Pierluigi Paganini
August 05, 2016
We bring to the attention of the Security Affairs readers the interesting speech and interview dated 29/06/2016 of CIA Director John O. BRENNAN at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The main themes addressed are:
Brennan interviewed by journalist Judy Woodruff of the PBS “NewsHour” has pointed out that Europe must forge better than the request for a referendum by the Eurosceptics after the UK exit. The Brexit, however, will not affect the collaboration of intelligence between the US and the UK in the months and years to come, rather it will be strengthened. The effects of global instability and conflict scenarios are producing movements of displaced persons of the order of 65 million units.
In the Middle East, the geographic borders and national identities are constantly being redefined. The real threat of the ISIL than Al-Qaeda is that it has gone from a few hundred fighters to tens of thousands also improved their ability to conceal their communications.
As for the environment, Brennan estimates that $ 10 billion a year for the next government intervention limiting SAI programs of global warming or sowing methods with stratospheric particles that can help reflect the sun’s heat more or less in the same way in which volcanic eruptions do.
With respect to this last issue, there are questions with concern if behind these operations do not conceal stratosphere military domain. Global warming and the reduction of CO2 could be addressed without introducing potentially harmful elements as in the example of volcanic eruptions but more simply and at lower cost with the repopulation of the great forests.
Another concern for Brennan is the North Korea and the nuclear threat from Kim Jung with its continuous and frantic search of military capabilities in the nuclear field. We come now to the point that concerns us more closely, or the threat cyber, on this issue there is strong concern as to the public and private companies attacks are still rising and are becoming more sophisticated; here is the thought and words of Brennan:
Regarding the domain of Cyber threat here is the thought and words of Brennan:
“Another strategic challenge is dealing with the tremendous power, potential, opportunities, and risks resident in the digital domain. No matter how many geopolitical crises one sees in the headlines, the reliability, security, vulnerability, and the range of human activity taking place within cyberspace are constantly on my mind.
On the cybersecurity front, organizations of all kinds are under constant attack from a range of actors—foreign governments, criminal gangs, extremist groups, cyber-activists, and many others. In this new and relatively uncharted frontier, speed and agility are king. Malicious actors have shown that they can penetrate a network and withdraw in very short order, plundering systems without anyone knowing they were there until maybe after the damage is already done.
While I served at the White House, cyber was part of my portfolio, and it was always the subject that gave me the biggest headache. Cyber-attackers are determined and adaptive. They often collaborate and share expertise, and they come at you in so many different ways, with an ever-changing array of tools, tactics, and techniques.
Moreover, our laws have not yet adequately adapted to the emergence of this new digital frontier. Most worrisome from my perspective is that there is still no political or national consensus on the appropriate role of the government—law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence agencies—in safeguarding the security, the reliability, the resiliency, and the prosperity of the digital domain.
The intelligence community is making great strides in countering cyber-threats, but much work needs to be done. As we move forward on this issue, one thing we know is that private industry will have a huge role to play as the vast majority of the Internet is in private hands. Protecting it is not something the government can do on its own.
Right up there with terrorism, global instability, and cybersecurity is nuclear proliferation and the accompanying development of delivery systems, both tactical and strategic, that make all too real the potential for a nuclear event.
Unsurprisingly, top of my list of countries of concern is North Korea, whose authoritarian and brutal leader has wantonly pursued a nuclear-weapons program to threaten regional states and the United States instead of taking care of the impoverished and politically repressed men, women, and children of North Korea.
So what else is there besides terrorism, global instability, cybersecurity, and nuclear proliferation that worries the CIA director and keeps CIA officers busy around the clock and around the globe? Well, as a liberal-arts guy from the baby-boomer generation, the rapid pace of technological change during my lifetime has been simply dizzying. Moreover, as we have seen with just about every scientific leap forward, new technologies often carry substantial risks, to the same degree that they hold tremendous promise…”
About the Author: Prof. Francesco Corona
Cyber Intelligence expert – Security Affairs Writer.
Teacher and member of the Scientific Committee of the Master in Security and Cybersecurity at LINK CAMPUS UNIVERSITY Rome (http://www.unilink.it/cuap-sicurezza-informatica-cyber-security-security-manager/ ),for over thirty years working in the security sector and she perfected their knowledge in professional activities and US foreign courses. He stood out in teaching activities for the specialized training to technical and telematic CyberSecurity at SISDE (AISI) participating in numerous tables of discussion and planning of national security plans for critical infrastructure and the protection of Made in Italy. Author of numerous articles in security wrote for the magazine of the Intelligence GNOSIS services.
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(Security Affairs – BRENNAN, Cyber Security)
