Army crafting a new space policy, moving out on counterspace

Theresa Hitchens

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The Army's emphasis currently is "on the counterspace piece for space control, electronic warfare, really doing counter-communications," said Brig. Gen. Donald Brooks, deputy commanding general for operations at Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

SMD 2025 — The US Army is working on a new space policy to serve as the “umbrella” for a new Army space strategy and doctrine, as well as the foundation for future requirements and acquisitions, according to a senior service official.

The rewrite of what is known as Army Regulation 900.1 [PDF] is necessary in the face of the changed operational environment in space stemming from advancing adversary threats, Brig. Gen. Donald Brooks, deputy commanding general for operations at Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), told Breaking Defense in an interview on Tuesday

“The last one was written in 2011. And a lot of things have changed over the last 14, almost 15 years,” he said, noting that the previous Army space strategy also was crafted in 2011.

Work on rewriting the policy is being spearheaded by Col. Pete Atkinson, space division chief with the Army’s Strategic Operations Directorate, with SMDC supporting the effort, Brooks added.

Straits Forum Puts Fujian at Center of Cross-Strait Integration Campaign

Emerson Tsui

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Two meetings took place in Fujian Province across May and June that indicate the growing importance of its role in cross-Strait relations and shed light on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) current views of Taiwan’s security. Despite a high-profile appearance by a former president of Taiwan, a lack of engagement with Taiwan’s incumbent administration affirmed that unification remains a unilateral policy position. Developments in the region by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), meanwhile, belie Beijing’s peaceful overtures.

On May 8, the Central Taiwan Work Office and Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) convened a high-level inter-ministerial meeting in Fuzhou along with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Fujian’s provincial government (Fujian Government, May 9). The meeting, which 48 other central and provincial departments also attended, was held to evaluate the implementation of Beijing’s 2023 directive on constructing a “Cross-Strait Integrated Development Demonstration Zone” (两岸融合发展示范区). It also underscored the Party-state’s resolve to embed integration into the bureaucratic apparatus of governance, while simultaneously preparing for a military operation (Xinhua, May 8). The directive, which was jointly issued by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council, included incentives to attract “Taiwan compatriots” (台湾同胞) to relocate to Fujian Province. These incentives spanned residence registration, housing, education and school registration, legal services, employment, and civic engagement (Xinhua, September 12, 2023).

Five ways the Russia-Ukraine war could end

Nick Paton Walsh

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A Trump-Putin meeting has been floated by both sides for some time. So why might either side want it to happen now?

US President Donald Trump wants to bring the force of his personality to bear on forging a deal, believing that six months of intransigence from Moscow might be overcome by meeting the Kremlin head face to face. He seems still to cling to the idea the Kremlin can be cajoled into stopping the war, despite his Russian counterpart recently suggesting the maximalist position that the Russian and Ukrainian people are one, and wherever a Russian soldier steps is Russia.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to buy time, having already rejected a European, US and Ukrainian unconditional ceasefire proposal in May, offering instead two unilateral, short and inconsequential pauses. His forces are surging ahead on the front lines in a summer offensive that might bring him close enough to his goals that negotiations in the fall are over a very different status quo in the war.

Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb Has Implications for Golden Dome

Tobias Naegele

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Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb” attack on Russian air bases, which destroyed unprotected bombers at rest on their ramps, is reshaping how U.S. thinkers approach defending military bases and the U.S. homeland. The Spiderweb attack launched scores of drones from inside Russia, a surprise that caught the Russian air force entirely unprepared and unable to fend off short-range strikes. That has implications for how the Air Force defends its bases—and even which threats America’s future Golden Dome defense shield must guard against.

“A lot of people were not as stressed about [unmanned aerial systems attacking the U.S.] because they felt like the tyranny of distance” would be sufficient to stop such threats, said Doug Jones, chief technology officer for Leidos’ Defense Sector. “They were not taking into account the … insurgency delivery of UASes.”

What Ukraine’s attack showed, Jones said, is that small UASes smuggled to a launch point near potential targets can overcome their inability to fly long distances in a short time and short-circuit conventional defenses.

Why blow up satellites when you can just hack them?

