Policy – HS Daily Wire

Experts: Internet crime might cause global catastrophe

Damage caused by cyber crime is estimated at $100 billion annually; tech-savvy gangs from China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa were coming up with ever more sophisticated ways of swindling money from vulnerable people

UN: Destroyed Syrian facility resembled a nuclear reactor

On 6 September 2007 Israel destroyed a remote facility in north-east Syria; Israel and the United States claimed the facility was a nuclear reactor in the making (Syrian officials offered many different, and contradictory, explanations about the facility); Syria engaged in elaborate "landscaping," importing tons of fresh soil to alter the site before admitting outsiders; these outsiders -- IAEA inspectors -- have now concluded the the site looked like a nuclear reactor

New York City opens counterterrorism center

The $100 million project was launched after 9/11; the facility would eventually receive video footage from 3,000 cameras posted in and near the financial district, an area of about 1.7 square miles

Grappling with the pirate problem

The Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, and the Gulf of Aden, are among the most sensitive choke points in global commerce; trouble is, the stable, the comparatively wealthy Southeast Asian countries that line the Malacca Strait have committed their naval and coastal forces to stamping out hijackings and piracy, but the Gulf of Aden is bordered by poor or dysfunctional countries like Djibouti, Yemen, and particularly Somalia

Briefly noted

Raytheon awarded contract for exploratory nuclear detection research... Navies may get tougher on piracy after tanker seizure... U.S. donates nuclear detection equipment to Nigeria

Security alliance calls financial incentives for cyber security

The Internet Security Alliance calls for the incoming Obama administration and Congress to give information technology companies financial incentives for improving cybersecurity defenses, including providing funding in research and development and shielding them from liability caused by cyberattacks

China syndrome // Ben Frankel

China bravely denies space espionage charges

China has been engaged in a vast, well-coordinated, and resourceful espionage campaign against U.S. and and European governments and companies; the systematic stealing of Western military, scientific, and industrial secrets aims to help China short-cut its path to global political and economic hegemony

Briefly noted

Obama administration looks to fill more than 300 IT positions... Larger inmate population is boon to private prisons... More attacks on critical infrastructure?

Trend

Modern-day piracy poses growing threats, challenges

Forget Captain Kidd, wooden legs, or treasure maps; modern pirates are equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty; on 9/11 we saw what damage a jumbo jet could do when used as a weapon; how about a supertanker as a weapon?

Biodefense and food supply safety

Avalanche of drugs, scarcely any oversight, II

Yesterday we wrote about the growing discrepancy -- a yawning gap --between the sheer amount of drug and food imported into the United States, and the resources available to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect these imports and the companies which manufacture them to make sure they meet U.S. safety and health standards. Instead, U.S. drug companies, battling mightily to protect public health and their corporate reputations -- and congressional pressures -- often step in where FDA inspections have not. The Chicago Tribune's David Greising and Bruce Japsen write that Baxter, for example, attempted to do so: In September 2007 a Baxter team visited the Chinese plant from which it was buying herapin. By that time, though, timelines produced by Baxter, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the suspect heparin already was making its way through the Baxter supply chain.