you know, during the day or at night in their homes and their businesses and in the schools and how close they are to the facility and then we look at what type of chemical we're talking about, what quantities of chemicals we're talking about, what the prospect is for release of those chemicals, what quantity could be released. And then there's sort of a plume modeling effort designed to get us to a place where we can kind of model what the consequences would be of a release of chemicals caused by a terrorist. 1:30:30 Rep. Max Rose (NY): Moving on in terms of the voluntary participation of the private sector, it seems as if this is actually a great case in which we have been very successful in that regard. What type of lessons learned can we draw out of this to transfer it to issues of cybersecurity, general counter terrorism.... Where we have to involve the private sector but we're often struggling to get them to come forward? What type of lessons learned can we glean from this? David Wulf: In this case, we do have a regulatory framework, so there's, you know, there's an obligation for facilities and companies that operate facilities that have threshold quantities of chemicals of interest in our regulation to report information to us and if they're assessed as high risk, to be part of the program, to develop site security plans and be subjected to inspections. But I would say that on a purely voluntary basis, the chemical industry writ large, and that cuts across a variety of critical infrastructure sectors, has been fully committed and bought in to this program and has helped us to drive forward key improvements to the program. So one of the ways that happens is through something we call the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council Framework. So we bring together, sector councils, of chemical industry or as the case may be, oil and natural gas industry folks, to talk about ways in which we can continue to enhance our respective critical infrastructure protection and or chemicals security efforts and I do think that is a good model and it's one that the department is also using on the cybersecurity front and across other… Rep. Rose: I take it that the best model in this case was that this was mandatory with private sector involvement. That was the pathway to success then. Wulf: The regulatory framework I think has, has helped for sure. Rep. Rose: Thank you. 1:40:30 David Wulf: CFATS is focused, you know, I think appropriately as a risk based program, and it's targeted at America's highest risk facilities. So those facilities at the highest risk of terrorist attack or or exploitation, that's less than 10% of the facilities that submit top screens for risk assessment by us. 1:42:00 David Wulf: Well, you know, CFATS is a non prescriptive program. We can't require any specific measures. 1:48:30 Rep. Al Green (TX): The CFATS Act of 2014, which requires DHS to create an experimental new program. DHS has performed diligently and the program has been implemented and it seems that as of June 2018 only 18 facilities have taken advantage of this program. And my query is, does it make good sense to keep a program that appeals to 18 facilities? I'm sure that there are some other projects that merit our attention. There are some other goals that we should review in the area of Cybersecurity, first responder outreach, and DHS probably has a lot of energy that it has put into this, that may have been used otherwise. So quickly, if you would please give me some sense of why a program that has accommodated 18 facilities at some, some great expense should be maintained. David Wulf: I appreciate the remarks and that is a fair question. You're referring to the expedited approval program that enables, on an expedited basis, the certification of facility security plans where those facilities adhere to a prescriptive list of security measures. I think it is fair to say, as you noted, that a very small number of facilities have taken advantage - have availed themselves of the program. Rep. Green: If I may, just so that we may understand the size of the language. When you say "small", how many could have taken advantage of it and juxtapose that to the number that have. Wulf: Yeah. So it applies to three, tier three and four facilities, so that would be 90% of our regulated universe could have taken advantage. So upwards of 2,500 facilities could have. Rep. Green: And of the 2,500, 18…? Wulf: 18 have. Yes. I think some of that owes itself to the fact that most facilities were well through the process of developing their site security plans a through the normal process at the time the expedited approval program was rolled out, though we certainly, you know, did our best to publicize it's availability and the fact that most facilities appreciate the contact that they're able to have with inspectors throughout the normal process of developing their site security plan. It tends to improve those plans. So, you know, although we've had a few additional facilities since the reach hearing of facilities occurred within the last couple of years that have availed themselves of the program, the overall number is very small. And the fact of the matter is that our online system through which facilities develop their SSPs is now significantly more streamlined, significantly more user friendly, so this is certainly less incentive to use this other program. Rep. Green: I don't mean to be rude and unrefined but I have to ask him because I have another question. Is it time to review this other program so that we can ascertain whether or not it is something that we should continue with? Wulf: I would say yes, certainly time to, to take a hard look at it. Green: Okay. 1:51:30 Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO): Because the EPA no longer updates a list of the locations these facilities, chemical facilities, it's difficult for me to just pinpoint exactly where they are. 1:57:45 Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS): A couple of takeaways. Mr. Wulf, I think based on what I heard, I think it would help us if you could provide us a with a master list of the facilities that have been regulated. I think that would help a lot. Sound Clip Sources Article: The day after Mueller, The Intercept, March 27, 2019. News Report: Timeline: ITC chemical tank fire in Deer Park, KHOU 11, March 25, 2019. News Release: Statement from the US Chemical Safety Board on recent tank fires in Deer Park, TX, CSB, March 21, 2019. News Report: Manifold leak blamed as initial cause of massive storage tank fire in Deer Park, KHOU 11 Investigates, March 19, 2019. Video: West TX plant explosion, KTBC Fox 7 Austin, April 18, 2013. Video: West Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion with FD EMS PD Radio Traffic, Alertpage, YouTube, April 18, 2013. Music Video Clip: Can I Get a Witness by Marvin Gaye, Vlipsy. Additional Reading Report: Regional emphasis program for fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) and agricultural anhydrous ammonia facilities, OSHA Regional Notice, U.S. Department of Labor, October 1, 2018. Article: Remembering, healing together: Five years after blast, West is rebuilt but emotional tripwires remain by J.B. Smith, Waco Tribune-Herald, April 16, 2018. News: CFATS personnel surety program expanding to tier 3 and tier 4 high-risk chemical facilities, Roberts Law Group News, Chemical Security Gropu LLC, December 27, 2017. Report: West Fertilizer Explosion and Fire: Final Report, CSB, January 29, 2016. Article: Former Oregonian Mariano Saldivar, killed in Texas plant explosion, will be laid to rest Monday by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian/Oregon Live, April 25, 2013. Report: Death toll in West, Texas, fertilizer explosion rises to 15 by Bill Chappell, NPR, April 23, 2013. Resources BASF: Statement of Income, BASF Report 2018 H.R.251: Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Extension Act H.R.4007: Sponsor and co-sponsors of the CFACTS Act of 2014 Homeland Security: CFATS and the Executive Order 13650 Homeland Security: CFATS Expedited Approval Program Homeland Security: CFATS Tiering Methodology Homeland Security: Risk-Based Performance Standards (RBPS) Homeland Security Publication: Risk-Based Performance Standards Guidance: Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, May 2009. GovInfo.gov: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Register, December 27, 2017. LinkedIn Profile: David Wulf, Director, Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Website: CSB.gov Community Suggestions See Community Suggestions HERE. 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)

