Archive for the ‘NSA’ Category

Elite softball teams welcome challenge at NSA world series – Virginia Gazette

An hour before the 9 a.m. first pitch for his team's 16-and-under game Friday at Kiwanis Park, Line Drive Express Softball Club coach Doug Hill glanced across the field at his team's opponent, the Illiana Dream Seams, on day five of the National Softball Association Class A Eastern World Series.

Hill's Gold squad hails from Midland in Central Michigan and the Dream Seams from Martinsville in Eastern Illinois. All Hill knew about the Dream Seams is what he could see through the fence: a team beginning its warmups wearing an ensemble with splashes of black, red and yellow similar to the University of Maryland's often bold getups. The night before, he was not even sure which state they were from. Hill said it is his superstition to not get wrapped up in scouting reports during massive tournaments like these, with 20 teams in their age group and more than 85 overall from 10 different states.

That is part of the fun. That is part of the reason why many of the teams including Hill's group, donning Central Michigan University's burgundy and gold colors, visited the tournament that held games Monday-Friday at Kiwanis, and Quarterpath parks as well as Stoney Run Athletic Complex in Newport News.

After running into the same teams in regular weekend tournaments, a change of scenery and exposure to different philosophies and coaching styles makes events like these attractive for some teams, even to the ones that drove more than 12 hours like Hill's.

"It's really immaterial what they're doing," Hill said. "I always tell them to do our work and don't worry about theirs."

If that sounds at all ruthless, it is because Line Drive Express is used to winning. Hill, who owns the club, is a NSA hall of famer having coached the sport the last 27 years. Prior to that, he played football at Northwood University in Midland and semi-professional softball.

Line Drive Express had 13 state championships and three NSA world series titles to its name entering Friday's competition, when it needed to win five games to take another title back to Michigan. The club had only needed to finish first or second in at least one qualifier to secure a spot in the world series field; but it won four separate qualifying tournaments for good measure.

All but two of Hill's players are committed to play in college including his daughter, Bailey, who said staying pumped up is vital in tourneys like these that are made even more grueling by the extreme heat that accompanied this one.

The dugouts of the Line Drive Express and Dream Seams were blaring music Friday morning before most folks in Williamsburg had ventured out to work.

"When I go out there, I always know I have to give it my all even if I'm dead," said Line Drive Express pitcher Faith Barden, a Western Michigan University recruit. "And I always have the defense behind me to be able to back me up."

Line Drive Express was fortunate to make it to Friday after a tough win Thursday night over Chesapeake's Elite Fastpitch, which had to survive four games on Thursday, one more than Line Drive Express.

The Chesapeake team's exit left the Blue Ridge Sudden Impact the only team from Virginia still standing in the bracket.

Lynch Station, south of Lynchburg, is home for Sudden Impact, which took on the Central Illinois Cyclones in game one on Friday.

New York teams from Long Island and West Seneca rounded out the 16-and-under teams that made it to Friday.

Sudden Impact has traveled as far away as Las Vegas for NSA world series tournaments but set its sights on the Williamsburg tournament because they wanted to play in their home state.

Sudden Impact might have been the defacto home team by Friday but Virginia license plates were outnumbered by ones from Michigan and Illinois in the Kiwanis parking lot.

The Cyclones came from Peoria, having qualified in two previous tournaments including the Illinois NSA event.

"The NSA folks here at Williamsburg have been excellent," said Cyclones manager Aaron Barrington. "They treated us well. We got to go to Busch Gardens and do some things we don't get to do in Illinois."

As Barrington and tournament site director Scott Hinders each noted, the Eastern World Series is the big and final tournament of the season for most of the teams. A few of the Cyclones will go on to play for colleges, Barrington said, while others will choose their post-secondary schools of choice solely for educational reasons, meaning competitive softball at this level ended for them in Williamsburg.

Line Drive Express started its season in November before moving indoors for the winter. While not quite a vacation, the Eastern World Series provided the club a chance to enjoy the conclusion of long travel campaign.

"These guys are here because they earned it," Hill said. "That's what I enjoy about this sport. This is their payback for all the hard work."

Holtzman can be reached by phone at 757-298-5830.

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Elite softball teams welcome challenge at NSA world series - Virginia Gazette

USA Pride: Local 14U team to compete in NSA North World Series – Huron Daily Tribune

By Seth Stapleton Tribune Sports Writer

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USA Pride: Local 14U team to compete in NSA North World Series

SEBEWAING It was a simple doubleheader between two area softball teams, but it served a much bigger purpose.

Tuesday's games between 14U squads USA Pride and Millington were both a tuneup and a fundraiser for a USA team that is on its way to the National Softball Association North World Series.

