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Disenchanted with the endless killings across the country, particularly in Kaduna State, the House of Representatives, last week, called for the removal of the National Security Adviser. PHILIP NYAM reports

Every discerning Nigerian is worried over the spate of killings across the country. For some time now, no day passes without reports of Nigerians being killed in one community or the other either by Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgents, bandits, unknown gunmen, ritualists, kidnappers or cultists. It has become a recurrent decimal although the government has always assured Nigerians that the armed forces and security agencies are up to the task.

The negative impact of the killings is fast becoming overwhelming. Whether in the North-East, North-West, North Central, South-East, South-South or South-West, it is indeed a sad era in the history of the nation. Apparently frustrated by the sordid stories of killings, kidnappings and destruction of communities by insurgents and other criminal elements, the House of Representatives upon the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance, last week, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve his National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) of his duties for abysmal performance.

The House equally urged the Federal Government to direct the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff to deploy Special Forces to Birnin Gwari and Giwa Federal Constituency of Kaduna State to combat bandits terrorising the people.

The House in an emotion-laden session also urged the Federal Government to set up camps for internally displaced persons and to equally provide relief materials to offer succour to victims of the attacks. The motion These resolutions were consequent upon a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Shehu Balarabe, (APC, Kaduna).

In presenting the motion, the lawmaker expressed concerns over rising activities of Bandits in Birnin Gwari and Giwa communities in the past few weeks. He said that between March 24 and 28, over 117 people were killed, 130 abducted and over 10,463 people displaced, following series of attacks launched by bandits across communities in his constituency.

The lawmaker added that countless cattle were rustled, while houses and other valuables belonging to his constituents were razed during the invasions by the bandits. He called on the Inspector General of Police and the chiefs of Army and Air Staff to mobilise more personnel to the area. Hon. Balarabe further called on the Air Force to be more proactive in responding to attacks by insurgents as its helicopter that is supposed to be for rapid response has never engaged the bandits when called. He also appealed to the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in charge of setting up and equipping Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps to help shelter the displaced citizens, especially as the rain is fast approaching. He further called on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and other relevant agencies to assist the victims with stipends for survival.

Contributions by members

In supporting the motion, the House Majority Leader, Hon Alhassan Ado-Doguwa (APC, Kano) said: Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in the capacity of the Majority Leader, who of course is the ambassador of government on this floor. You can see how this chamber has been thrown into disquiet over the motion.

When you have a government in place, the major responsibility of that government, especially a democratic one, which was elected by the people is to ensure safety of lives and property of citizens. When things like this continue on daily basis, those of us who are representatives of the government become speechless. We become speechless here to defend actions by the government.

This is an elected government under a popular democracy but we continue day in, day out killings, massacre, armed robbery all over, left, right and centre. This is a report from just one local government out of the 774. The case of Giwa is not just a new case; he (Balarabe) is only giving us the most recent happening. Giwa has been engulfed by killings in the last two, three years.

The House majority leader wondered why Kaduna, which houses key military and defence institutions and infrastructure, had become the epicentre of killings and activities of bandits and terrorists. His words: This is Kaduna where you have the representation of the Nigerian military and other security agencies; the highest you can count in the northern part of the country.

Why should this thing continue to happen? I think government and officials of government and even the security agencies are under democratic authorities. Government in this case has to rise up to its responsibility, call a spade, a spade. If it is about funding, each of us here knows we have never had any cause to contemplate funding our security agencies. I believe our relevant committees are following up in terms of implementation of such funding through our budget and their oversight processes.

Why should things continue this way? We are here for the Nigerian people and we must speak for Nigerian people. We cannot sit down here and fold our arms; the people who elected us are being killed by the day. I think if there is any other thing, I should add to this motion, Mr. Speaker with due respect to our institutions, on account of this institutional failure, regimental failure on the part of our security agencies because you have just no cause to raise excuse. Funding is provided.

Here we are now as an institution, we have now sent an invitation, come and meet with the people of Nigeria, come and interface with us. Lets see how we can put heads together and address some of these perennial problems. At the end of the day, right from head to top; the Inspector General of Police, everyone of them sent a representative. This is a matter that is beyond a mere representative. Every commanding officer of a security agency owes Nigeria a duty to come and honour the call of the parliament.