The South African National Editors Forum, Media Monitoring Africa and the Support Public Broadcasting Coalition have raised concerns over the latest draft Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill. The organisations say as a national key point, the SABC is likely to be designated as critical infrastructure once the bill becomes law. This will allow for the security vetting of SABC's editorial staff. Tsepiso Makwetla spoke to SANEF's Executive Director, Kate Skinner

Cybercrime and cyberwarfare are both on the rise. From businesses large and small to national governments, the question is not if they will experience a cyberattack, but when, how much damage will be done and how long the recovery process will be. In this week’s episode, we discuss the cybersecurity landscape and how businesses and governments can most effectively work together to mitigate risks. Joining World Affairs CEO Jane Wales are digital security experts Ray Rothrock, CEO of RedSeal and author of “Digital Resilience,” and Richard Clarke, former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism and most recently, author of “Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes.” We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

The United States federal government had shutdown on the midnight of Saturday. Craig joins Jack Heath to talk about the government shutdown and how it impacts technology within the government, without the government, or outside of the government. With this current government shutdown a forecast of more than half of the employees at the Department of Homeland Security Cyber and Infrastructure Protection wing are being furloughed. How else can we be protected? More tech updates over at CraigPeterson.com --- More stories and tech updates at: www.craigpeterson.com Don't miss an episode from Craig. Subscribe and give us a rating: www.craigpeterson.com/itunes Follow me on Twitter for the latest in tech at: www.twitter.com/craigpeterson For questions, call or text: 855-385-5553

Richard Clarke (@ghsrm) is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States. These days he is a best-selling author as well as the Chairman of Good Harbor Consulting and Good Harbour International, two strategic planning and corporate risk management firms. We touch on the principals of leadership that are contained in a number of the books he has written. And we also review some of the cutting edge technologies that are starting to impact the world today and his view. Richard has a number of areas where is if very knowledgeable so the conversation covers a lot of ground. As you may be able to tell I was very excited to talk to Richard.

My guest today is Richard Clarke, the co-author of “Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes.” Richard was also the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States. He worked for the government starting with Ronald Reagan's Presidency and continued to move up the ladder until he resigned in 2003 under President George W. Bush's presidency. The topic is his book Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes. In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss: The Gulf War Islamist terrorism World Trade Center bombing Osama bin Laden The underestimation of Al-Qaida Forcing democracy on the world 9-11 War on Iraq Global Warming Jump in! --- I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show. To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/ You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/ Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast My social media platforms: Twitter: @covel Facebook: @trendfollowing LinkedIn: @covel Instagram: @mikecovel Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Richard Clarke is co-author of “Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes.” Richard was also the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States. He worked for the government starting with Ronald Reagan’s Presidency and continued to move up the ladder until he resigned in 2003 under President George W. Bush’s presidency. Was there a starting point to Islamist terrorism? Were American’s affected much by the Gulf War? What was some red flags raised about the World Trade Center bombing? What are Cassandras? What did we know, and what were some warning signs at the time of 9-11? Why did we still go to war after 9-11 when the evidence was so lacking to go into Iraq? Michael and Richard go through these questions and many more throughout the podcast. Michael ends the interview asking Richard, “How can you see the next 10 to 20 years unfolding?” In this episode of Trend Following Radio: The Gulf War Islamist terrorism World Trade Center bombing Osama bin Laden The underestimation of Al-Qaida Forcing democracy on the world 9-11 War on Iraq Global Warming

Richard Clarke (@ghsrm) is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism for the United States, and is the co-author of Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes. "When you're a bureaucrat -- an unelected official -- it's not a popularity contest. You don't have to be popular; you just have to get the job done." -Richard Clarke The Cheat Sheet: What is the Cassandra Coefficient? Discover how to use the Cassandra Coefficient to filter signal from noise when it comes to warnings. Understand how to spot our own cognitive biases and what we can do to diminish their effect on our decisions. Learn to persuade people to see things from our perspective and motivate them to take action. Find out what someone at the top levels of government does when their personal politics don't agree with those of the current administration. And so much more... Full show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/645/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! Are you trying to hire the right person for your business, but the best candidates keep slipping away? Let ZipRecruiter -- the fastest way to hire great people -- help you screen only the best here! With Business Platinum from American Express, it's not about where you are, it's about where you want to take your business next. Explore the Power of The Business Platinum Card here! SmartMouth is the only activated oral rinse clinically proven to eliminate existing bad breath and prevent it from returning for a full twelve hours per rinse. Visit SmartMouth.com to get an in-depth, scientific analysis of how SmartMouth is able to deliver such incredible results! Today, over a million people use the amazing Ring video doorbell to help protect their homes. Save up to $150 off a Ring of Security kit when you go to ring.com/charm! You know James Altucher -- he's been on The Art of Charm, and Jordan's been on his show. We share a lot of similar guests, but we ask different questions. Check out The James Altucher Show here! Does your business have an Internet presence? Now save a whopping 50% on new webhosting packages here with HostGator by using coupon code CHARM! Free yourself from typing notes, reports, and documents by going with the transcriptionists we trust here at AoC: TranscriptionOutsourcing.net -- 99% or higher accuracy guaranteed! HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! If you dig the show, please subscribe in iTunes and write us a review! This is what helps us stand out from the crowd and help people find the credible advice they need. Review the show in iTunes! We rely on it! http://www.theartofcharm.com/mobilereview Stay Charming!

