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counter-terrorism

U.S., U.K. caught in middle of huge Swiss spy data leak -- report

The U.S. and U.K. have been warned by Swiss spy agency NDB that some of the information they had shared related to counter-terrorism has been stolen, according to a new report.

Last summer, a disgruntled NDB IT technician who believed he wasn't being taken seriously over the way in which data systems should be handled, allegedly downloaded terabytes of counter-terrorism information shared among the NDB, the CIA, and the U.K.'s MI6, and had eyes on selling it off to "foreign officials and commercial buyers," Reuters is reporting today, citing European national security sources.… Read more

Richard Clarke on Patriot Act, WikiLeaks, privacy (Q&A)

In an increasingly digital world, the real threat to citizens' privacy is data collection by corporations and not the Patriot Act, said former U.S. cybersecurity and counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke.

Clarke, who ruffled Bush administration feathers when he complained that U.S. officials ignored warnings about the al Qaeda threat before the attacks, says Americans are safer from terrorism now, partly because of the Patriot Act. Critics, however, have maintained that the law, enacted after September 11 to root out terrorists, has been interpreted broadly to include citizens with no links to terrorism.

U.S. companies, meanwhile, are facing … Read more

DIY 'e-bombs' a threat to airliners

Box cutters, high flying geese and now this: a DIY electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon that can bring down a plane with a single microwave radio pulse blasted from the ground or even from the next seat over, according to experts.

The world's major military powers have tinkered with EMP warheads that broadcast radio-frequency shockwaves of hundreds of thousands of volts per meter. But now, any crackpot can build one of these "e-bombs" with low-cost equipment purchased online.

In analyzing electromagnetic weapons currently in development, the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel, discovered that there is plenty … Read more