Im not trying to preempt the actions and the good intentions of the committee set by this honourable House but security agencies have to stand up. With all sense of responsibility, I think Nigerians should at this moment be allowed to also take up arms. Ado-Doguwa expressed grave concern that Nigerians must be allowed to take up arms in defence and their hard-earned property because it is like a monumental failure. If the agencies of security have failed, then Nigerians should not be seen as failures. Let Nigerians organise themselves in the way of civil defence.

Let organise defence for their innocent souls, because, if the responsibility of the government cannot be carried out democratically, then everyone has the cause to defend himself. In his contribution, Hon. Haruna Mshelia (APC, Borno) noted that when things happen for a long time, people tend to forget. I concur with all the previous speakers, particularly our leader who spoke very well, but I want to remind the House that in Borno State, its still simmering. In fact, there is a local government call Guzamala, up till now, there is no a single soul living there.

In my constituency, which is the southern part, three communities were recently attacked, one in Igbohi ward called kilangala, where they attacked and destroyed property, another one on Gudi where the youth leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was killed, and in Geraha in Gida ward, where they displaced people and destroyed their property. Hitting the nail on the head, Hon.Nasiru Ali Ahmed (APC, Kano) said: I will start in sympathizing with all those who lost their lives, kidnapped or injured, in this horrible and tragic incident that happened in Kaduna.

I said it before in this chamber, from 2015 when this government came into power, how many service chiefs have we had, how many IGP have we had? Some have come and gone but only one person has not been changed up till today, and that is the National Security Adviser, what is the job of the National Security Adviser? Do we have a National Security Adviser at all? The agencies that have been mentioned, from the Army to Navy, Air Force, Police, Department of State Services, all of these agencies are accountable to National Security Adviser.

Mr. Speaker, from the interviews that I had of the people, who survived the incident, few days ago, they said, most of these criminals were between the ages the 16 and 18, with guns, Are we safe? We are saying that, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, Air Force and police, with all the training that they have had, with the international training they have had, that a rag tag army of young boys are more powerful than them? Mr. Speaker, this madness has to stop, it simply has to stop. You travel by road, you are kidnapped; you go by train, you are kidnapped. Last week, the airport was attacked by bandits.

You sit at home you are kidnapped, you send your children to school they are kidnapped. A few weeks ago, somebody was kidnapped in the hospital, so where are you going to stay? You can be kidnapped right in this chamber, Mr. Speaker, what do we tell our people, the people who elected us, do we just fold our hands? I want to use this opportunity again to call for the resignation of the National Security Adviser; he must be removed. The call by Ahmed jolted the Deputy Speaker, Idris Ahmed Wase, who presided over the session, prompting him to appeal for understanding among his colleagues. He interjected, saying: I want to beg the House; let us not be too emotional, a lot of things are wrong. Every Nigerian in terms of the outcry of what is happening at this moment want us to step-up oversight and assignments that hav been given to us.

We should do the work diligently and report back to the House. Also expressing anger, Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos (PDP, Plateau) wondered why the promises made to Nigerians by politicians to tackle insecurity, when they were campaigning, have not been fulfilled. He called for a suspension of releases of appropriated funds to the security agencies until they can properly account for such expended funds. Hon. Ahmadu Usman Jaha (APC, Borno), in his contribution, said: In 2021, we budgeted N460 billion for the Nigerian Army alone, only N29 billion was for capital expenditure, the remaining was for recurrent expenditure.

In 2022, we budgeted N571 billion for the Nigerian Army alone, only N37 billion is capital expenditure, the remaining was for recurrent expenditure. The truth of the matter is that security in Nigeria has become a cash cow business. I am not willing to go without taking my own and he is not willing to go with taking his own and the other person is not willing to leave until when he gets his own.

Its just like a medical doctor putting professionalism aside. You presented a patient and as a patients relative you say every month Ill give you N100 million until the patient recovers or otherwise. The doctor will make sure that the patient does not die as well as continue to ensure that he does not recover because he will keep collecting the money. It is a simple analysis every person can understand. This is a cash cow business, they dont do it to finish because they will realize that everybodys attention was diverted towards the North- East, Okay, let them release North- East to some extent and go to north- West after North-West they move to South-West. Before you realise what is happening, the whole country is gutted with security challenges.

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Insecurity: When Reps moved against NSA - New Telegraph Newspaper

First Look Media laid off 20 employees on Wednesday, including five reporters from investigative news outlet The Interceptone of whom played a pivotal role in reporting on multiple scandals involving the National Security Agency.