My guest this week is Jim Linn, Managing Director of Information Technology of American Gas Association. In an association, this simply means he is the “top dog” with IT. What is fascinating about my guest today is that he built his own ISAC (information Sharing and Analysis Center) from scratch to service his industry - Natural Gas, which is part of the critical infrastructure of the US. He is the Executive Director for the Downstream Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center (DNG-ISAC). By Far Jim has the most industry certification I have ever seen: B.S. degree in Computer Systems Management from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Drexel University He is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer Certified Information Systems Security Professional Certified Association Executive  Certified Information Systems Auditor. Jim is quiet spoken but as I talked with him the word WISDOM kept popping up for me. Lessons and wins for you as you listen are: Learn what an ISAC is and what it does. Why it is hard to upgrade critical infrastructure components What is DHS – AIS automated Indicator Sharing Learn about ISAO - Information Sharing Analysis Organization Emphasis of the value of ‘Service’ as a CIO Being a mentor and Finding a mentor Volunteering in your community to develop leadership skills Building Communications skills, e.g. via toastmasters, etc. Relationships: The importance of an IT Leader to build relationships The importance of recognizing how hard critical infrastructure (Gas and Electric) personnel is working their tails off to be secure Be cautious but proud of the work you do How current information sharing (such as ISAC) works and his vision for the future with DoE, DoD, NIST, DHS, etc. About Jim Linn: Jim has spent the past 30 years of his career in Information Technology and Cybersecurity management with several non-profit organizations in the Washington, DC area. He is presently Managing Director, Information Technology for the American Gas Association,and has been for the past nineteen years.  Prior to that he spent eight years as IT Director for the Chemical Manufacturers Association.  He planned IT projects and set technical direction for both of these organizations.  In addition, he is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer, Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Certified Association Executive, Certified Information Systems Auditor, and holds many other industry certifications. In recent years Jim has split his time between internal IT responsibilities and industry responsibilities. Jim is the information technology cybersecurity subject matter expert for AGA’s cybersecurity Strategy Task Force.  In this capacity he has administered cybersecurity reviews with a number of natural gas utilities and also serves as Executive Director for the Downstream Natural Gas ISAC (https://www.dngisac.com/). He is the staff executive for AGA’s Customer Service Committee and Technology Advisory Council.  In these capacities he serves senior leaders in the fields of Customer Service and Information Technology within the natural gas distribution industry.  The Customer Service area includes an annual benchmarking effort, two workshops and a large conference.  The Information Technology area includes two council meetings annually. Jim has a B.S. degree in Computer Systems Management from Drexel University and an M.B.A. from Drexel University. Read full transcript here. How to get in touch with Jim Linn LinkedIn Key Resources: American Gas Association Website Interview with Energy Central Jim Linn's Profile on True Blue Natural Gas Blog This episode is sponsored by the CIO Scoreboard, a powerful tool that helps you communicate the status of your IT Security program visually in just a few minutes. Credits: * Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound Other Ways To Listen to the Podcast iTunes | Libsyn | Soundcloud | RSS | LinkedIn Leave a Review If you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving an iTunes review here Click here for instructions on how to leave an iTunes review if you're doing this for the first time. About Bill Murphy Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.

TFE - Radio: The Pilots Episode #13: "The Truth" - Thursday January 23rd 2014. In this #tbt 4Th episode of 2014, hosted by James "Strength" Navarro, the topics that will be discussed and talked about will include: - Host, for the HBO political talk show "Real Time with Bill Maher": Bill Maher.... - The former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism for the United States: Richard A.Clarke.... - American radio show host, documentary filmmaker, writer, and conspiracy theorist: Alex Jones.... And, so much more in this packed near 2 1/2 hour, 4Th show of 2014! - TFE - Radio - Full Description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db6z1cL8fp0 TFE - Radio: Get a FREE audio book download and 30 day FREE trial with Amazon's AudibleTrial.com! http://www.audibletrial.com/TFERadio

WASHINGTON, DC — With countries like Russia and China launching cyber attacks on a daily basis and reports that the CIA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security were hacked, The Ripon Society held a breakfast discussion that looked at the importance of protecting America in the digital age and featured three leaders in Congress who are working to achieve that goal. The leaders included: Congressman John Ratcliffe (TX-4), who serves as Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection & Security Technologies; Congressman Pat Meehan (PA-7), who Chaired the Cybersecurity Subcommittee prior to Ratcliffe before being appointed to a seat on the Ways & Means Committee late last year; and, Congressman Randy Neugebauer (TX-19), who serves as Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit and outlined the scope of the cyber challenge in his opening remarks.

