OUR PICKSCauses of “Havana Syndrome” | Death by Drone | Pipeline Cybersecurity, and more

Published 19 January 2022

·  Biden to Expand National Security Agency Role in Government Cybersecurity

·  Most ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Unlikely Caused by Foreign Power, C.I.A. Says

·  Death by Drone: The Robot Killers Changing the Face of Modern-Day Warfare

·  Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taker Was Known to U.K. Intelligence Before He Flew to U.S.

·  FBI, DHS Warn Faith-Based Communities Will Likely Remain Targets for Violence

·  Houthi Terror Attack: What Drones Do the Terrorists Have?

·  Slain Officer’s Sister Sues Facebook in ‘Boogaloo’ Murder, Alleging It Pushed Extremist Content

·  How Oath Keepers Are Accused of Plotting to Storm the Capitol

·  Biden Official Endorses Effort to Move Pipeline Cybersecurity Regulation to DOE

·  Employer Appeals for Temporary Worker Visas Meet Union Pushback

Biden to Expand National Security Agency Role in Government Cybersecurity  (Dustin Volz, Wall Street Journal)
White House order mandates cybersecurity practices at Defense Department, spy agencies, contractors

Most ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Unlikely Caused by Foreign Power, C.I.A. Says  (Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)
A report concluded that most cases have environmental or medical causes, but the government remains focused on investigating two dozen incidents that remain unexplained.

Death by Drone: The Robot Killers Changing the Face of Modern-Day Warfare  (Michael Evans, The Times)
Armies around the world are deploying the latest generation of weapons with devastating results.

Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taker Was Known to U.K. Intelligence Before He Flew to U.S.  (Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News)
A British man who held four people hostage at a synagogue in Texas on Saturday was known to U.K. intelligence, a British security source told NBC News. Malik Faisal Akram, 44, was probed over suspected terrorist links, but the case was closed by the time he traveled to the United States because it didn’t meet the threshold for further investigation, the security source said. Akram was named by the FBI as the gunman in the more than 10-hour standoff at Congregation Beth Israel that culminated in the hostages escaping unharmed before he was killed by federal agents. Akram, who is from Lancashire in northwest England, was the subject of a short, low-level investigation by the U.K.’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency in the second half of 2020, the security source said. It lasted over a month and was based on information that he may have been involved in Islamist terrorism, the source added. When there was no indication of a terrorist threat, the source said, Akram joined approximately 40,000 other closed “subjects of interest” in Britain who have been investigated but not found to be plotting terrorist attacks. The U.K.’s Home Office declined to comment, citing an ongoing police investigation. The news was first reported by the BBC.