In an email sent to all staffers on Wednesday afternoon, obtained by The Daily Beast and first reported by Axios, First Look Media CEO Michael Bloom blamed the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic for forcing the company to make some incredibly difficult decisions as we continue to maneuver through these unprecedented times.

Adding that the nonprofit is now entering a new phase, Bloom wrote that in order to ensure the long-term health of our organizations First Look is recalibrating our operations and unfortunately having to part ways with some of our beloved colleagues.

Founded in 2013 by eBay creator Pierre Omidyar, First Look Media houses not only The Intercept but also the Press Freedom Defense Fund, a nonprofit media support group, as well as documentary film studio Field of Vision, and for-profit content studio Topic Studio and streaming service Topic.

Blooms email and First Looks rationale for the layoffs that also impacted The Intercept didnt sit well with much of the staff, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

While The Intercept is doing some of its best reporting since its inception, time and time again the parent company appears to be floundering in bad branding and ill-advised schemes to become profitable. If just months ago Topic was hitting some key milestones, why was The Intercept put in the position to fire 5 staffers? photo editor Elise Swain told The Daily Beast.

Senior leadership was forced to make an impossible decision and we lost an excellent reporter in Alleen Brown as well as a dedicated video producer and more. Now, further staff positions arent able to be back-filled. Blooms email to the staff uses the pandemicthis act of godas a scapegoat while the real blame lies with himself, an apparently failing subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, an expensive office, and the board's demand for skulls, she added. The email from Bloom verges on offensive: Dont gaslight journalists.

While the email sent to First Look employees didnt include the names of any of those impacted by the layoffs, one staffer took to social media to announce that shed been let go.

Just got laid off from @theintercept, reporter Alleen Brown tweeted on Wednesday. I cover environmental justice, especially where it intersects with criminalization, incarceration, Indigenous affairs, labor, I could go on. DMs are open if youre hiring.

The Daily Beast has confirmed that along with Brown, other Intercept journalists that were let go include tech editor Ryan Tate, investigative researcher W. Paul Smith, documentary producer Paul Abowd, and investigative reporter Matthew Cole, the former NBC News reporter who in 2013 collaborated with Glenn Greenwald on reporting stories based on NSA subcontractor Edward Snowdens leak of highly classified documents revealing U.S. global surveillance programs. Cole continued to work on such stories after The Intercept hired him in 2015.

The layoffs were spread out across both the nonprofit and for-profit portions of the organization, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Tate, for his part, spoke highly of The Intercept when reached for comment by The Daily Beast. As someone who was there for seven plus years, since not long after the founding, Ive seen The Intercept morph and evolve repeatedly like the media startup that it is, and given how much incredible talent they still retain, and the still substantial resources they possess, I genuinely believe they are on the verge of a bright and sustainable future, he stated.

Aside from his work on the Snowden revelations, Cole was notably one of the journalists involved in The Intercepts infamous NSA bombshell that unwittingly resulted in the arrest and conviction of whistleblower Reality Winner, who provided hacked documents to the outlet.

On Wednesday night, The Intercepts union released a statement in response to the layoffs, saying they did not need to occur.

These appear to be the first company-wide layoffs since First Look shuttered access to Snowdens tranche of leaked NSA documents and let go of several researchers who maintained those documents in 2019.

First Look did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Go here to read the rest:
The Intercept's Parent Company First Look Lays Off 20 Staffers - The Daily Beast

2:45 P.M. EDT

MS. PSAKI: Hi, everyone. Okay, we have a very special return guest today, Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger, who is here to provide a brief update on cyber. You probably have seen the statement from the President we issued, as well as a factsheet; shell talk about that. Has a little bit of time to take some questions, and then well do a briefing from there.

With that, Ill turn it over to Anne.

MS. NEUBERGER: Thank you, Jen. Good afternoon, everyone.

This afternoon, the President released a statement and factsheet regarding cyber threats to the homeland, urging private sector partners to take immediate action to shore up their defenses against potential cyberattacks.

Weve previously warned about the potential for Russia to conduct cyberattacks against the United States, including as a response to the unprecedented economic costs that the U.S. and Allies and partners imposed in response to Russias further invasion of Ukraine.

Today, we are reiterating those warnings, and were doing so based on evolving threat intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States.

To be clear, there is no certainty there will be a cyber incident on critical infrastructure. So why am I here? Because this is a call to action and a call to responsibility for all of us.

At the Presidents direction, the administration has worked extensively over the last year to prepare to meet this sort of threat, providing unprecedented warning and advice to the private sector and mandating cybersecurity measures where we have the authority to do so.