Philip Reitinger, a former “Deputy Under Secretary” for U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a Director of the National Cyber-Security Center (NCSC) and currently President and CEO of Global Cyber Alliance participates in Risk Roundup to discuss Complex Security Challenges of Critical Infrastructure Protection. Complex Security Challenges of Critical Infrastructure Protection Irrespective of private or […] The post Complex Security Challenges of Critical Infrastructure Protection appeared first on Risk Group.

CISA - the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act - has officially passed the Senate. While Congress is busy merging CISA with two other so-called cybersecurity bills that passed the House of Representatives, in this episode, by taking an in-depth look at the contents of all three bills, we discover that these bills are not what you're being lead to believe. 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! S. 754: Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 Passed the Senate 74-21 on October 27, 2015. Sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina 118 pages Outline of the Bill Definitions: "Agency" = "Any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency, but does not include — The Government Accountability Office Federal Election Commission The governments of the District of Columbia and of the territories and possessions of the United States, and their various subdivisions Government-owned contractor-operated facilities, including laboratories engaged in national defense research and production activities "Cybersecurity threat" = An action "not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution" that "may result in an unauthorized effort to adversely impact the security, availability, confidentiality, or integrity of an information system or information that is stored on, processed by, or transiting an information system." A "cybersecurity threat" does not include "any action that soley involves a violation of a consumer term of service or a consumer licensing agreement. "Cyber threat indicator" = Information that is needed to identify - Spying, including strange patterns of communications that appear to be collecting technical information Security breaches Security vulnerabilities A legitimate user being used to defeat a security system Malicious cyber command and control The harm caused by a cybersecurity incident, including the information taken as a result "Any other attribute of a cybersecurity threat, if disclosure of such attribute is not otherwise prohibited by law" "Entity" = "Any private entity, non-Federal government agency or department, or State, tribal, or local government (including a political subdivision, department, or component thereof) Does not include "a "foreign power", which means a foreign government or a foreign based political organization. Sharing of Information by the Federal Government Executive branch officials will write procedures for sharing classified and unclassified "cyber threat indicators" and Federal government information that would help the "entities" to prevent cybersecurity threats. The officials writing the rules will be the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General. The rules they write have to: Ensure "cyber threat indicators" can be shared in real time Include notification procedures for false alarms Include requirements for the Federal government agencies to protect against unauthorized access to the information Requires a Federal entity sharing information to remove personal information Include notification procedures for people whose personal information is shared by the government. Their procedures will be due 60 days after CISA becomes law. Monitoring Authorizations Private companies can monitor their own information systems, other private information systems or Federal information systems with permission, and monitor "information that is stored on, processed by, or transiting these information systems" Entities can share with and receive information from any other entity or the Federal government. Before sharing information, it must be reviewed and information known to be personal information "at the time of the sharing" must be removed. With the written consent of the sharing entity, information shared with a State, tribal, or local government may be used for "preventing, investigating, or prosecuting"...* An "imminent threat of death, serious bodily harm, or serious economic harm" Identity theft, transfers of stolen identification, possession of false identification, Unauthorized use of any card, plate, code, account number, or any equipment that can be used to transfer funds (fraud), Use of a "telecommunication instrument" that's been altered to obtain unauthorized use of telecommunications services", Hacking and releasing government or banking information, Extortion Harboring a criminal, Collection and/or communication of information about United States defense activities and infrastructure, or failure to report a defense data breach Disclosure of classified information Violations, or attempted violations, of NASA regulations Unauthorized use of trade secrets The information shared with the government as a "cyber threat indicator" will be except from public disclosure under any State, tribal or local law. Companies will not be punished under antitrust laws for sharing information with each other "for cybersecurity purposes" Sharing of Information by "Entities" with the Federal Government The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security will write the policies and procedures governing receipt of information from private entities and local governments. The policies must include... An automated system for sharing information with "all of the appropriate Federal entities" as quickly as possible Rules governing "the retention, use, and dissemination" of the information received by the Federal Government. Audit capabilities "Sanctions" for Federal employees who break the law The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland will publicly publish guidelines explaining what qualifies as a cyber threat indicator The Attorney General, with help from "private entities", will have 180 days to create guidelines for privacy and civil liberties that will govern how the Federal Government uses the information it receives The privacy guidelines will be reviewed every two years The Attorney General will determine how long the information will be kept by the government The Department of Homeland Security will receive and distribute all of the cyber threat indicators shared with the government. Information shared will be withheld from the public under the Freedom of Information Act and all State, tribal, and local laws. In addition to the items of the list of allowed uses of information by State, tribal, and local governments (see Monitoring Authorizations section), the Federal Government can also use the information to... "Prevent or mitigate a serious threat to a minor, including sexual exploitation and threats to their physical safety" Protection from Liability No private entity can be successfully sued in court for sharing information with the government under CISA regulations. The only way a private entity can be sued is in the cast of "gross negligence or willful misconduct" Oversight of Government Activities Federal Inspectors General will complete a report every two years. The report may include recommendations for improvement Other Rules This bill does not permit price-fixing, attempting to monopolize a market, boycotting, or exchanges of price or cost information, customer lists, or information regarding future competitive planning. Intrusion Assessment Plan The Secretary of Homeland Security will create a plan to identify and remove intruders on agency information