"It should never surprise me, in the communities of Unionville and Sebewaing, that we would have a good turnout," said USA Pride coach Tom Williamson of the event. "And it was a better turnout than I expected."

Williamson said the initial goal of the friendly matchup Tuesday was to just find a good team to play a doubleheader against. With the help of the community though, it turned into a fundraiser and an opportunity to promote the entire travel program.

Williamson, who has been part of USA's summer travel softball program for many years, said it's the first time a USA team will compete in the NSA World Series.

"Our goal as a program is not to go win tournaments, we want to go compete," Williamson said. "If we win, great, but we just want to play the best competition we can to get better as a program."

In the past, USA travel teams have always played in three or four tournaments throughout the summer. This year, the 14U team decided to try to qualify for the NSA tournament. They played in a qualifier in Midland over Memorial Day weekend and placed second, qualifying them for the big event.

It will take place in Crown Point, Indiana, beginning Tuesday. USA Pride will open the tournament at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, then play again at 4:45 p.m. that day. From there, the team will be seeded into a double elimination bracket. At minimum, they will play a total of four games.

"They are so excited they can't stand it," Williamson said of the team. "I'm really happy in the fact that we are representing USA travel softball as a whole. We're representing USA and really proud of it."

At the NSA tournament, USA Pride will be competing against around 40 teams from the likes of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Kentucky. While the task may seem daunting, Williamson feels his team is playing its best ball of the summer at this point in time, fresh off a title at the Grand Blanc tournament a weekend ago.

"They're hitting the ball really well and we've got three pitchers, which is important to get through a long tournament," Williamson said. "I'm really pleased with the way that we're playing right now. We've gotten better all year long, so we'll see what happens when we go into next week."

Added Williamson: "This team, it is truly like family. Every single one of these kids get along so well. And more importantly, the parents are unbelievable. The amount of help we've received is amazing. As a coach, you can't ask for anything more than that."

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USA Pride: Local 14U team to compete in NSA North World Series - Huron Daily Tribune

Defense in accused NSA leaker case opposes prosecutors … – The Augusta Chronicle

The attorneys for the Fort Gordon contractor accused of leaking national defense information have filed their own proposed order regarding how classified documents are handled in her espionage case.

Reality Leigh Winner, 25, has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court to a single count of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

While the federal prosecutors have proposed an order of protection that prohibits the defense from revealing any classified information, even if it had been included in published reports, Winners attorneys propose not treating any document as classified if it has been the subject of media reports. Violation of the final order of protection can result in sanctions and even criminal prosecution.

The case against Winner, which is tentatively set for trial the week of Oct. 23, is to proceed under the Classified Information Security Act, a law enacted to protect a defendants right to a fair trial while allowing the government to protect classified information on matters of national security.

The federal prosecutors contend it is the executive branch of government that determines what is a classified document.

In Winners case, the document suspected as being the one sent anonymously to the online news publication The Intercept was the subject of an June 5 article. It was an analysis of the Russian governments meddling in the presidential election. Since Winners arrest, the subject has been reported on extensively, especially in light of the investigations by the independent special counsel, and the Senate and House intelligence committees.

Winners defense attorneys also seek a provision in the order of protection that allows her to review the discovery material, confer with attorneys about it and to assist in her defense.

The defense team also wants the proposed order to allow defense experts with the prosecutors security clearance to review the discovery material without any pre-clearance by the prosecution.

U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Brian K. Epps will determine what the final order of protection will contain. The government, however, has the right to appeal, under the Classified Information Security Act.

Winner has had a top security clearance since serving for six years in the Air Force. In February, she began working for the National Security Agency contractor, Pluribus International Corp. at Fort Gordon.

She is accused of taking a classified document in May and mailing it to The Intercept.

Federal agents allegedly followed clues to Augusta and to Winner after an Intercept reporter showed an intelligence source the document to determine its authenticity.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.

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Defense in accused NSA leaker case opposes prosecutors ... - The Augusta Chronicle

Blackberry joins Apple in gaining NSA approval for secure communications – AppleInsider (press release) (blog)

By Malcolm Owen Thursday, July 20, 2017, 08:54 am PT (11:54 am ET)

The BlackBerry endorsement comes from the NSA's National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), which reviews technology products sold to consumers and enterprise to see if they meet the security requirements for government usage, reports Reuters. This includes the encryption of calls and messages made between parties using the products, a function that prevents other parties, such as hackers and other countries, from eavesdropping potentially sensitive government communications.