For example, just last week, federal agencies convened more than 100 companies to share new cybersecurity threat information in light of this evolving threat intelligence. During those meetings, we shared resources and tools to help companies harden their security, like advisories sourced from sensitive threat intelligence and hands-on support from local FBI field offices and sister regional offices, including their Shields Up program.

The meeting was part of an extensive cybersecurity resilience effort that we began in the fall, prompted by the President. Agencies like Energy, EPA, Treasury, and DHS have hosted both classified and unclassified briefings with hundreds of owners and operators of privately owned critical infrastructure. CISA, NSA, and FBI have published cybersecurity advisories that set out protections the private sector can deploy to improve security.

The President has also directed departments and agencies to use all existing government authorities to mandate new cybersecurity and network defense measures. Youve seen us do that where we have the authority to do so, including TSAs work that mandated directives for the oil and gas pipelines following the Colonial Pipeline incident that highlighted the significant gaps in resilience for that sector.

Our efforts together over the past year has helped drive much-needed and significant improvements. But theres so much more we need to do to have the confidence that weve locked our digital doors, particularly for the critical services Americans rely on.

The majority of our critical infrastructure, as you know, is owned and operated by the private sector. And those owners and operators have the ability and the responsibility to harden the systems and networks we all rely on.

Notwithstanding these repeated warnings, we continue to see adversaries compromising systems that use known vulnerabilities for which there are patches. This is deeply troubling.

So were urging, today, companies to take the steps within your control to act immediately to protect the services millions of Americans rely on and to use the resources the federal government makes available. The factsheet released alongside the Presidents statement contains the specific actions that were calling companies to do.

I would be remiss if I didnt reiterate the Presidents thanks to Congress for its partnership in this effort, including making cybersecurity resources available in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and, most recently, for working across the aisle to require companies to report cyber incidents to the federal government. That will ensure federal resources are focused on the most important cyber threats to the American people.

We welcome additional congressional work to identify new authorities that can help address gaps and drive down collective cybersecurity risk.

Bottom line: This is about us the work we need to do to lock our digital doors and to put the country in the best defensive position.

And there is them. As the President has said: The United States is not seeking confrontation with Russia. But he has also said that if Russia conducts disruptive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, we will be prepared to respond.

Thank you.

MS. PSAKI: All right. Let me just first ask, for those of you in the aisles, if youre not a photographer, theres plenty of seats. So if you could sit down, that would be great, and not crowd the others in the seats.

So, we dont have unlimited time, so if people we just want to get to as many people as possible.

So, go ahead.

Q Thank you, Jen. Hi, Anne. Just a quick question on the Viasat attack that happened on the 24th of Feb, the day Russia attacked Ukraine. Weve obviously seen that impact satellite communication networks in Eastern Europe. And since then, the FBI and CISA have issued warnings that similar attacks can happen against U.S. companies.

Is the U- is the U.S. in a position to perhaps identify who is behind the hack at this moment?

MS. NEUBERGER: Its a really good question. So, first, I want to lift up: FBI and CISA and NSA also highlighted protective security measures that U.S. companies can put in place to protect against exactly that kind of attack. We have not yet attributed that attack, but were carefully looking at it because, as you noted, of the impact not only in Ukraine but also in satellite communication systems in Europe as well.

Q Does the sophistication of the attack, perhaps the timing of it, suggest that its a state actor? I mean, are you willing to

MS. NEUBERGER: Those are certainly factors that are were looking at carefully as we look at who is responsible for them.

MS. PSAKI: Phil.

Q The evolving intelligence, it doesnt mean that its a certainty theres going to be an attack. Can you explain for the layman what youre seeing right now that precipitated this statement today, and what the evolving intelligence may be now compared to on the 24th or prior to the invasion?

MS. NEUBERGER: Absolutely. So, the first part of that is: Youve seen the administration continuously lean forward and share even fragmentary pieces of information we have to drive and ensure maximum preparedness by the private sector.

So as soon as we learned about that, last week we hosted classified briefings with companies and sectors who we felt would be most affected, and provided very practical, focused advice.

Todays broader, unclassified briefing is to raise that broader awareness and to raise that call to action.

Q So there was something specific you saw last week that was raised to the industries that it would have affected, is what youre saying?

MS. NEUBERGER: So I want to reiterate: There is no evidence of any of any specific cyberattack that were anticipating for. There is some preparatory activity that were seeing, and that is what we shared in a classified context with companies who we thought might be affected. And then were lifting up a broader awareness here in this in this warning.