systems. The plan will not apply to the Department of Defense, a national security system or an element of the intelligence community. The deployment and operation of the new monitoring system can be privatized The private contractor would not be allowed to disclose any of the information they access without permission from the government The private contractor will have immunity from prosecution Internet service providers can not use their immunity to break a user agreement with a customer without their customer's consent The activities carried out in this new monitoring plan need to be "reasonably necessary" to protect agency information systems from cybersecurity risks Federal Cybersecurity Requirements Agencies will have to encrypt or render indecipherable information that is stored or transmitted by their information systems, create a single sign-in method for individuals accessing their websites, and implement identity management systems for remote access for each user account. This will not apply to the Department of Defense, a national security system, or elements of the intelligence community. Emergencies The Secretary of Homeland Security can authorize "intrusion detection and prevention capabilities" on another agency's information systems in the case of an "imminent threat" Study on Mobile Device Security The Secretary of Homeland Security will study threats caused by the shift of technology from desktops to mobile in the Federal Government Health Care Industry Sharing Creates a task force to create a plan for sharing with private health care entities specifically Strategy for Protecting Critical Infrastructure The Secretary of Homeland Security will have 180 days to develop a strategy ensuring that cyber security incidents would probably not be catastrophic for public health or safety, economic security, or national security. The strategy must include... An assessment of whether each entity should be required to report cyber security incidents A description of security gaps Additional power needed Some of this report can be classified. Sunset The provisions of this bill would expire 10 years after enactment H.R. 1731: National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015 For reference, here's the text as of March 2015 of the Homeland Security Act, which is amended by this bill. This bill: Adds "private entities" to the list of groups that will be part of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, which coordinates information sharing between the Federal government and other entities. Adds new groups to the list of who will be included in the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center who will coordinate with all sizes of businesses. Expands the type of information that the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center will share between the Federal government, local governments, and private sector. Authorizes the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to share information internationally. Requires the government and businesses to use existing technology to "rapidly advance" implementation of "automated mechanisms" for sharing between the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and Federal agencies. Participation by non-Federal entities will be voluntary. Agreements that exist before this bill is signed into law will be deemed compliant with this law. All participating entities need to take "reasonable efforts to remove information that can be used to identity specific persons". There's no listed punishments if they don't. The Under Secretary for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection will create policies for governing the use of information shared with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center 180 days AFTER the bill becomes law. He/she will also be responsible for creating "sanctions" for government employees who disregard his/her privacy policies. Private entities that share information will have immunity from lawsuits, if they share information according to this law. If the Federal government breaks this law, it will have to pay the person actual damages or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus attorneys fees. There is a two year statute of limitations. This law will trump state laws that limit information sharing. The law would sunset 7 years after enactment. Passed 355-63 in the House Sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas 60 pages H.R. 1560: Protecting Cyber Networks Act Contains the text of H.R. 1731: National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act Within 90 days of enactment, the Director of National Intelligence must develop procedures for sharing classified "cyber threat indicators" with "non-Federal entities" Allows cybersecurity monitoring of government systems to be privatized Allows "non-Federal entities" to share information to with anyone other than the Defense Department. The entity sharing information must "take reasonable efforts" to remove personally identifiable information on people "not directly related" to the cybersecurity threat. The President will develop polices governing what happens to information received by the Federal Government, within 90 days of the bill becoming law. The Attorney General will create policies relating to privacy and civil liberties, within 90 days of the bill becoming law. A new branch, with 50 or less employees, will be created within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, which will "serve as the primary organization within the Federal Government for analyzing and integrating all intelligence possessed or acquired by the United States pertaining to cyber threats." Information shared with the government is exempt from public disclosure. Information given to the government "shall not be subject to a rule of any Federal department or agency or any judicial doctrine regarding ex parte communications with a decision-making official." The government can keep and use information given to it to investigate, prosecute, prevent or mitigate a threat of "death or serious bodily harm or an offense arising out of such a threat" and to investigate, prosecute, prevent or mitigate a threat to a minor. The information can also be used to prevent, investigation, disrupt, or prosecute fraud, unauthorized access to computers and transmission of information taken from it, "serious violent felonies" including murder, manslaughter, assault, sexual abuse, kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, extortion, firearms use, firearms possession, or attempt to commit any of these crimes, espionage including photographing or sketching defense installations, and theft of trade secrets. Passed 307-116 in the House Sponsored by Rep. Devin Nunes of California 121 pages Audio Sources Senate Floor Proceeding CISA debate, October 27, 2015 (Transcript) House Rules Committee: Hearing about HR 1731 and HR 1560, the House cybersecurity bills, April 21, 2015 Additional Information Article: The fight over CISA is far from over by Eric Geller, The Daily Dot, October 28, 2015. Webpage: About the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, Department of Homeland Security. Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

In episode 015 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, Chris Knutson interviews Dr. A.J. Briding, an emergency management and homeland security expert with over 40 years of experience who talks about the issues of infrastructure resilience and critical infrastructure protection.  He currently does consulting work in the homeland security arena, but started off as a distinguished graduate […] The post TCEP 015: The Importance of Resiliency and Critical Infrastructure Protection as a Civil Engineer – The Civil Engineering Podcast appeared first on Engineering Management Institute.