Iain Thomson

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Black Hat Four countries have now tested anti-satellite missiles (the US, China, Russia, and India), but it's much easier and cheaper just to hack them.

In a briefing at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Milenko Starcik and Andrzej Olchawa from German biz VisionSpace Technologies demonstrated how easy it is by exploiting software vulnerabilities in the software used in the satellites themselves, as well as the ground stations that control them.

"I used to work at the European Space Agency on ground station IT," Olchawa told The Register, "So I decided to go into business to address it directly."

Satellites are proliferating. In 2005, there were fewer than 1,000 in orbit (many of them inactive). But two decades later, there are about 12,300 functioning satellites, per the European Space Agency. The majority of those are Starlink satellites owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, but there has also been a sharp rise in the number of military platforms thanks to rising global tensions. Plus, it's cheaper than ever to build and launch such hardware, they explained.

Opinion – Trump’s Tariffs are the Incentive the BRICS Needed

Luis Gouveia Jr

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In July, the BRICS had their 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro. A few days after a summit, Donald Trump used his social media, Truth Social, to threaten those who want to join the BRICS. Amid his tariff threats, the US president affirmed that states participating in the BRICS’ “anti-American policies” would face 10% tariffs. A few weeks later, Trump announced a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil, reportedly in response to judicial prosecutions against Jair Bolsonaro.

This week, he announced 50% tariffs on products coming from India – justifying the tariffs because of India’s imports of Russian oil and arms.In Brazil and India, the reactions have been quiteIn similar. Their respective leaders, President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have assertively refused to follow a servile path. Both claimed that Trump’s tariffs are unacceptable foreign interference and an attack on their countries’ sovereignty. Lula da Silva said that he will not humiliate himself to get a deal with the US. Even in highly polarized Brazil, the majority of public opinion seems to support Lula da Silva’s claims. Meanwhile, in India, Narendra Modi said he is ready to “pay the heavy price” to safeguard India’s interests. Whether Trump truly intended to weaken the BRICS, his policies are having the opposite effect. The US president is uniting the group at a moment when they were facing significant challenges.

Four Years On: An Appraisal of the Taliban’s Return

Grant Farrn

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August 2021 the world watched as thousands of people, both Americans and Afghans, crowded onto airplanes at the Kabul airport to escape the return of the Taliban. By the end of August 2021, the United States had evacuated over 200,000 people. On August 15, 2021, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and the Taliban seized control of Kabul calling themselves the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The collapse of the Islamic Republic was predicated on the United States-Taliban deal that was signed in February of 2020. Most people assumed the Taliban would be unable to govern Afghanistan and that their government would not last. After all they were rural tribal people with a fundamental belief in a primitive version of Islam, and their control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 was in many ways a disaster. But, the Taliban have now led the country for four years, with no end in sight.

Arguing that they are following basic Islamic law regarding the proper place for women in society, the Taliban have severely restricted the rights of women, restrictions more severe than in any other Islamic country. The treatment of women is the major reason the Taliban has not been recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan by many nations (Drury, 2025). The Taliban have also been denied a seat in the United Nations, again largely because of their treatment of women (Lederer, 2025). Recently the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders, Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of Afghanistan, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the chief Justice in the Afghan supreme court, for their treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan (Ayre, 2025).

John Allphin Moore, Jr. and Jerry Pubantz

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John Allphin Moore, Jr. and Jerry PubantzThe Gaza War presents a conundrum for the international community that evades straightforward answer. A cease-fire remains elusive; news overage deepens public angst and outrage, competing parties resist any possible bargain with opponents, and, most distressingly, there is no plan for a post-Gaza War, even if a lasting cease-fire could be achieved. The Israeli government seems determined to consolidate control in the strip for the foreseeable future; a hobbled Hamas persists as a player, intending to maintain political sway despite the withering military efforts of the IDF, and the Palestine Authority appears sclerotic and incapable of offering a significant leadership role. For a moment, President Trump seemed to suggest, as a post-war solution, the expulsion of all two million Palestinians to make way for a beachfront high-end development to attract wealthy tourists. By early August 2025, the U.S. administration had joined with the Israeli government in touting an “All or nothing” ultimatum, demanding full release of all hostages and a complete Hamas disarmament, while setting as its goal a completed occupation of Gaza by Israeli forces.

