“Cyber-Security is much more than a matter of IT.” ― Stephane Nappo
DOE, A FAMILIAR QUESTION FOR
YOU - Leaders of the Senate Energy panel on
Tuesday cajoled the Energy Department to do more on cybersecurity, from leading
the way on responding to Russian grid hacks to boosting funding for its cyber
operations. Secretary Rick Perry touted a newly established Energy cyber office and a requested budget increase as
evidence the department understands it's an important subject. But the panel's
top Democrat panned the moves as insufficient. "Establishing a new DOE
cyber office with marginal [budget] increases is not a substitute for the
meaningful action we need," said ranking member Maria Cantwell. "We
don't need rhetoric at this point, we need action."
Panel Chairwoman Lisa
Murkowski was more generous about the new office, saying she was
"intrigued." Still, Murkowski expressed concerns about DOE's response
to the recent government alert about Russian government hackers targeting the
U.S. energy industry. Perry tried to assure her: "We work very closely
with the Department of Homeland Security."
Cantwell also said a Trump
administration-requested 10 percent budget increase on
cybersecurity probably isn't enough for fiscal 2019. Cantwell has called for a
doubling of cybersecurity funding, but said that proposal might still be too
small. "My concern is we still don't have an assessment," she said.
"If we don't have a risk assessment, how do we know what we are really
budgeting towards?" Perry said discussions about such an assessment
ongoing, adding that some cybersecurity-related funding is going up more than
Cantwell mentioned, such as a 30 percent boost in funds to manage massive
amounts of DOE data. In the past year, Cantwell has asked three times about
when a cyber risk assessment might be finished. [Morning Cybersecurity, March 21, 2018]
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| BIGOTRY |
WHY
THE 1920S KKK SEEMS SO RELEVANT TODAY
“Far from appearing disreputable or extreme in its ideology, the
1920s Klan seemed ordinary and respectable to its contemporaries,” writes
Gordon, who offers a scholarly account of the 1920s Klan. Gordon says upfront
that, as “one of those the Klan detested,” she “is not neutral,” but considers
it necessary to understand the nature and history of the organization. The Klan
of the 1920s was distinct from its first and third incarnations. It was based
in the north, primarily nonviolent, targeted Jews and Catholics as well as
African-Americans, and far larger than either of its other iterations. How
is the 1920s Klan reflected in contemporary politics? After talking to a few
historians, I pulled out some of the most striking comparisons:
- The elites were the
enemy.
Though the 1920s Klan drew a substantial amount of support from cities, it
identified most strongly with rural, working-class whites. When discussing
the decline in American values, Klan leaders blamed “elites,” who, as
Gordon writes, were “typically presented as big-city liberal
professionals, secular urbanites who promoted cosmopolitanism (and were
thus insufficiently patriotic) and looked down on Klanspeople as stupid
and/or irrational and/or out of step with modernity.” Like Trump’s attacks
on globalists, the KKK of the 1920s publicly condemned ‘elites’ for having
international connections.
- Fake news and conspiracy
theories proliferated. The 1920s Klan spun up false stories
that implicated Catholics, whose “nuns served as sex slaves to priests,”
and Jews, who reported to “a secular international cabal of financiers who
planned to take over the American economy through its financial
institutions.” These conspiracy theories also targeted recent immigrants
and African-Americans. The Klan disseminated this information through
multiple channels, including newspapers, pamphlets, radio, and sermons (an
estimated 40,000 ministers joined the Klan at its peak). “The Klan put
these outlandish stories out there to incite fear among their members,”
Gordon said in an interview. Today, extremist pockets on both ends
of the political spectrum are doingsomething
similar.
- The far, far right had a
stake in politics. Sociologist Kathleen Blee has been interviewing
far right, white supremacist leaders for over three decades. “Until Trump
ran for office, nobody I talked to was ever interested in electoral
politics,” she said. “They saw the federal government as the enemy.”
Before the alt-right, the 1920s KKK was the last white supremacist group
to engage seriously in national politics, according to Blee. Sixteen
Klansmen became senators, 11 became governors, and approximately 75 became
congressmen. Far more were sympathetic to the Klan’s agenda. “By taking
over the political parties, the Klan sought to institutionalize the
organization,” said Blee. “They had a big influence on the presidential
level.” Though the alt-right is far less involved in national politics
than the KKK of the 1920s, many supporters feel an allegiance to the president
today, particularly after he insisted there were “some very fine people on
both sides” of the Charlottesville protests.
[The Masthead at The Atlantic, Nov 7,
2017]
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| PAUL RYAN |
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| TRUMP |
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| WAR ON DRUGS |
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| U.S. MILITARY |
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| READ |
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| RACE |
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| POLITICS |
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| FOOD SAFETY |
WARREN GRILLS DOD ON WORKER PROTECTIONS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in a pair of letters sent Monday, asked the Pentagon for
updates on its efforts to ensure that defense contractors comply with federal
worker protection laws. Writing to Undersecretary of Defense Ellen Lord and
Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, Warren asked for a staff-level briefing
no later than April 2. "It is important that taxpayer dollars do not
reward companies that endanger the hard-working men and women who work in the
shipyards that support our Navy," Warren wrote to Spencer. Last year's
National Defense Authorization Act required the GAO to conduct a study of whether
Pentagon contractors abide by worker protection laws.[POLITICO's Morning
Shift, March 20, 2018]
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| CYBERSECURITY |
BOOST
FOR IT MODERNIZATION - A top White House adviser working on IT
modernization is getting a new job - but will not abandon his current position.
Chris Liddell, the former Microsoft and GM executive, will join chief of staff
John Kelly's team as deputy chief of staff for policy coordination, the
administration announced Monday. Liddell currently heads the American
Technology Council and is a senior member of the Office of American Innovation,
where he leads the Trump administration's efforts to modernize
and secure federal IT systems.
As
deputy chief for policy, Liddell will oversee decision-making on a wide
range of issues, but he won't be giving up his IT modernization role.
"Chris's current work in the Office of American Innovation will
continue," the White House said in a statement, "and he will oversee
the policy process for that office as well." IT modernization has gained
steam in the Trump administration as a nonpartisan issue with widespread
public- and private-sector interest, bolstered by Trump's recent appointment of a federal CIO and the recent confirmation of the OMB No. 2, who will oversee the
federal CIO's team.
INCIDENTALLY - The
House passed legislation Monday that its sponsor touted as one way to strengthen
cyber defenses against election interference and attacks on vital industries
like the energy grid. Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul said his
bill (H.R. 5074) would bolster the authority of the cyber
incident response teams at DHS that help owners and operators of critical
infrastructure respond to an attack. The bill, which codifies those existing
teams into law, also specifies that DHS can borrow private-sector cyber
specialists for its work. "This innovative approach serves as a force
multiplier for our cybersecurity workforce," McCaul said on the floor. The
House passed the bill by voice vote. [Morning
Cybersecurity, March 20, 2018]
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| BANKING |
Voting Rights Roundup: In June primary, Maine to become the first state to use instant-runoff voting
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| SCREEN |
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
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