One of the tools BlackBerry is now able to sell to US federal agencies is SecuSUITE for Government, software from the German encryption firm Secusmart owned by BlackBerry. SecuSUITE is a multi-platform service for iOS, Android, and Blackberry offering end-to-end encryption of calls and text messages, one which works regardless of the carrier or data connection used by participants.

BlackBerry acquired Secusmart and its technology in 2014, after the firm won a contract to secure Chancellor Angela Merkel's smartphone, following claims by a former US intelligence contractor that the NSA had tapped the German leader's communications. The following year, German prosecutors dropped the probe into the claims due to a lack of evidence.

While Germany remains its biggest customer, BlackBerry now lists government agencies in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America, southeast Asia, and Africa as SecuSUITE customers.

"Call tapping is happening at an alarming rate," according to BlackBerry SVP and general manager of mobility solutions Alex Thurber. "In today's connected world, restricting agency employees to only exchange classified information from the desk phone is no longer a viable option, but it could be the new reality if governments don't start securing calls and texts from mobile devices."

A number of Apple products are already endorsed by the NIAP, including iOS 9, iOS 9.3.5 with MDM (Mobile Device Management) Agent, and the iOS 9.2 VPN client. As of March 2017, both iOS 10.2 and the iOS 10 VPN client are undergoing evaluation by NIAP, and are likely to receive a similar stamp of approval in the future.

Apple's iPhone has also been deemed secure enough for presidential communications, with President Donald Trump using the smartphone to post to his Twitter account.

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Blackberry joins Apple in gaining NSA approval for secure communications - AppleInsider (press release) (blog)

Much Ado About Nothing? Cyber Command and the NSA – War on the Rocks

Last week, word began to spread that the Trump administration was considering granting new powers to U.S. Cyber Command. Lolita Baldor of the Associated Press had the scoop, discussing two related but separate steps under consideration: first, to elevate U.S. Cyber Command to the status of a unified command and second, to break the current dual-hat arrangement with the National Security Agency (NSA), whereby the commander of U.S. Cyber Command is the same individual as the director of the NSA.

It is worth noting, however, four things: First, these two steps (elevation and separation) have been under consideration for years. Second, there were good reasons at the time why the Obama administration didnt act on them. Third, elevation and separation should, in theory, operationally empower U.S. Cyber Command, but in practice Cyber Command may ironically find itself with less capability to offer. And finally, Cyber Command has already quietly amassed non-operational power and authority within the Department of Defense, making it one of the most independent commands, second only to the U.S. Special Operations Command. As such, while this weekends news is a good sign of the continued maturation of Cyber Command (and the acknowledgment of that maturation by the White House), theres less here than meets the eye.

Lets review Cyber Commands origins and its assigned missions before tackling the news. (Please accept my apologies in advance for some acronym salad.) For the short-story long, see chapter 8 of Playing to the Edge by Michael Hayden and the early parts of Jay Healeys Fierce Domain. Long-story short, the NSA had been the nations leading signals intelligence agency for decades. But after 9/11, as new opportunities emerged to create effects against adversaries during declared hostilities, Pentagon leadership became uncomfortable with the notion that the intelligence missions of collection and analysis would be conducted by the same organization that would disrupt or degrade, even destroy, targets through cyber-attacks during an armed conflict. In 2002, U.S. Strategic Command was given responsibility for cyberspace, and two little-known subordinate organizations emerged to manage it: Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (JTF-GNO) would handle guarding the Defense Departments networks while Joint Functional Component Command-Network Warfare (JFCC-NW) would be responsible for missions wed think of as offense. Because there was so much overlap between the NSA and the emerging JFCC-NW, the Department of Defense created the dual-hat by making the NSA director (then Hayden) the commander of JFCC-NW. As the threats to the Department of Defense in cyberspace increased throughout the 2000s, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates consolidated JTF-GNO and JFCC-NW under a new U.S. Cyber Command in 2010, but it was still subordinate to U.S. Strategic Command and still dual-hatted with the NSA director. Thats more or less where we find ourselves today.

Since then, U.S. Cyber Command has been charged with three missions: defend the Defense Departments networks and systems, provide offensive support to other commands in the event of a contingency, and defend the nation from a cyber-attack of significant consequence (less than two percent of incidents would qualify as significant).

Advocates of more autonomy and authority for U.S. Cyber Command have often bemoaned its subordinate status to U.S. Strategic Command. The theory is that having to work through Strategic Command slows down operational approval, coordination, or whatever else needs to happen. Based on my experience in the Cyber Policy office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, I am of the view that a stove-piped Joint Staff had more to do with delays and miscommunication than anything else; nor could I ever find a function Cyber Command might be asked to execute that could only be performed by a full, unified command (like Strategic Command) but not by a sub-unified command (like Cyber Command). We looked at this several times during the last administration: If the secretary of defense wanted the sub-unified command to execute, they could and would. It wasnt a problem, so elevating the command wasnt necessary. So, while I dont think there are any big wins to be had by the recent news about the Trump administration wanting to elevate Cyber Command, I dont think it hurts to do it either. And it might not ultimately be up to the White House: The 2017 NDAA requires the administration to elevate Cyber Command.