Medicare, cybersecurity, favors for banks, mortgages, IRS bullying, a tax cut for the rich, and a couple of good ideas are highlighted from the law and bills that passed Congress in April. 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! Laws H.R. 2: Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR): Enacted in 1997, the SGR paid doctors for Medicare patients based on the growth in gross domestic product (GDP). If Medicare costs increased more than GDP, doctors payments were cut across the board. According to the American College of Physicians, this formula for payment has meant that the Medicare payment rate to doctors is essentially the same as it was in 2001 and cuts have been postponed so many times that doctors' payments would have been cut by 21% if this bill was not signed into law by April 1. This new law: Repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for Medicare payments to doctors. Increases payments to doctors by 0.5% through 2019 while the payment rate transitions away from a pay-per-service model. The new system will be based on scores assessed by a "Merit-based Incentive Payment System" which will be created by the Secretary of Health and Human Services which will go into effect on January 1, 2019. A list of "quality measures" will be posted every November and doctors can choose which one's will be used in their performance assessments. Doctors will be rated and paid based on a performance score from 0 to 100, which will take improvement into account starting in the second year of the program. The GAO will report on the effectiveness of the system by October 1, 2021. An advisory committee will be created to propose alternative payment models, which will be lump sum payments to group practices and medical homes. Sets a goal for Medicare records to be electronic nation-wide by December 31, 2018. Extends a bunch of existing Medicare programs, including the Children's Health Insurance Program (which covers low income kids whose parents make too much for Medicaid) for two years. Doubles the length of Medicare administrator contracts from five to ten years. Expands nationally a prior authorization requirement for "repetitive scheduled non-emergent ambulance transport" Prohibits the printing of social security numbers on Medicare cards Pays for the new system by... Denying access to policies with no out of pocket costs to people who enter Medicare after January 1, 2020. For all future beneficiaries, they will have to pay at least $147 per year (the cost of the Medicare Part B deductible). Increasing the premiums for relatively high income individuals. People who have a gross income between $133,501 and $160,000 ($267,000 and $320,000 for a couple) will pay a 65% premium instead of 50%, and people above that will pay an 80% premium rate. This would increase with inflation beginning in 2020. Has a huge increase in the levy that the Treasury Department can impose on tax delinquent service providers, increasing it from 30% to 100%, effective on October 16, 2015. Will have auditors distribute information about improper payments to help reduce the number of them. Creates a paper-free option for Medicare notices, saving mail fees. The effect this bill will have on the budget will not be counted. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates this bill will increase the budget deficit by $141 billion. Passed 392-37 in the House and 92-8 in the Senate Sponsored by Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas 95 pages Bills H.R. 1731: National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015 For reference, here's the text as of March 2015 of the Homeland Security Act, which is amended by this bill. This bill: Adds "private entities" to the list of groups that will be part of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, which coordinates information sharing between the Federal government and other entities. Adds new groups to the list of who will be included in the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center who will coordinate with all sizes of businesses. Expands the type of information that the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center will share between the Federal government, local governments, and private sector. Authorizes the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to share information internationally. Requires the government and businesses to use existing technology to "rapidly advance" implementation of "automated mechanisms" for sharing between the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center and Federal agencies. Participation by non-Federal entities will be voluntary. Agreements that exist before this bill is signed into law will be deemed compliant with this law. All participating entities need to take "reasonable efforts to remove information that can be used to identity specific persons". There's no listed punishments if they don't. The Under Secretary for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection will create policies for governing the use of information shared with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center 180 days AFTER the bill becomes law. He/she will also be responsible for creating "sanctions" for government employees who disregard his/her privacy policies. Private entities that share information will have immunity from lawsuits, if they share information according to this law. If the Federal government breaks this law, it will have to pay the person actual damages or $1,000, whichever is higher, plus attorneys fees. There is a two year statute of limitations. This law will trump state laws that limit information sharing. The law would sunset 7 years after enactment. Passed 355-63 in the House Sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas 60 pages H.R. 1560: Protecting Cyber Networks Act Contains the text of H.R. 1731: National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act Within 90 days of enactment, the Director of National Intelligence must develop procedures for sharing classified "cyber threat indicators" with "non-Federal entities" Allows cybersecurity monitoring of government systems to be privatized Allows "non-Federal entities" to share information to with anyone other than the Defense Department. The entity sharing information must "take reasonable efforts" to remove personally identifiable information on people "not directly related" to the cybersecurity threat. The President will develop polices governing what happens to information received by the Federal Government, within 90 days of the bill becoming law. The Attorney General will create policies relating to privacy and civil liberties, within 90 days of the bill becoming law. A new branch, with 50 or less employees, will be created within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence called the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, which will "serve as the primary organization within the Federal Government for analyzing and integrating all intelligence possessed or acquired by the United States pertaining to cyber threats." Information shared with the government is exempt from public disclosure. Information given to the government "shall not be subject to a rule of any Federal department or agency or any judicial doctrine regarding ex parte communications with a decision-making official." The government can keep and use information given to it to investigate, prosecute, prevent or mitigate a threat of "death or serious bodily harm or an offense arising out of such a threat" and to investigate, prosecute, prevent or mitigate a threat to a minor. The information can also be used to prevent, investigation, disrupt, or prosecute fraud, unauthorized access to computers and transmission of information taken