#nationalsecurity — Public Fediverse posts

RE: https://mastodon.social/@harold/117146045089521164

If #MarkCarney knew the US was negotiating in bad faith, he certainly didn't show it by understanding the necessity of urgently developing Canadian #digitalSovereignty. Someone please sit him down in front of a @pluralistic talk (as Doctorow's a Canadian source, and Carney appears to trust journalists well enough to appoint them Ministers: though urgently read also the books by the experts cited below), and persuade our PM that our #sovereignty and #nationalSecurity depend on freeing #Canada from all Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon (AWS) dependence, with wartime urgency.

Hon. @Paulatics, @KristopherWells, @SenKarenAb, or @colindeacon: Can any of you talk some sense into our Honourable bank executive about this? I'd be happy to volunteer to explain anything in Cory's presentations or books that you or Mark doesn't understand. (I have over 20 years' paid experience explaining tech stuff to non-tech people, if that'd be useful.) I'm sure plenty other Canadians such as those in the @linuxassociation and the Canadian #selfHosting community could help explain this too.

Perhaps this needs to be more diplomatically phrased, but if we need funds to accelerate Canadian digital sovereignty, I suggest taking them from Evan Solomon's tax-abyss Ministry of Slop. Evan's an uncritical career tech hype-man with less qualification to run a technology ministry than the historically and catastrophically incompetent #PeteHegseth has to run the US DoD. Solomon's education is in English literature and religious studies, not anything even remotely related to computing, and it shows. His religious fanaticism for, as Drs. @emilymbender and @alex aptly put it, The AI Con, ought to disqualify him from leading a tech ministry.

Meanwhile, the very existence of such an office as "Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation" shows that our illustrious economist mistakenly believes that, in the Empire of AI (per Karen Hao), Canada can become a colonizer, not return to its prior status as a colony: exactly as Trump and the coterie of technofeudal "AI" CEOs backing him are seeking to coerce us into becoming. The promises of "economic efficiency" (i.e., mass layoffs, wage deflation, and metastatic rent extraction) promised by the #TESCREAL (@timnitGebru) dogma of the AI cult system may resound with confirmation bias in the heart of the true believer in the religion of neoclassical economics (may the Earth become infinite and Homo economicus cease requiring infinite compute power), but alas, our first priority in tech policy should not be proliferation of climate- and community-destroying hyperscale #datacentres for the Slop God, but instead, in removing Trump's ability to do to all #Canadian government and business what Donald did the the #ICC with a few sanctions.

#cdnpoli

US Weighs Loyalty Tests in European Force Posture Review

Loyalty tests can backfire, warn experts Mara Karlin and Julianne Smith, as the US considers a new review of its European force posture that may judge countries on their ideological alignment with America. The proposed pass/fail criteria have sparked debate, with critics arguing that such tests erode, rather than build,…

https://osintsights.com/us-weighs-loyalty-tests-in-european-force-posture-review?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#UsForeignPolicy #EuropeanPostureReview #NationalSecurity #Geopolitics #DefenseStrategy

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-23

Three Russian cyber espionage clusters are actively targeting defense, government, and academic personnel in the US and Europe through personal OAuth logins and WhatsApp device linking, concurrent with CIA departures exceeding 1,000. A US national security agency beyond the Department of the Navy will likely issue a public advisory addressing personal-account exploitation within the next 90 days. Moderate confidence rests on single-vendor telemetry and the operational gap between the Navy's force-protection directive and the attribution-specific mitigations the Russian campaigns require.

Israel will very likely conduct at least one additional military strike in Syria without confirmed advance notification to the United States within 90 days. US and Israeli officials have publicly contradicted each other over both the intelligence behind Tuesday's Abu al-Duhur strike and whether advance notification was provided. Moderate confidence rests on Israel's sustained monthly strike cadence since January 2025 and the absence of any announced deconfliction repair. A restored notification protocol would alter this assessment.