The situation regarding a post-war Gaza strategy, is, frankly, static and bleak. We believe that an imaginable answer to the challenge rests with the United Nations, and we recommend using the example of the UN’s peacekeeping efforts in Timor-Leste, one of the organization’s most successful operations, launched at the end of the last century.

China Advances and the US Retreats in Latin America and the Caribbean

Hyeran Jo and Nathalie Méndez

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The BRICS meeting in Rio on July 6th and 7th gives a snapshot of the great power competition between China and the United States in different regions around the world, including Latin America. China has become the largest trading partner for many countries in Latin America, investing heavily in infrastructure and forging political alliances that further its strategic objectives. For its part, the Trump Administration of the United States issued the statement that those participating countries will face increased tariffs. The statement was the continuation of exercise and assertion of its authority for the past and present century.

The positioning of various BRICS members and participating countries is particularly telling of what the great power competition means in the region and also globally. Brazil’s Lula hosted the meeting aiming to showcase its foreign policy leadership, not necessarily antagonizing the West. Russia is still going through the war in Ukraine, and Putin attended only online. India’s Modi was present as well as Ramaphosa from South Africa. No show of Xi Jinping was notable, although Premier Li Qiang was attending. Besides the BRICS core, other countries also showed promotion of their interests. Iran, for one, joined the group in 2024 and sent a ministerial level delegation to rebuke recent strikes on Iran.

China’s War On Starlink: From Laser Attacks To Supply-Chain Sabotage, PLA Scientists Work To Wreck Starlink

Nitin J Ticku

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Chinese military scientists are relentlessly working on a new project — how to neutralize the Starlink advantage of its adversaries in the case of a war.

And, Beijing is debating everything from stealth submarines fitted with space-shooting lasers, supply-chain sabotage, custom-built attack satellites to kill Starlink satellites, to diplomacy and co-opting Elon Musk, the influential owner of Starlink and recent friend-turned-foe of US President Donald Trump.

In fact, Chinese scientists and researchers have published not one or two but dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals debating the most efficient way of killing the thousands of Starlink satellites in the Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO).

Worried that these satellites could be used against China, for reconnaissance purposes during peacetime, and for targeting Chinese assets during a war situation, Chinese researchers have been discussing ways to counter this threat.

Notably, China is working on two parallel tracks simultaneously. On the one hand, Beijing is actively developing capabilities that can destroy and neutralize Starlink satellites within minutes; at the same time, Beijing is also developing its own LEO satellite system, the Qianfan mega-constellation project, also known as G60

Does Xi Have Trump’s Number

Does Xi Have Trump’s Number

Scott Kennedy

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The world breathed a sigh of relief on May 12 when, after negotiations in Geneva, the United States and China initially agreed to a 90-day pause in their trade war, halting sky-high reciprocal tariffs and other measures, such as China’s latest export controls on rare earths. Markets reacted positively, and businesses geared up to use the pause to ramp up trade of goods in both directions, in case the cease-fire wasn’t extended.

The goodwill lasted all of one day. The deal quickly hit a snag over the status of the seven rare earths (samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium), but it’s not clear why—or how significant this is. Some may read this as another example of the tussle between the two powers, with things likely to settle down after the recent meeting in London, in which China agreed to a six-month pause on any rare-earth limitations. U.S. President Donald Trump said the deal was “done,” while Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said the two sides had, “in principle, reached a framework for implementing the consensus.”

Chinese Cyberattack on U.S. Nuclear Agency Highlights Importance of Cyber Hygiene

Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
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Cyberattacks on any critical infrastructure should be alarming, but attacks on nuclear infrastructure are all the more so due to the potential consequences, including radiation leaks.
A China-sponsored hacker attacked the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration in July. The organisation is responsible for building and managing the U.S. nuclear stockpile as well as the nuclear power plants on U.S. warships and submarines.