from it, "serious violent felonies" including murder, manslaughter, assault, sexual abuse, kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, extortion, firearms use, firearms possession, or attempt to commit any of these crimes, espionage including photographing or sketching defense installations, and theft of trade secrets. Passed 307-116 in the House Sponsored by Rep. Devin Nunes of California 121 pages H.R. 650: Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2015 Changes the definition of "Mortgage originator" to exclude mobile home retailers who take mortgage loan applications, negotiate loans, or advise consumers on loan terms (including rates, fees, and other costs) This exempts mobile home dealers from licensing, registry, a law prohibiting payment based on the terms of the loan, regulations prohibiting steering customers towards loans they can't repay or with excessive fees, regulations prohibiting mischaracterizing a customer's credit history, regulations prohibiting the mischaracterization of the appraised value of the home, or steering a customer towards a loan that's more expensive than others that they qualify for. Increases the interest banks can charge people buying a home for under $75,000 without the loan being labeled as "high-cost", which subjects the loans to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations. The regulations this would exempt the loans from: Ban balloon payments, which is an oversized payment due at the end of a mortgage Prohibit banks from charging prepayment penalties and fees Restrict late fees to four percent of the payment that is past due Bans fees for loan modification Require banks make sure the loan can be repaid before offering it Prohibit banks from recommending that a customer default on a loan Require that banks receive a confirmation that the customer has received homeownership counseling before they accept a high-cost mortgage. Would allow banks to charge $3,000 or 5% in fees for loans under $75,000, whichever is greater. Current law says banks can charge 5% for loans over $20,000, so the $3,000 fee option would hit the smaller loans the hardest. Passed the House 263-162. Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina was the only Republican no vote. The bill would be vetoed by President Obama. Sponsored by Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee He took $15,150 from Clayton Homes for the 2014 election, his #4 donor and Clayton Home's #1 recipient of funds. Jeb Hensarling, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee was Clayton Homes #2 recipient in 2014, giving him $8,750. 4 pages H.R. 685: Mortgage Choice Act of 2015 By changing the definition of what charges count as "points and fees", this bill... Reverses a Dodd-Frank requirement that charges for title insurance be counted as points and fees if they're paid to an affiliate of the bank/creditor that issued the loan. Currently, points and fees can not be greater than 3% of the loan amount, which include fees charged by affiliated settlement providers. Every thing that gets exempted from counting as "points and fees" therefore becomes additional charges the lender is allowed to tack on to a mortgage. Exempts money held in escrow for insurance from being considered points and fees, which exempt insurance charges from the fee caps. The change in definition allows more fees to be charged to mortgages, while keeping those mortgages from being classified as "high-cost" and being subject to greater restrictions. This is a zombie bill from the 113th Congress; it passed by voice vote on June 9, 2014. Passed the House 286-140. Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina was the only Republican no vote. Sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan His top three contributing industries are - in this order - Insurance ($273,265), Real Estate ($218,175), and Commercial Banks ($193,000). 4 pages H.R. 299: Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015 Federal Home Loan Banks are privately owned cooperatives, funded by the global credit market, which provide money to local banks. There are twelve of them around the country and they are owned by the member banks. Most local banks are members of least one Federal Home Loan Bank. Allows privately insured credit unions to become members of Federal Home Loan Banks if they are FDIC eligible or are certified by the State. If the State doesn't get to it in under 6 months, the application is deemed approved. Zombie bill from the 113th Congress Passed the House by voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio His top three contributing industries over the course of his four year Congressional career have been Insurance ($898,858), Commercial Banks ($534,622), and Securities and Investment ($502,098). 6 pages H.R. 1259: Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act Orders the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to create an application process for people or companies to have their location designated as "rural" This would allow residents to become eligible for certain mortgages and exempt lenders from regulations intended for urban areas, according to Phil Hall of National Mortgage Professional Magazine Sunsets after 2 years. Zombie bill from the 113th Congress Passed the House 401-1. Nydia Valazquez of New York was the only no vote. Sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky He has taken $333,800 from the Securities & Investment industry during his 3 years in Congress. 4 pages H.R. 1195: Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act Creates paid advisory boards for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made up of bankers Places limits on funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Passed the House 235-183, with 4 Democrat Ayes and 5 Republican Nays President Obama would veto the bill Sponsored by Rep. Robert Pittenger of North Carolina His #4 and #5 contributing industries are Securities & Investment and Commercial Banks; he's taken a combined $189,450 during his 3 years in Congress 7 pages H.R. 1314: Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act Became the vehicle for Trade Promotion Authority in the Senate Creates an appeal process for organizations that are denied tax-exempt status Would apply to decisions made on or after May 19, 2014. Passed the House by voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania 4 pages H.R. 1026: Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act Gives the Treasury Secretary the option of telling organizations if they are investigating a claim of unauthorized information disclosure by a government, if the investigation substantiated their claim, and if any action, including prosecution, is planned. Passed the House by a voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania 3 pages H.R. 709: Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act Allows the IRS to fire employees who steer and audit for a political purpose or for personal gain. Passed the House by a voice vote Sponsored by Rep. James Renacci of Ohio 2 pages H.R. 1104: Fair Treatment for All Gifts Act Makes gifts made to 501(c)4 "social welfare" groups, 501(c)5 labor and agricultural groups, and 501(c)6 business groups (including chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, and professional football leagues) tax exempt. Passed the House by voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois 3 pages H.R. 1058: Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act Tells the IRS Commissioner to "ensure" that IRS employees are "familiar with and act in accord" with a list of "taxpayer rights" including The right to be informed The right to quality service The right to pay no more than the correct amount of tax The right to challenge the