Breaking the dual-hatted relationship with the NSA is more complicated. There are very good reasons why JFCC-NW was born with the NSA as its commander, as there is a lot of overlap between the organizations. This overlap is intuitive to those whove worked in the business, but hard to explain in brief here. Ill just quote Hayden on this point: [I]n the cyber domain the technical and operational aspects of defense, espionage, and cyberattack are frankly indistinguishable they are all the same thing. Its obviously more complicated than this, but at a high level, I think this was the rationale.

There were studies undertaken about the implications of breaking the dual-hat before the Snowden affair, but his disclosures forced policymakers to confront the issue head-on. At that time, it was thought that breaking the dual-hat could improve perceptions about privacy and civil liberties at the NSA, but in December 2013 the Obama administration decided to maintain the arrangement. Senior leaders felt it was too soon to separate Cyber Command. Its readiness and resources were growing but insufficient, and it was still too reliant on NSA talent and services for its missions.

Working with the two organizations, I found that the relationship between the two was akin to a mix between hostage-taking and Stockholm syndrome except each organization kept mixing up which was the hostage and which was the hostage-taker. One day, U.S. Cyber Command would demand NSA support due to the latters responsibility as a combat support agency. The next day, the command would cave and say that NSA had other, more important priorities. And NSA too would resist a request from Cyber Command, then embrace it, and then fight it. The overlap and dependence was that tight.

For that reason, among others, I understand the argument about needing to separate Cyber Command from NSA so that the former can pursue its missions (especially to defend the nation and to support other commands) with greater independence from signals intelligence. But theres a risk here that would be dangerous to miss: When Cyber Command needs NSA support, the fact that its the same person in charge of both organization can break what might otherwise be a log-jam. Splitting the dual-hat could result in the NSA isolating itself and refocusing on its own core missions (the collection of signals intelligence and providing information assurance) while minimizing its support to Cyber Command.

Just because there are risks does not mean the Trump administration should leave the current arrangement in place. The question is not whether, but when and how, to break the dual-hat. One priority for the White House and Secretary Mattis will be to have a clear understanding with the new NSA director (who may well be a civilian for the first time) about how he or she sees the relationship with Cyber Command, and then how the administration monitors the relationship to ensure the NSA doesnt abandon Cyber Command outright.

The selection of who will next lead Cyber Command will also be a priority. Someone like the current commander of Army Cyber Command, Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, is an ideal candidate: He has years of experience in the cyber effects business, time in the Pentagon and the field, and he understands the roles of civilians, fellow military officers, and senior political types. Another name thats been floated is Lt. Gen. William Mayville, currently the Director of the Joint Staff. His time as the Joint Staffs chief information officer and with Joint Special Operations Command would make him a strong leader for Cyber Command as well.

The good news for the future of the U.S. militarys cyber operations is that, regardless of whether or not Cyber Command is elevated as a unified command or separated from the NSA, Congress has quietly been empowering Cyber Command with greater authorities and independence through legislation. My colleague Charley Snyder and I assessed all the additional powers conferred in the 2017 NDAA over at Lawfare, but Id like to single out the authority related to requirements: Being able to set its own requirements for the conduct of cyber operations, as well as validating the requirements of other defense components, matters more than this bland bureaucratic language might suggest. With the independent acquisition authority Congress gave it in a previous NDAA, Cyber Command can now accelerate acquisition and procurement to keep up with new requirements without the usual deliberations chaired by the Joint Staff. Special Operations Command is the only other military outfit with that kind of freedom, and it makes a big difference.

But the big question will be this: Regardless of these crucial authorities and any new command arrangements, what will Cyber Commands role be in protecting the country from threats like Russian information operations? Maybe its time we get away from using cyber as the description of what needs to be done, and instead think about what an Information Warfare Command would look like. How should the United States wage such a fight, and how should it protect itself? I am pleased the Trump administration is considering organizational changes to support a higher profile for cyber operations, but we really need answers to these bigger policy questions.

Michael Sulmeyer is the Director of the Cyber Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy Schools Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cyber Policy, from 2012-2015. Follow him on Twitter @SultanOfCyber.

Image:Airman 1st Class Christopher Maldonado/Shaw Air Force Base

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Much Ado About Nothing? Cyber Command and the NSA - War on the Rocks