A government agency or major cybersecurity vendor will likely attribute AI-generated exploitation tools to a named state actor by November 21. Moderate confidence reflects sufficient tradecraft detail in the CISA joint advisory for attribution paired with persistent institutional reluctance to name actors in ICS advisories.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

David Rothkopf and Jennifer Welch discuss the waning MAGA movement as the midterm elections draw closer.

https://www.youtube.com/live/kFJAtoXEV68 #Trump #NatalieHarp #NationalSecurity #JonOssoff #MAGA #PeteHegseth #StephenMiller #fascist #fascism #media #CBS #CNN #WaPo #NYT #academia

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-22

Adversary intelligence operations are being exposed across allied nations faster than institutional responses can organize. Russian tradecraft has been uncovered simultaneously in Australia, Slovenia, Germany, and Slovakia, spanning espionage, counterintelligence penetration, kinetic preparation, and supply-chain compromise in the most concentrated disclosure window since 2018. Both a formal NATO counterintelligence response and an EU procurement review targeting Russian-origin hardware obfuscation are unlikely by November. Moderate confidence rests on each case proceeding through national channels with no visible multilateral push, absent a galvanizing incident comparable to the 2018 Skripal attack.

The Department of Defense will likely issue operational-security guidance within six months addressing prediction-market leakage of defense decisions or adversary use of commercial geospatial intelligence for targeting U.S. forces. Low confidence reflects the novelty of both vectors, with no single precedent covering both channels simultaneously. Congressional legislation constraining defense-related prediction markets is unlikely before year-end, as no committee markup has advanced beyond the referral stage.

Sanctions or export controls against specific Chinese firms following NSA's public attribution of Chinese-provided geospatial intelligence to Iran are genuinely uncertain within six months. Low confidence follows from the gap between the generic public characterization and the named-firm specificity a designation requires. A Five Eyes statement or Entity List addition would narrow that uncertainty.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

"An Army unit based in Europe that was specializing in drone warfare has been directed to end its efforts to learn and use the battlefield technology and return to being a traditional infantry battalion":
https://apnews.com/article/drones-army-ukraine-iran-war-hegseth-b4d70633a8832d779f3d4002b30298e3
This is one way that the Trump Administration is making the United States military weaker, which is a goal of Putin, and it is why Trump #PutinsPuppet is doing it.
#Trump #WorstPresidentEver #incompetence #mismanagement #NationalSecurity #politics

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-21

China-nexus operations will likely produce at least one additional mass-exploitation campaign disclosure exceeding 50 confirmed victims by October 5, driven by sustained parallel operational capacity visible in two concurrent efforts: a VMware vCenter compromise reaching 361 organizations across 47 countries within five days of patch availability, and a year-long espionage operation deploying seven previously undocumented RAT families against Central Asian government economic bodies. Low confidence reflects the specific evidentiary requirement for enumerated victims in public reporting, not the pace of campaign disclosures, which has run approximately one every six to eight weeks.

At least one additional NATO or Five Eyes member state will likely disclose undocumented remote-access capabilities in deployed foreign-origin infrastructure within the next 10 weeks, following Slovakia's NBU finding of SMS-triggered Russian backdoors in 279 EU-funded speed cameras and Germany's presence among the top victim countries in the VMware campaign. Moderate confidence rests on the breadth of the 30-plus-member pool rather than any single audit underway.

Germany's intelligence reform granting the BND and BfV first-ever offensive cyber and sabotage powers is likely to pass the Bundestag by year-end, absent a coalition rupture or constitutional challenge from the Bundesverfassungsgericht. High confidence reflects governing-coalition control of the parliamentary calendar.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

The Navy is pulling the U.S.S. George Washington from the western Pacific to replace the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. That aircraft carrier was doing an important job in the Pacific, and now the United States has no aircraft carriers there. This is more evidence of the incompetence of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
#military #WorstCabinetEver #NationalSecurity #politics

Sergio Gore, #Trump personnel dir w authority over #vetting more than 4,000 executive branch staffers, has refused to submit mandatory SF-86 form required for permanent #security clearance. But here's the kicker that should terrify every American: Gore was born in #Moscow, not in Moldova as he's claimed. The man deciding who gets access to America's #secrets won't reveal his own. #russia russia russia #nationalsecurity #government #maga #politics #fbi #opm #russellvought https://www.narativ.org/p/trumps-personnel-chief-born-in-moscow

US Questionnaire Tests NATO Allies' Support

The US is putting NATO allies to the test with a questionnaire that probes their support for American policies, sparking concerns that it's an unnecessary stress test. Estonia's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Marko Mihkelson is already speaking out against it, calling it an unwelcome way to handle the situation.

