Anti-Terrorism Law & 5th Amendment | New Approach to Software Design Flaws | Contested Significance of January 6, and more

Accordingly, it’s time for builders of systems to adopt a “zero trust” approach. Zero trust has traditionally meant not trusting any connection — assuming that every connection carried malware. Now, it’s clear there should be “zero trust” for all software components within a system, even — and especially — if it is something that “everybody” uses.

Understanding and Mitigating Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Threats to U.S. Critical Infrastructure  (CISA)
Mitigations will help organizations improve their functional resilience by reducing the risk of compromise or severe business degradation.

DOD Inspector General Looking at How Well Military Is Scrutinizing Recruits for Extremist Activity  (Corey Dickstein, Star and Stripes)
The Defense Department inspector general will launch a probe this month of the U.S. military’s efforts to screen recruits for any past extremist or other banned behaviors, the independent auditing organization announced. “The objective of this audit is to determine whether military service recruiting organizations screened applicants for supremacist, extremist, and criminal gang behavior, according to DOD and military service policies and procedures,” Richard B. Vasquez, a DOD assistant inspector general, wrote in a brief Jan. 3 memorandum announcing the new audit. “We may revise the objective as the audit proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.” The audit will at least initially start at the highest levels at the Pentagon, Vasquez noted in his memo. The Pentagon’s personnel and readiness office and the Army, Navy and Air Force departments were instructed to provide points of contact for the audit by this week. Vasquez did not provide an anticipated timeline for the audit nor say specifically what information the inspector general would request from the services. Megan Reed, a spokeswoman for DOD inspector general, said Thursday that she could not provide an estimated timeline for the audit’s completion.

In Idaho, Extremist Experts Say Antisemitic Groups Are ‘Emboldened’  (Nicole Blanchard and Ian Max Stevens, Jerusalem Post)
Weeks after a spree of antisemitic crimes in Boise, Idaho, officials say they’re still looking for the culprits while community members consider a task force to address the ongoing issues. In November and December, Boise police reported two incidences of antisemitic graffiti, as well as antisemitic flyers spread through one neighborhood. No arrests have been made in connection with any of the incidents. Boise Police Department Chief Ryan Lee told the Idaho Statesman he can’t speak to the progress in the investigation and whether these incidents may have been linked to one another or to similar incidents in other parts of the country. But Lee said the department takes the crimes very seriously, assigning them to a hate crimes detective on the level of a homicide or violent assault. Lee said he believes the actions are the result of a small number of people. Still, with similar flyers being distributed in California, North Carolina and Maryland, Lee said police are considering the possibility that the crimes could be tied to larger networks. “It’s a challenge to figure out: Is this something that’s coordinated to something larger?” Lee said. “In the issue of the leafleting … I know that there were other communities throughout the United States that essentially received the same leaflets around the same time.

Sahel Violence Threatens West African Coastal States  (Mucahid Durmaz, Al Jazeera)
Benin, a small coastal country in West Africa, has been relatively unscathed from a security crisis that has wreaked havoc in its northern neighbours across the Sahel region for much of the past decade. However, fears are growing over a spillover of violence within its borders as armed groups operating in the landlocked Sahel countries push for expansion into coastal states. Last month, President Patrice Talon pledged his government will be “more determined and more vigilant” in the face of growing threats. It came after Beninise military officials said two soldiers were killed and several others wounded when fighters attacked a military post in the northern Atacora region, near the border with Burkina Faso. The al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) armed group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a message shared across social platforms it killed four soldiers. Two other attacks have been reported in recent months in the same border area where JNIM has been active, although these have not been confirmed. Michael Matongbada, a Beninese researcher at Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said the rare hit-and-run on Atacora was the first attack to be claimed by an armed group in the country.

China Looks to Secure Supplies as Strains with U.S. and Its Allies Grow  (Lingling Wei, Wall Street Journal)
An emphasis on security of anything from food to energy and raw materials comes with political overtones.