MS. PSAKI: Major?

Q Hey, Anne. When you say a call to action, many who hear you say that might believe that something is imminent. Is it?

MS. NEUBERGER: So, first, a call to action is because there are cyberattacks that occur every day. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid in ransoms by U.S. companies just last year against criminal activity happening in the U.S. today. Every single day, there should be a call to action.

Were using the opportunity of this evolving threat intelligence regarding potential cyberattacks against critical infrastructure to reiterate those with additional focus specifically to critical infrastructure owners and operators to say, You have the responsibility to take these steps to protect the critical services Americans rely on.

Q And as a follow-up: Critical infrastructure is a broad term. Is it as broad as you typically mean it when the government speaks about critical infrastructure, or is there something youve seen that you can be more a little bit more specific within that large frame of critical infrastructure?

MS. NEUBERGER: I wont get into specific sectors at this time, because the steps that are needed to lock our digital doors need to be done across every sector of critical infrastructure. And even those sectors that we do not see any specific threat intelligence for, we truly want those sectors to double down and do the work thats needed.

MS. PSAKI: Jacqui.

Q You guys, the administration, successfully declassified a lot of intelligence about what the Russians were planning leading up to the invasion to prebut what they might do. Can you do that a little bit here and at least list some of the industries that might be the biggest targets so that they can have a heightened awareness about what might be coming?

MS. NEUBERGER: As we consider declassifying intelligence, to your excellent point, that really has been the work that has been done the last few weeks and was driven by a focus on outcomes. It was driven by the Presidents desire to avoid war at all costs, to really invest in diplomacy.

So, as we consider this information, the first step we did was we gave classified, detailed briefings to the companies and sectors for which we had some preparatory information about. And then for those where we dont, thats the purpose of todays unclassified briefing: to give that broad warning. And I want to lift up the factsheet, which is really the call to action for specific activities to do.

Q So you believe the people, the industries that need to know about this risk know?

MS. NEUBERGER: We believe the key entities who need to know have been provided classified briefings. I mentioned, for example, just last week, several hundred companies were brought in to get that briefing.

MS. PSAKI: Peter.

Q Does the U.S. have any evidence that Russia has attempted a hack, either here in the U.S., in Europe, or in Ukraine, over the course of the last several weeks since this offensive began?

MS. NEUBERGER: So, we certainly believe that Russia has conducted cyberattacks to undermine, coerce, and destabilize Ukraine. And we attributed some of those a couple of weeks ago.

We consistently see nation states doing preparatory activity. That preparatory activity can pan out to become an incident; it cannot. And thats the reason were here.

Q So, specifically in the U.S., as there was an assessment early on that we thought that we would be a likely target here, why do you think we have not seen any attack on critical infrastructure in the United States to this point so far?

MS. NEUBERGER: I cant speak to Putin or Russian leaderships strategic thinking regarding how cyberattacks factor in.

What I can speak to is the preparatory work weve been doing here in the U.S. and the fact that as soon as we have some evolving threat intelligence regarding a shift in that intention, that were coming out and raising the awareness to heighten our preparedness as well.

Q So you cant say declaratively that we stopped an attack, I guess Im saying, to this point on critical infrastructure?

MS. NEUBERGER: Correct.

Q Okay. Thank you.

MS. PSAKI: Colleen.

Q Can you explain a little bit more what preparatory activity on the part of the Russians would be? What does that look like?

MS. NEUBERGER: So, preparatory activity could mean scanning websites; it could be hunting for vulnerabilities. Theres a range of activity that malicious cyber actors use, whether theyre nation state or criminals.

The most troubling piece and really one I mentioned a moment ago is we continue to see known vulnerabilities, for which we have patches available, used by even sophisticated cyber actors to compromise American companies, to compromise companies around the world. And thats one of the reasons and that makes it far easier for attackers than it needs to be.

Its kind of you know, I joke I grew up in New York you had a lock and an alarm system. The houses that didnt or left the door open clearly were making it easier than they should have. Right? No comment about New York. (Laughter.)

So, clearly what were asking for is: Lock your digital doors. Make it harder for attackers. Make them do more work. Because a number of the practices we include in the factsheet will make it significantly harder, even for a sophisticated actor, to compromise a network.

MS. PSAKI: Go ahead.

Q Sorry, just to be clear: The warning today, is this in response to some of these more desperate tactics weve seen from Russia on ground? Are you now fearing that there might be more of a cyber risk because of what were seeing on the ground in Ukraine?