Like other critical infrastructure, nuclear facilities and installations rely heavily on digital systems for a variety of functions. These include nuclear-reactor controls, safety and security systems within a nuclear facility, transportation of nuclear material, and emergency response protocols. Effective cybersecurity protocols and cyber-hygiene measures are important to prevent intentional attacks and accidents in a nuclear establishment. cyberattack on a nuclear facility can result in loss and tampering of data, which could disrupt safety and security operations, producing disastrous effects. Hackers inside plant networks would also be looking for internal documents to map vulnerabilities and weak points, both in terms of physical security and cyber liabilities. This could then be used later to maximise an attack’s effect.

China Turns to A.I. in Information Warfare

Julian E. Barnes

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Documents examined by researchers show how one company in China has collected data on members of Congress and other influential Americans.The Chinese technology company GoLaxy tracked people in Hong Kong as it sought to counter opposition to the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Documents examined by researchers show how one company in China has collected data on members of Congress and other influential Americans.

The Chinese technology company GoLaxy tracked people in Hong Kong as it sought to counter opposition to the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Julian Barnes, who covers the U.S. intelligence agencies for The Times, learned about the GoLaxy documents through Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security, where he is a nonresident fellow this year.

The Chinese government is using companies with expertise in artificial intelligence to monitor and manipulate public opinion, giving it a new weapon in information warfare, according to current and former U.S. officials and documents unearthed by researchers.

One company’s internal documents show how it has undertaken influence campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and collected data on members of Congress and other influential Americans.

While the firm has not mounted a campaign in the United States, American spy agencies have monitored its activity for signs that it might try to influence American elections or political debates, former U.S. officials said.

Russia reportedly shifts oil exports to China after Trump's India tariffs

Tim Zadorozhnyy

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Russian oil companies are redirecting shipments of Urals crude from India to China after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs on New Delhi over energy cooperation with Moscow, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 9.

Bloomberg, citing undisclosed traders familiar with the matter, wrote that barrels of Urals oil are now being offered at a discount to both state-owned and private Chinese refineries.

The deliveries are scheduled for October from Russia's western ports, and prices have been cut by $1 per barrel.

The move follows Trump's Aug. 6 executive order imposing a 25% tariff on Indian imports. The White House said the measure responds to India's continued purchase of Russian oil and weapons despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

An earlier 25% tariff, effective from Aug. 1, had already increased pressure on Indian buyers.

Bloomberg's sources said the discounted offers are being made by traders linked to the Kremlin, including Litasco, the main trading arm of Russian oil giant Lukoil.

Until now, India had become one of the largest buyers of Russian seaborne crude. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Indian imports of Russian oil surged more than 20-fold, reaching over 2 million barrels per day.

At the start of 2022, Russian oil made up just 0.2% of India's energy mix.

That trend reversed after Trump's latest tariff threat. According to Reuters, Indian state-owned refiners began halting Russian oil purchases. Bloomberg reported that the Indian government has instructed oil firms to prepare alternative supply plans.

Myanmar’s Election Has China’s Fingerprints All Over It

Andrew Nachemson

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Four years after he plunged the country into chaos with his 2021 coup, Myanmar’s commander in chief, Min Aung Hlaing, handed power over to an interim government—led by himself.

Observers do not expect the cosmetic makeover that Min Aung Hlaing announced on July 31 to result in any substantive policy changes for a military regime that has committed severe repression and human rights atrocities. Instead, the announcement signals that preparations are underway for an election Min Aung Hlaing has been promising to hold ever since he jailed Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in February 2021.

Four years after he plunged the country into chaos with his 2021 coup, Myanmar’s commander in chief, Min Aung Hlaing, handed power over to an interim government—led by himself.

Observers do not expect the cosmetic makeover that Min Aung Hlaing announced on July 31 to result in any substantive policy changes for a military regime that has committed severe repression and human rights atrocities. Instead, the announcement signals that preparations are underway for an election Min Aung Hlaing has been promising to hold ever since he jailed Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in February 2021.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is barred from competing in the election, which is scheduled for December. That’s enough to render the entire operation a sham: The NLD won around 60 percent of the popular vote in the 2015 and 2020 elections. The military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is likely to prevail instead.

China clashes with US ally over rocket launch

Ryan Chan

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The Philippines—a treaty ally of the United States—accused its major rival, China, of being irresponsible for launching a rocket across the South China Sea and putting its people at risk.