position of the Internal Revenue Service and be heard The right to appeal a decision of the Internal Revenue Service in an independent forum The right to finality The right to privacy The right to confidentiality The right to retain representation The right to a fair and just tax system Passed the House by a voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois 3 pages H.R. 1152: IRS Email Transparency Act Prohibits IRS employees from using personal email accounts for official business Passed the House by a voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Kenny Marchant of Texas 2 pages H.R. 1105: Death Tax Repeal Act Repeals the estate tax for anyone who dies after the bill is signed Repeals the generation-skipping transfer tax, which is a tax on gifts and transfers of wealth to unrelated people who are more than 37.5 years younger than the donor, or to related people who are one generation younger. Would lower the top gift tax rate from 40 to 35 percent. The effects of this on the budget would not be counted. The CBO says this would increase the deficit by $269 billion over the next 10 years President Obama would veto the bill. Passed by 240-179 Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas 7 pages H.R. 622: State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act Permanently extends the law that allows taxpayers who itemize their claims to deduct their state's sales taxes instead of getting a deduction for their state's income taxes. The effect of this bill on the budget would not be counted. CBO says this would increase the Federal deficit by $42 billion over the next ten years. President Obama would veto the bill. Passed the House 272-152. Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina was the only Republican no vote Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas 2 pages H.R. 1562: Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2015 Stops Federal agencies from contracting with companies that are tax delinquent A waiver can be issued and the contract granted if a report is submitted to Congress saying that the contract "significantly affects the interests of the United States" Passed the House 424-0 Sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah 9 pages H.R. 471: Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act Makes the Attorney General list specific laws and regulations that a drug company is accused of violating in their notices to the companies regarding the possible suspension of their drug's registration. Allows drug companies to submit a "corrective action plan" when their drug registration may be suspended Passed the House by a voice vote Sponsored by Rep. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania His top contributing industry for the last election was the pharmaceutical industry; they gave him $55,250. 6 pages S. 971: Medicare Independence at Home Medical Practice Demonstration Improvement Act Increases the length of Medicare contracts for at-home care from 3 years to 5 years Passed the Senate by a voice vote Sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon 2 pages H.R. 373: Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act Clarifies that search and rescue volunteers are not Federal volunteers and are not entitled to Federal compensation. Releases the government from liability for allowing search and rescue teams onto Federal land so that they won't have to get insurance. The government as to approve or deny a request for a search and rescue mission within 48 hours. Passed the House 413-0 Sponsored by Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada Rep. Heck introduced the bill in response to the murder of Keith Goldberg; the search for his body in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area was delayed because the search team needed a special use permit and a $1 million insurance policy. It took 10 months to get the insurance; his body was found 3 hours after their search began. The National Association for Search and Rescue and the National Park Service, however, don't think access is a problem. 6 pages S. 304: Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act Protects the identity of whistleblowers who provide information relating to motor vehicle defects or other dangerous safety problems. Allows the government to give up to 30% of the fine collected from a car company that breaks the law to the whistleblower whose information lead to the conviction. The whistleblower is not allowed to be represented by a lawyer. Passed the Senate by a voice vote Sponsored by Senator John Thune of South Dakota Senator Thune has taken over $380,000 from the automotive industry 11 pages S. 984: Steve Gleason Act of 2015 Starting in 2016, Medicare would cover speech generating devices. Allows people to own their speech generating devices (as opposed to renting them) if purchased between October 1, 2015 and October 1, 2018. Named after former NFL football player Steve Gleason, who played for the New Orleans Saints before being diagnosed with ALS Passed the Senate of a voice vote Sponsored by Senator David Vitter of Louisiana 3 pages Hearings Rules Committee: April 13 on HR 650 and HR 685, about housing bills. Rules Committee: April 21 on HR 1731 and HR 1560 on Cybersecurity House Committee on Financial Services: March 18 hearing on deregulation for banks titled "Preserving Consumer Choice and Financial Independence" Information Presented in This Episode Article: 'Doc fix' headed to president's desk after easily clearing Senate by Paul Demko, Modern Healthcare, April 14, 2015. Article: The mobile-home trap: How a Warren Buffett empire preys on the poor by Mike Baker and Daniel Wagner, The Seattle Times, April 2, 2015. Article: MBA's Mortgage Action Alliance: A Message from MAA Chairman Fowler Williams by Fowler Williams, National Mortgage Professional Magazine, June 11, 2015. Article: U.S. Bank Profits Near Record Levels by Robin Sidel and Saabira Chaudhuri, Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2014 Article: Bureaucracy hindered search for slain brother by Anjeanette Damon, USA Today, March 8, 2014. Webpage: About the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, Department of Homeland Security. Webpage: Team Gleason Press Release: Rep. Kelly Introduces Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act Additional Information Kickstarter: Explore Campaign Finance App by Soloman Kahn. Jen's Podcast Appearances Episode 66: Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria Episode 42: Podcast Junkies with Harry Duran Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Ask Your Doctor by Neal Fox (found on Music Alley by mevio) Thank you by Ben Willmott (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Bob Kolasky, the Director of Strategy and Policy for the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection discusses best practices in making public and private sector critical infrastructure more secure and resilient in the event of a major disaster. This interview previously aired on Disaster Resilience for America on Federal News Radio.

The effects of cyber security could trickle down into your home.  That’s the latest threat from cyber criminals the United States is working to ward off.  A report released this week from Massachusetts Institute of Technology says the country must have standards to fight against cyber attacks on power lines that run right into homes and businesses. A new web video comes as evidence the hacker group Anonymous is getting involved in the 2012 election. Draft legislation that proposes the establishment of a so-called National Information Sharing Organization will be the subject of a hearing held today by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies. Also listen to hear the job of the day.