https://osintsights.com/us-questionnaire-tests-nato-allies-support?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#Nato #UsForeignPolicy #NationalSecurity #Geopolitics #Europe

Iran’s IRGC names Ahmad Vahidi as regime signals no strategic shift

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Military appointments in authoritarian states, particularly during wartime, reveal priorities,…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #breakingnews #geopolitics #Iran #Military #nationalsecurity #Opinion #warwithiran
https://www.newsbeep.com/698756/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@RonSupportsYou/117127809892708524

bilbobill: "Don't worry, I'm sure Natalie Harp closed her eyes and plugged her ears whenever Trump was discussing secret stuff. It's all good."
#humor #PutinsPuppet #NationalSecurity

Carol Leonnig: "Trump aide Natalie Harp worked at the White House without security clearance for a year."

Tom Nichols: "I guess one thing I miss about the Cold War is that security clearances were not optional."

#harpygate #NationalSecurity #spying #PutinsPuppet

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-20

AI-enabled threat techniques are proliferating across offensive cyber and information-manipulation domains, with additional state-sponsored applications likely to surface within 90 days. Moderate confidence rests on two independent disclosures: a joint advisory from five agencies documenting AI-generated scripts used against Siemens PLCs across six critical-infrastructure sectors, and a FARA-documented campaign using AI-optimized content to seed Israeli government narratives into ChatGPT and Perplexity. Iranian contractor cyber campaigns against universities are very likely to persist over the same window, given eight years of unbroken operational continuity since the original Mabna indictment.

The IC workforce tracking these threats is simultaneously degrading under loyalty-test-gated promotion, activist-driven firing, and weaponized declassification. At least three additional officers will likely describe politically motivated removal within 90 days, and the administration will likely release additional investigative files touching elected officials within the same window. Low confidence reflects that disclosed accounts originate from figures with publishing incentives, and that ordinary turnover may account for part of the reported displacement. A congressional hearing on the workforce-threat gap is very unlikely absent a precipitating intelligence failure.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

Iran turns to BRICS and Russia to blunt U.S. sanctions, analysts warn

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Tehran is deepening its financial and military ties with Beijing…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #breakingnews #China #Foreignpolicy #geopolitics #globalism #Iran #nationalsecurity #Russia #World
https://www.newsbeep.com/698145/

Poland says it is actively preparing for possible war with Russia

Dan Hoffman details Russian threats to Europe amid Ukraine war Former CIA Station Chief Dan Hoffman analyzes Russia’s…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #Europe #foreignaffairs #nationalsecurity #NATO #Russia #World
https://www.newsbeep.com/697786/

America Sanctions ICC President and Trial Lawyer

Following the start of the campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) threat to national sovereignty, the United States Department of State announced it has sanctioned two ICC officials namely their president Tomoko Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.

To put things in perspective, posted below is the entire statement of the US State Department by Secretary Marco Rubio. Some parts in boldface…

The Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.  We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty. 

In furtherance of the diplomatic campaign we launched last month to address the ICC’s abuses of power, I am designating two ICC officials – President of the ICC, Tomoko Akane of Japan, and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer, Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal – pursuant to Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.”  These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction. 

The ICC has repeatedly attempted to assert authority over nationals of the United States and other countries that have not consented to its jurisdiction or ratified the Rome Statute.  This sets a dangerous precedent for all nations.  

Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping and we expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court. The ICC’s ability to target American nationals and those of other non-States Parties must end. The Trump Administration stands ready to take additional measures, if necessary, to systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.

Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Do you support the US sanctions against the two ICC officials? Do you think other nations that are in conflict with the ICC’s encroachment and abuse of power will support rally behind the United States and support sanctioning of officials? If you live in a nation which has a working justice system, are convinced that the ICC is unnecessary?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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The saddest part? One of these two is going to win. #Politics #Democracy #NationalSecurity #SouthCarolina #Senate #US #USpol https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/us/politics/south-carolina-senate-runoff-debate-graham-norman.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6lA.-JsK.exPJKdmv4wma&smid=url-share

A fraying U.S. umbrella is raising the risk of nuclear cascade

A woman rolls a baby stroller past a replica of the Soviet RDS-4 nuclear bomb installed in memor…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #AlexandraBell #BreakingNews:Politics #businessnews #China #Defense #DonaldTrump #EmmanuelMacron #Foreignpolicy #Governmentandpolitics #Iran #Japan #Jr. #nationalsecurity #NorthKorea #Nuclearweapons #Politics #RichardNixon #Russia #UnitedStates #VladimirPutin #Washington #World
https://www.newsbeep.com/697321/

NEW EPISODE:

Ireland wants to remain militarily neutral. But neutrality doesn't mean defence comes without a cost.