While Chinese authorities have not responded, state media—citing sources—reported that debris from the rocket fell into "predesignated drop zones" within international waters.

Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Embassy in Manila and the Philippine Embassy in Beijing for further comment via email.

China and the Philippines both claim sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea, where overlapping claims often lead to clashes between their forces. Heightened tensions could draw the U.S. into a conflict, as Washington has signed a mutual defense treaty with Manila.

To support its fast-growing and ambitious space program, China has built two spacecraft launch facilities on the southern island province of Hainan, which borders the South China Sea. One is operated by the national space agency, while the other is commercially run.

A Chinese Long March-12 carrier rocket carrying a group of internet satellites blasts off from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site in Wenchang, Hainan province, China, on August 4. A Chinese Long March-12 carrier rocket carrying a group of internet satellites blasts off from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site in Wenchang, Hainan province, China, on August 4. VCG via AP

China's Xinhua News Agency reported that a Long March-12 carrier rocket was launched from the commercial spacecraft launch site on Hainan Island on Monday evening. The rocket successfully placed its payload—low-orbit internet satellites—into orbit.

Tense Trump-Modi Call Helped Unravel Decades of US Policy

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Anto Antony, Peter Martin, and Dan Strumpf

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Indian officials pushed back against Donald Trump's claims that he brokered an end to a four-day armed conflict between India and Pakistan.

Narendra Modi told Trump in a phone call that India "does not and will never accept mediation", according to an Indian readout, and that the two nations directly discussed a ceasefire upon Pakistan's request.

The US-India relationship has deteriorated, with Trump imposing tariffs on Indian exports and Modi reassessing India's tilt toward the US, potentially leading to warmer relations with China, according to officials and experts, including Eric Garcetti, Lindsey Ford, and Navdeep Suri.

In the weeks after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire in May, officials in New Delhi seethed over Donald Trump’s claims that he brokered an end to a four-day armed conflict.

As the US president repeatedly spoke about how he prevented a nuclear war, Indian diplomats started to push back publicly against his version of events. The tensions came to a head in a June 17 phone call with Narendra Modi, which was held after Trump left the Group of Seven summit in Canada early and couldn’t meet the Indian leader in person.

In the 35-minute conversation, Modi told Trump that the two nations directly discussed a ceasefire upon Pakistan’s request following a bombardment by India. Modi said India “does not and will never accept mediation,” according to an Indian readout, adding that Trump “listened carefully.”

Modi felt like he needed to set the record straight in the call after his aides discovered that Trump planned to host a lunch the following day at the White House for Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir, according to officials in New Delhi familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to speak about confidential discussions.

Chinese cyberattack on US nuclear agency highlights importance of cyber hygiene | The Strategist Rajeswari

Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan

Source Link

Cyberattacks on any critical infrastructure should be alarming, but attacks on nuclear infrastructure are all the more so due to the potential consequences, including radiation leaks.

A China-sponsored hacker attacked the US National Nuclear Security Administration in July. The organisation is responsible for building and managing the US nuclear stockpile as well as the nuclear power plants on US warships and submarines.

Like other critical infrastructure, nuclear facilities and installations rely heavily on digital systems for a variety of functions. These include nuclear-reactor controls, safety and security systems within a nuclear facility, transportation of nuclear material, and emergency response protocols. Effective cybersecurity protocols and cyber-hygiene measures are important to prevent intentional attacks and accidents in a nuclear establishment.

A cyberattack on a nuclear facility can result in loss and tampering of data, which could disrupt safety and security operations, producing disastrous effects. Hackers inside plant networks would also be looking for internal documents to map vulnerabilities and weak points, both in terms of physical security and cyber liabilities. This could then be used later to maximise an attack’s effect. Hackers could also feed flawed messages into the digital network to create confusion, increasing the risk of miscalculation in terms of responses or even inadvertent escalation.

Another consequence is the potential loss of public trust in nuclear power at a time when every source of clean energy should be pursued with vigour. Financial loss to the industry and governments engaged in the nuclear sector can also be quite painful. In addition, private sector businesses could face loss of market and investor confidence, which could have long-term consequences. Humanitarian and environmental consequences of any nuclear or radiological incident should be worrying as well.