MS. NEUBERGER: So, weve given a number of threat intel- of threat warnings over the last number of weeks that Russia could consider conducting cyberattacks in response to the very significant economic costs the U.S. and partners have put on Russia in response. This speaks to evolving threat intelligence and a potential shift in intention to do so.

Q And do you have a message for individuals? Youre talking a lot about private companies. What about households? Should they be worried about cyberattacks here?

MS. NEUBERGER: The items in the factsheet apply to companies and individuals as well. Im specifically speaking to companies because theres a responsibility to protect the critical services Americans rely on. But every individual should take a look at that fact sheet because its a truly helpful one. We only put in place the things that we really try to practice and work to practice ourselves.

MS. PSAKI: Jordan.

Q Thanks. As part of this preparatory activity, do you have evidence that Russian hackers have infiltrated the networks of U.S. companies already and just havent carried out the attacks?

MS. NEUBERGER: There was as I noted, we frequently see preparatory activity. Whenever we do, we do sensitive warnings to the individual companies and provide them information to ensure they can look quickly at their networks and remediate what may be occurring.

Q So have you seen any evidence that there have been infiltrations as part of that activity?

MS. NEUBERGER: We routinely see information about infiltrations. Right? Technology is not as secure as it needs to be. I mentioned the ransomware activity. There are multiple nation-state actors. Its a line of work for the intelligence community and the FBI to knock on a companys door and say, Weve seen some evidence of an intrusion. Well work with you. Well make these resources available via a regional office to work with you to help you recover. Thats thats pretty routine practice.

What were seeing now is an evolving threat intelligence to conduct potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. And that raises up a point because were concerned about potential disruption of critical services.

MS. PSAKI: Ken.

Q Anne, you did a briefing for us about a month ago. Do you think the U.S. banking system is more vulnerable, less vulnerable since the briefing, given the warnings that the government has produced?

MS. NEUBERGER: The U.S. banking sector truly takes cyber threats seriously, both individually and as a group. Treasury has worked extensively with the sector to share sensitive threat intelligence at the executive level, at the security executive level, repeatedly at the classified and unclassified level. So, I do not believe theyre more at risk, but it is always important for every critical infrastructure sector to double down in this heightened period of geopolitical tension to carefully look at any threat.

MS. PSAKI: Go ahead.

Q Can you paint a worst-case scenario picture for us? What exactly are you most worried about if people the private sector chooses to not take these steps?

MS. NEUBERGER: Clearly, what were always I wont get into hypotheticals, right? But the reason Im here is because critical infrastructure power, water, many hospitals in the United States are owned by the private sector. And while the federal government makes extensive resources available I mentioned FBIs 56 regional offices you can just walk in; CISA has offices near most FEMA sites in the United States. Theyve had their Shields Up program. We can make those resources available. For those sectors where we can mandate measures like oil and gas pipelines, we have. But its ultimately the private sectors responsibility, in our current authority structure, to do those steps, to use those resources to take those steps.

So, the purpose here is to say: Americans rely on those critical services. Please act. And were here to support with the resources we have.

MS. PSAKI: Kayla, last one.

Q Thank you. Anne, are you still seeing the Russians carrying out cyberattacks inside Ukraine? Its been a few weeks since weve been discussing that in particular.

And as financial tools levied by the West have proven ineffective, what cyber tools does the West have that it can possibly utilize?

MS. NEUBERGER: We do continue to see Russia conducting both as you know, right? significant malicious activity in Ukraine; major kinetic attacks, which have disrupted and killed lives; as well as cyber activity. And we believe the unprecedented economic costs the United States and partners have levied is significant in that way.

With regard to your question about whether cyberattacks would change that: I think the President was very clear were not looking for a conflict with Russia. If Russia initiates a cyberattack against the United States, we will respond.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, Anne, so much for joining us.

MS. NEUBERGER: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Q Thanks, Anne.

Q Thank you, Anne.

MS. PSAKI: All right. I just had two brief items for all of you at the top.

There was a scheduled meeting today that Secretary Yellen, Secretary Raimondo, Jake Sullivan, and Brian Deese had with 16 CEOs this afternoon. The President also dropped by for about 20 minutes and provided them an update on Russia, Ukraine. Im sure we can get you a list of the attendees at that meeting as well.