After decades of low investment, Ireland has serious capability gaps and relies on external partners for aspects of its security.

Listen to our latest interview with Cathal Berry, Director of Public Affairs for Red Flag, former TD and former Irish Army Ranger Captain.

🎧Links in reply below 👇

#IrishDefence #IrishNeutrality #Ireland #NationalSecurity #Geopolitics #NATO

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-19

Chinese and Russian intelligence services are sustaining multi-domain operations across Five Eyes territory faster than defensive responses can contain them, while CISA capacity losses widen the gap domestically. Five Eyes agencies will very likely disclose at least one additional Chinese intelligence recruitment network targeting defense and government personnel within 120 days. Moderate confidence reflects cross-agency coordination visible in the joint FBI warning on the Australian consultancy front and a consistent cadence of public attributions.

At least one additional act of sabotage targeting a NATO-member defense manufacturer is very likely within 90 days. A documented pattern of cross-border attacks on firms supplying Ukraine, spanning Estonia, Latvia, the UK, and Germany, establishes the baseline. Restored US-Ukraine intelligence sharing sustains the targeting calculus that makes these suppliers attractive to disruption. Absent a reversal in that partnership, the pressure persists.

CISA or FBI public attribution of the multistate water-system PLC intrusion campaign to an Iran-affiliated actor before the November midterms is unlikely. Moderate confidence reflects CISA's internal acknowledgment that 2026 election-specific services are written off, leaving DOJ as the sole pre-election attribution pathway. A DOJ action through the Mabna prosecution channel, independent of CISA coordination, is the observable that could shorten the attribution timeline.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

#Trump says the #US has no talks planned with #Iran but that the #StraitOfHormuz is operating despite limited traffic.

Guess nobody told him a ship was bombed coming out of the strait this morning, killing at least 1 person & injuring many others.

#idiocracy #kakistocracy #TrumpsWar #IranWar #law #Congress #WarPowers #geopolitics #NationalSecurity #MiddleEast #economy #inflation #affordability #CostOfLiving #oil #energy #EnergyCrisis
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-lebanon-gaza-hormuz-august-18-2026-9c48af23b713709e8e170191fbc78c2a?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=copy_link

IC Brief Morning — 2026-08-18

Three concurrent Chinese intelligence operations exploiting gig-economy platforms, political-office access, and NATO institutional vetting will likely drive at least two Five Eyes governments to announce expanded security screening requirements by year-end. A new Chinese espionage case will very likely be publicly disclosed before year-end. Moderate confidence reflects Canada's already-scheduled parliamentary hearings and Five Eyes coordination on the website seizures, though no second government has yet committed to formal review. Absence of a second review announcement by October would signal stalled momentum.

Intercepted IRGC communications detailing Gulf state target lists and commander deployments to Houthi forces indicate operational preparation for conflict beyond the existing proxy campaign. An Iran-linked attack or sabotage act against Gulf energy infrastructure or undersea cables is likely within three months. That assessment carries moderate confidence given reliance on a single Wall Street Journal report without independent corroboration. Resumption of US-Iran diplomatic contact would be the primary signal against escalation.

CISA's acting director has told state officials that election support services may not resume until 2027. At least three states will likely announce substitute commercial cybersecurity contracts before the November midterms, embedding vendor dependence into critical election infrastructure.

https://icbrief.org/icbrief/

#Intelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

#Trump backed #WorldLibertyFinancial is collaborating with a Hong Kong-based venture offering artificial-intelligence models developed by Chinese companies the #US has flagged for #NationalSecurity concerns.

#idiocracy #kakistocracy #InfoSec
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-crypto-firm-backs-venture-offering-ai-restricted-chinese-companies-2026-08-17/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Trump’s Bombing Threats Have a Golf Course Problem

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/trumps-bombing-threats-have-a-golf-course-problem/