Taiwan’s future precarious—with or without US-China conflict - Asia Times

Kerry Brown

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Taiwan has to being a “shrimp between two whales.” That expression has never been more apt than today with the US and China – which considers Taiwan to be part of its territory – locked in a standoff over the future of the island.

At an event I attended some years ago, a Chinese scholar remarked when the issue of the US-China rivalry came up that they believed there was an African saying: “When two elephants are either having a fight, or making love, the grass around them gets trampled.”

It was best for everyone, they advised the other attendees, for the two superpowers to have a workmanlike, unexciting relationship rather than take the risk of things getting too friendly or hostile.

But whether or not the current period of conflict continues or the US and China magically become more aligned, the challenges facing Taiwan are severe.

First off, Taiwan is itself in a period of domestic turbulence. The government of Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party, was elected in January 2024 with a little over 40% of the vote. This was considerably less than his predecessor from the same party, Tsai Ing-wen.

One of the main opposition leaders, Ke Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s party, has since then been arrested on corruption charges. He is accused of accepting half a million US dollars in bribes during his term as mayor of Taipei, as well as misreporting campaign finances during his presidential run.

Most recently, in late July, recall votes were held where citizens in 24 districts of Taiwan chose whether or not to remove their legislator from office. This is the result of a law in Taiwan stipulating a new vote if 10% of the electorate in a specific constituency express dissatisfaction at the previous outcome. Activists supporting the government mobilised to achieve this.

A Modern-Day Gold Rush Is Unfolding in Wyoming. America’s Most Fearsome Weapons Depend On It.

Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics

Source LInk

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:In the U.S., rare earth elements have surged in demand due to a bitter trade war with China, which controls about 90 percent of the world’s supply. 

For the first time in 70 years, a new rare earths mine is opening in America following a July groundbreaking ceremony.

Brook Mine in Wyoming is estimated to contain up to 1.7 million tons of rare earths and critical minerals including gallium, germanium, scandium, terbium, dysprosium, neodymium, and praseodymium.

A small coal mining company based in Lexington, Kentucky, that is mostly known for supplying the steelmaking industry is making an unexpected pivot into America’s trade war with China—by quite literally digging into the rare earths business.

Ramaco Resources operates just three active mines throughout Appalachia. In 2011, it purchased its fourth mine outside of Sheridan, Wyoming, for $2 million, eyeing more coal production. But in May 2023, when Ramaco began exploratory drilling of the 4,500 acres that are fully permitted for mining, it discovered a major windfall: a cache of rare earth elements and critical mineral deposits tucked inside claystone rock and shales above and below the coal seams.

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements composed of scandium, yttrium, and the lanthanides on the periodic table. Meanwhile, critical mineral deposits of elements like lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite are not considered rare earths, but as their name suggests, they’re critical to in the domestic production of fighter jets, semiconductors, nuclear reactor control rods, and more. Both are essential to national defense, especially since China banned most of them for export in April, despite controlling about 90 percent of the market.

Ex-NSA Chief Paul Nakasone Has a Warning for the Tech World

Lily Hay Newman

Source LInk

The Trump administration's radical changes to United States fiscal policy, foreign relations, and global strategy—combined with mass firings across the federal government—have created uncertainty around US cybersecurity priorities that was on display this week at two of the country's most prominent digital security conferences in Las Vegas. “We are not retreating, we're advancing in a new direction,”

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief information officer Robert Costello said on Thursday during a critical infrastructure defense panel at Black Hat.

As in other parts of the federal government, the Trump administration has been combing intelligence and cybersecurity agencies to remove officials seen as disloyal to its agenda. Alongside these shifts, the White House has also been hostile to former US cybersecurity officials.

In April, for example, Trump specifically directed all departments and agencies to revoke the security clearance of former CISA director Chris Krebs. And last week, following criticism from far-right activist Laura Loomer, the secretary of the Army rescinded an academic appointment that former CISA director Jen Easterly had been scheduled to fill at West Point. Amid all of this, former US National Security Agency and Cyber Command chief Paul Nakasone spoke with Defcon founder Jeff Moss in an onstage discussion on Friday, focusing on AI, cybercrime, and the importance of partnerships in digital defense.