Also wanted to note a number of you have asked about whether the President would be watching the hearings today. One scheduling note is the Quint meet- call he had this morning was at exactly the same time as her opening statement, but he did request regular updates or has been requesting regular updates from members of the team on how the hearing is going.

And he also called her last night to wish her good luck this week at the hearings.

And I would also note that hes very grateful to Judge Tom Grif- Thomas Griffith, as well as Lisa Fairfax, for introducing her today.

So with that, I will stop. And, Colleen, why dont you kick us off.

Q Okay. So, do you can give us a readout of the call with the European leaders from earlier? Just sort of what was discussed, what happened.

And then I have one other question after that.

MS. PSAKI: Absolutely. If you havent already there should be a readout going out shortly, but let me give you a few of the preview points of this call:

Read the original:
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Deputy NSA for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger, March 21, 2022 - The White House

Image courtesy of General Dynamics Mission Systems.

In this Q&A with Brian Morrison, Cyber Systems vice president and general manager for General Dynamics Mission Systems, we discuss cost-effective strategies for crypto mod, how Layer 2 encryption will enable missions such as the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, and how organizations can keep cryptographic systems compliant with NSA requirements.

Breaking Defense: Lets set the scene. What is the steady state right now in cryptographic solutions? Where is modernization needed?

Brian Morrison, Cyber Systems vice president and general manager for General Dynamics Mission Systems.

Morrison: At a threshold level, NSA is the standard-setting organization and the certifier for all cryptographic equipment across the National Security Enterprise. Its fair to say that crypto modernization for NSA has always been viewed as a continuous process.

That is to say, you and I have email accounts that we originally set up with a strong password. But since then, maybe we used that password on other accounts, or there was a penetration somewhere, or compute power has increased such that password crackers are more capable today. So what was once a strong password ends up being a really weak one and a vulnerability.

Thats an oversimplification, but whats true for passwords is true for crypto gear. You can build the strongest crypto gear that exists but over time the security of that device, of the algorithms that underlie that device, of the protections that are wrapped around that device, all erode over time. Our adversaries get better at doing what they do. And were seeing new, persistent attacks due to network vulnerabilities.

Under the leadership of the NSA, we, as a National Security Enterprise, must continually refresh our crypto gear. That means discreet gates for Advanced Cryptographic Capability prescribed by NSA. It also means continuing to patch, maintain, and update all of our gear over time. And then at certain points in time, NSA says a particular family of cryptographic gear has to come offline because it has aged out; it cant be secure anymore.

Thats the way I look at crypto modernization: from new crypto boxes to upgrading existing crypto boxes, to removing legacy crypto boxes from a network. All of that is the process of crypto mod. Our reason for being at General Dynamics Mission Systems is to make sure that our customers and the national security establishment have the most secure crypto that American ingenuity can provide.

Breaking Defense: How should organizations approach crypto mod? Is it akin to a software patch or a new iOS update that downloads in the background while were asleep?

Morrison: I wish it were that easy. There are two aspects. One is we know, without speaking to crypto gear specifically, that the overwhelming majority of cyber-security penetrations happen because somebody has not patched and updated, or they have been phished.

Our customers operate in vast networks, widely dispersed networks, high-latency networks, and in tactical, DIL (disconnected, intermittent, limited) environments. Its very difficult for those networks with many pieces of gear to stay patched and updated all the time. At General Dynamics Mission Systems, we have what we call the GEM One Encryptor Manager, which is a software package that manages and updates all of the Type 1 crypto in the enterprise, including crypto devices made by other manufacturers. Remote management improves the health of the network and eases maintenance.

The second part of the problem is that our customers have thousands and thousands of cryptographic units in their inventory. The ongoing process of crypto mod, including the periodic deadlines that the NSA rightfully imposes, is difficult to manage from both a budgetary and a logistics perspective.

So were encouraging our customers to think proactively about what their needs are going to be for crypto in 6, 12, 18, 24, 36 months out. That helps them plan from a budget perspective so that we are able to plan from a manufacturing-capacity perspective so that when the time comes to switch out boxes, theyve got the budget for it and were ready to satisfy their demand on time and within their budget. Thats easy to say and hard to do because theyre substantial investments. At the same time, theyre investments in the security of the most important secrets the nation has.

Breaking Defense: Is crypto mod more of a hardware or a software modification, or both?

Morrison: When we talk about crypto mod, were normally talking about updates to the hardware. But there are major software updates that we can do to provide compliance with crypto mod gates from the NSA. For example, our TACLANE-FLEX, TACLANE-10G, TACLANE-Nano, TACLANE-Micro, and Sectra vIPer phones have all been software upgraded to the NSAs Advanced Cryptographic Capabilities standard of modernization.

