OUR PICKSSeditious Kvetching | US Bans Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales | Keeping Hackers Out of the Pentagon’s Networks, and more

Published 28 November 2022

··Seditious Kvetching: The Surprisingly Non-Trivial Defense in the Oath Keepers Prosecution
If seditious rhetoric alone were sufficient to prove seditious conspiracy, the prosecution’s job would be easy

··Midterms Free of Feared Chaos as Voting Experts Look to 2024
Election Day, and the weeks of early voting before it, went fairly smoothly

··US Bans Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales, Citing National Security Risk
Move represents Washington’s latest crackdown on the Chinese tech giants

··New Evolving Terrorist Threats Intersect with ‘Oldest Hatred’
Salafi-Jihadist terrorism is declining, replaced by violent far-right and far-left domestic terrorism

··U.S. Renewable Energy Will Surge Past Coal and Nuclear by Year’s End
Wind, solar and hydropower will generate more than 20 percent of the power supply

··U.S. and NATO Scramble to Arm Ukraine and Refill Their Own Arsenals
In terms of artillery use, “A day in Ukraine is a month or more in Afghanistan,” says one expert

··CIA Aims to Recruit Spies Among Russians Displeased with Ukraine War
CIA spreads the word among Russia military officials, oligarchs, and executives: “We’re open for business”

··It’s Finally Here: Pentagon Releases Plan to Keep Hackers Out of Its Networks
Defense agencies are to implement zero-trust standards by 2027

Seditious Kvetching: The Surprisingly Non-Trivial Defense in the Oath Keepers Prosecution  (Roger Parloffm, Lawfare)
Because there was no concrete plan to storm the Capitol, the defendants have been able to argue that their rhetoric was no more than that: rhetoric.

Midterms Free of Feared Chaos as Voting Experts Look to 2024  (Associated Press / VOA News)
Before Election Day, anxiety mounted over potential chaos at the polls.
Election officials warned about poll watchers who had been steeped in conspiracy theories falsely claiming that then-President Donald Trump did not actually lose the 2020 election. Democrats and voting rights groups worried about the effects of new election laws, in some Republican-controlled states, that President Joe Biden decried as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Law enforcement agencies were monitoring possible threats at the polls.
Yet Election Day, and the weeks of early voting before it, went fairly smoothly. There were some reports of unruly poll watchers disrupting voting, but they were scattered. Groups of armed vigilantes began watching over a handful of ballot drop boxes in Arizona until a judge ordered them to stay far away to ensure they would not intimidate voters.
“The entire ecosystem in a lot of ways has become more resilient in the aftermath of 2020,” said Amber McReynolds, a former Denver elections director who advises a number of voting rights organizations. “There’s been a lot of effort on ensuring things went well.”

US Bans Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales, Citing National Security Risk  (Reuters / VOA News)
The Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies HWT.UL and ZTE 000063.SZ because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Friday it had adopted the final rules, which also bar the sale or import of equipment made by China’s surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology Co 002236.SZ, video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd 002415.SZ and telecoms firm Hytera Communications Corp Ltd 002583.SZ.
The move represents Washington’s latest crackdown on the Chinese tech giants amid fears that Beijing could use Chinese tech companies to spy on Americans.

New Evolving Terrorist Threats Intersect with ‘Oldest Hatred’  (Amy Mintz, HSToday)
The next terror wave has been described as having an emphasis on technology as a driver, and no one ideology dominating over others.

U.S. Renewable Energy Will Surge Past Coal and Nuclear by Year’s End  (Benjamin Storrow, Scientific American)
Renewables are on track to generate more power than coal in the United States this year. But the question is whether they can grow fast enough to meet the country’s climate goals.

U.S. and NATO Scramble to Arm Ukraine and Refill Their Own Arsenals  (Steven Erlanger and Lara Jakes, New York Times)
The West thought an artillery and tank war in Europe would never happen again and shrank weapons stockpiles. It was wrong.

CIA Aims to Recruit Spies Among Russians Displeased with Ukraine War  (Warren P. Strobel, Wall Street Journal)
Agency is seeking to recruit military officials, oligarchs, executives; ‘We’re open for business,’ spymaster says.

It’s Finally Here: Pentagon Releases Plan to Keep Hackers Out of Its Networks  (Lauren C. Williams, Defense One)
Defense agencies have until 2027 to convert their networks to architectures that continually check to make sure no one’s accessing data they shouldn’t. 
This shift to zero trust principles is at the core of the Pentagon’s new five-year plan to harden its information systems against cyberattacks. The strategy and roadmap were released on Tuesday.