In The News

The Wall Street Journal: A President’s Credibility

March 23, 2017
Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked with a series of claims, including a suggestion that British intelligence officials assisted former President Barack Obama in spying on Trump Tower. A Wall Street Journal editorial describes “the damage that Mr. Trump is doing to his Presidency with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations, evidence-free accusations, implausible denials and other...

BBC: WikiLeaks Claims CIA Has Tools to Snoop Via TVs, Phones

Leo Kelion March 8, 2017
WikiLeaks reports that the US Central Intelligence Agency has amassed a wide range of hacking tools for televisions, phones and consumer products that rely on the internet. “The alleged cyber-weapons are said to include malware that targets Windows, Android, iOS, OSX and Linux computers as well as internet routers,” reports Leo Kelion for BBC News. “Some of the software is reported to have been...

Bloomberg: Trump's Obama-Wiretap Claim

Ben Brody, Jennifer Jacobs, and Justin Sink March 7, 2017
The essence of good surveillance requires those under observation not realizing an operation is underway. US President Donald Trump released social-media messages maintaining, without offering evidence, that he had just learned former President Barack Obama had ordered surveillance of Trump Tower in New York City. The messages force the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other security officials...

Japan Times: North Korea Training to Strike US Bases in Japan?

Jesse Johnson March 7, 2017
After firing a series of missiles into the Sea of Japan, North Korea claimed to be training for a strike on US military bases in Japan. Japan would be vulnerable to saturation attacks. “Pyongyang demonstrated its growing military capabilities with the apparent simultaneous launch of four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, three of which fell inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone,” reports...

Newsweek: How Trump Is Fueling ISIS

Kurt Eichenwald March 6, 2017
Terrorist groups issue propaganda to identify and recruit marginalized citizens of developed nations. The United States is now making such recruiting easy with attempts to ban immigrants from six Muslim-majority nations and interrogating Muslims, even citizens, who enter the United States. “…. counterterrorism experts have understood that countering … propaganda has been among the most essential...

Southeast Asia Globe: Faith in Flux

Paul Millar March 3, 2017
Religious minorities in undeveloped nations are susceptible to funds and influence from outside sources. Fundamentalists in Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia target poor Muslims around the globe, including the Cham community in Cambodia. “Tracing their descent from the ancient kingdom of Champa in modern-day Vietnam, the more than 400,000 Chams who live in Cambodia have...

Yonhap News: South Korea Mulls Projects to Help North Koreans Access Outside Information

March 2, 2017
South Korea is ranked the world’s 11th largest economy while its neighbor to the north, isolated and poor, does not rank among the top 100. The free flow of information and news contributes to economic growth and development, and South Korea is making plans for a foundation to improve human rights in North Korea and push projects that help North Koreans access outside information. But activists...