Breaking Defense: What is involved in keeping data-protection solutions up to date. Im assuming were talking about NSA requirements and certifications.

Morrison: Yes, the NSA is the certification authority for Type 1 crypto. If you want to pass classified information across the network, youve got to do it over a piece of crypto that the NSA has certified. For the vendors and programs that develop new crypto, that certification process is every bit as rigorous, complicated, and demanding as you would imagine. And, frankly, as rigorous as you would hope as these are high-stakes networks. For the missions that consume the crypto, the fact that NSA has certified the encryptor makes the long-term management of the crypto infinitely simpler and more stable.

Today, the NSA is in the midst of introducing a new specification for what we call Layer 2 encryption. This is a new standard for encryption at a different network layer that is intended to deliver much higher speeds over the next few years. Were very much a part of that effort and have made significant investments in delivering some mind-boggling speeds.

Breaking Defense: Speeds for what exactly?

Morrison: For the defense and intelligence establishments migration to the cloud. With defense networks operating in cloud environments, you have data center to data center transfers that have to happen at a very high rate of speed because those data center to data center transfers are aggregated traffic.

These transfers must be as bandwidth efficient as possible while keeping high security standards. When you move to Layer 2, you open up the possibility of much higher speeds at any given compute power. At the same time, we are pushing the boundaries of what compute power is available. Were always looking for more compute power to deliver higher and higher speeds.

As we address the data center market for government data centers, we need to be able to deliver speeds that there isnt even a market for today, but we know there will be tomorrow.

Breaking Defense: It almost sounds like the future of cloud computing in the DoD, particularly the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, is dependent on Layer 2 encryption. Is that an oversimplification?

Morrison: I dont think it is. The cloud providers likely can, with their existing or soon-contemplated infrastructure, handle what is already within the boundaries of their clouds. But as we know, defense customers are going to require hybrid clouds. Theyre going to require data transitioning from cloud to cloud, and thats where we really need those higher speeds.

Breaking Defense: What do you see as hindrances to proper crypto modernization?

Morrison: Im always sympathetic to the fact that the business Im in, the crypto business, is often perceived by some of our customers as an unfunded mandate. Its a real challenge.

That often stands in the way, even though nobody wants their systems to not be secure. Their number one concern is the life of their soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. That necessitates the security of national security information traveling across their networks. But for many missions, crypto is not the core mission, its the thing that enables the mission.

As new requirements come online and as standards for crypto mod continue to evolve, tactical units might want to upgrade their crypto but just dont have the budget or logistics bandwidth. In response to that, we have added more remote management features to ease the logistics burden of crypto mod. And a couple of years ago, we introduced the smallest, lightest, least expensive Type 1 crypto in its class the TACLANE-Nano which brought affordable crypto to the tactical market.

Breaking Defense: Your point about crypto enabling the mission and not being the mission is well taken. Can you offer a scenario where TACLANE-Nano is particularly valuable to a warfighter and also an affordable and effective crypto solution?

Morrison: Sure. The last decade or more has seen a large increase in the use of unmanned and unattended systems. The nice thing about the TACLANE-Nano is that it is at a price point where you can put it on an unmanned or unattended system, insert it into your adversarys territory, for example, and not worry if it is lost or you lose connectivity; you can remotely zeroize that device. That means that if the cryptographic unit falls into the hands of our adversaries, it cant be used against us.

You cant do that with a big, heavy piece of crypto or one that costs $60,000 because thats not the way those types of unmanned missions run by and large. Were talking about much smaller, lighter airframes. We dont think of those classes of UAVs as attritable, but it may be approaching the attritable market.

Breaking Defense: Final thoughts?

Morrison: Any customer in the national security space has to be thinking about, worrying about, and planning for crypto mod. It is not something that any of us can ignore and then play catch up later on. The planning and logistics behind replacing legacy gear and modernizing a network cryptographic solution is complicated and long tailed.

Thats what General Dynamics Mission Systems is all about. We are a leader in crypto mod and are ready for both todays gates and tomorrows gates from the NSA. Our goal is to partner with our customers, help them understand and implement their modernization needs, and ensure their networks and communications are as secure as anyone can keep them.

More here:
Modernization of crypto isn't the core mission for DoD and the IC, it's what enables the mission - Breaking Defense

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