In the Media

What Drives — and Deters — Cyber Warfare?

The Cipher Brief | July 18, 2024

Book review of RETHINKING CYBER WARFARE: The International Relations of Digital Disruption, by R. David Edelman/Oxford University Press

“Cyberattacks are ubiquitous and constant; Russia, China, Iran and North Korea launch cyber-maliciousness with impunity; and traditional concepts of deterrence seem useless.  As the old saying about the weather goes: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Rethinking Cyber Warfare seeks to fix this. In author R. David Edelman’s view, Russia’s massive cyber offense against Estonia on the morning of April 27, 2007, was the first nation-state cyberattack intended to have a national security outcome. Subsequently, as we all know too well, countries around the world have suffered from an ever-increasing barrage of cyber mischief ranging from theft to espionage to destruction to disinformation. And yet nations aren’t in full-fledged cyberwar…”

The Decline of Privacy in Today’s Digital World

The Cipher Brief | May 16, 2024

Book review of MEANS OF CONTROL: How The Hidden Alliance Of Tech And Government Is Creating A New American Surveillance State, by By Byron Tau/Crown

“In many ways, what Americans profess to want is exactly what they are unable or unwilling to achieve. Perhaps the best example of this peculiar phenomenon: despite our related aversion to government intrusiveness and desire for privacy, we Americans (alone among industrial democracies) have been unable to adopt basic privacy legislation or even limited regulation of data brokers. Congress has been struggling with privacy legislation for a decade, and just weeks ago, as part of the recent reauthorization of part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, it rejected an amendment barring government purchases of Americans’ information from data brokers. This perhaps puzzling inability to safeguard the privacy we claim to want is, in journalist Byron Tau’s opinion, largely due to the public’s ignorance about just how little privacy they really have…”

The Big Data Question

The Cipher Brief | April 1, 2024

Book review of Data, Emerging Technologies and Intelligence, by Miah Hammond-Errey/Routledge

“Starting roughly in 2010, the increasing popularity of social media and mobile devices was both the cause and consequence of an explosion of data about individual users – identities, location, commercial patterns and other personal details. Just how useful such information could be was revealed to the general public by the sensational disclosures in 2018 of Cambridge Analytica’s harvesting of Facebook user data. But well before then, intelligence agencies had recognized the value of mass information about the digital lives of domestic and foreign citizens. Although their comments may have been aimed at a smaller and more technical audience, experts in government and academia had been examining the growing significance of big data in the process of producing national intelligence. Over the past decade, articles, scholarly journals, conferences and books have sought to explain and predict just how the acquisition, compilation and analysis of ‘big data’ would change the way Western intelligence agencies operate…”

How to keep China out of the Pentagon’s weapons

Defense One | March 25, 2024

“Two summers ago, when Honeywell told the Pentagon it feared that a subcontractor had improperly put Chinese metals in some F-35 jet engines, the reaction was swift. The Air Force halted acceptance of new aircraft containing the Chinese cobalt and samarium alloy. While the Defense Department and prime contractor Lockheed Martin raced to find out if the Chinese-sourced metals could be relied on, 18 badly needed fighter jets sat on a tarmac in Texas. We were lucky that time. The Air Force resumed deliveries after determining that the potentially compromised parts wouldn’t affect airplane safety. Next time, could sabotaged or defective Chinese parts, or secret surveillance devices, be slipped into weapons or communications systems by unwitting vendors further down the defense supply chain?…”

Private Sector Hacking Is on the Rise. A Leak Shows How China Operates.

Barron’s | March 4, 2024

“In the cyber equivalent of a Hollywood exposé, nearly 600 documents apparently leaked from a Chinese hacking contractor were posted publicly to the web late last month. The files contain the kind of private details and gossip that normally only spy agencies such as the National Security Agency and the U.K. General Communications Headquarters get to see. Yet there they were on the front pages of the world’s newspapers. There is more than a little irony in seeing a hacking group, whose efforts were supposed to be secret, being caught with its pants down. It’s also fascinating to have the curtain pulled away, revealing some very practical aspects of the world of freelance hackers. But on a deeper level, the hackers’ internal secrets illuminate the threats we face from that world…”

Why a Warrant Requirement for 702 Searches Will Do More Harm Than Good

Lawfare | February 12, 2024

“Only two months remain before the most important operational statute in the national security area expires. Yet Congress struggles to agree on the terms of any extension. Republicans and Democrats in both the Senate and House broadly concur that Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lapses on April 19, is of critical value. Even so, there’s widespread acceptance of the need for some level of reform, in part to address past abuses of the statutory authority by the FBI. Members of Congress are sharply divided, however, over whether to amend the statute to require the FBI to obtain a court order before it looks in its computer database for Americans’ information incidentally acquired under that section. While such a proposal might seem attractive, it’s misguided…”

Disinformation and the Limits of Yelling ‘Liar’ in a Crowded Theater

The Cipher Brief | November 7, 2023

Book review of Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation, by Jeff Kosseff/Johns Hopkins University Press

“When asked at a Cipher Brief conference several years ago, to name the most serious security threat facing the United States, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had a short and ready answer: disinformation. General Clapper elaborated that cyber-propelled foreign and domestic disinformation could have the pernicious effect of corroding the legitimacy of our democratic institutions, leading to loss of trust in government and ultimately to autocratic reactions. That deep concern over the threat posed by disinformation and other lies spread and turbocharged by social media is at the heart of Liar in a Crowded Theater, a new book by Jeff Kosseff, a Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the U.S. Naval Academy…”

Glenn Gerstell on “Avoiding the Worst Intelligence Failure of our Time: The Reauthorization of FISA Section 702

Lawfire | September 14, 2023

“It’s hard to imagine another occasion when a senior group of national security experts has made so sweeping a statement about a failure to act. More alarming is that the prospect of such a failure is so real. This is exactly the situation Congress and the national security establishment are facing with the year-end expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The statute, considered indispensable to the US Intelligence Community, allows the surveillance of foreign intelligence targets located overseas who use American email and other communications systems. Notwithstanding its crucial importance, the law is the subject of complex controversy – both old and new, and technical and political. Understanding that controversy requires a brief explanation of the statute…”

What Does the Future of National Intelligence Hold?

The Cipher Brief | August 22, 2023

Book review of The Future of National Intelligence, by Shay Hershkovitz/Rowman & Littlefield

“Over the past century, America has been warned that it was inadequately prepared for world wars, on the verge of losing the space race with the launch of Sputnik, woefully ill-equipped after the 9/11 attacks to thwart international terrorism, and more recently, moving too sluggishly to deal with technological innovation affecting many aspects of our national wellbeing. Yet if history is any guide, we’ve mostly been able to catch up and address impending threats.… Is it different this time? The technological advances relevant to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) are now so different in scale, speed and scope that they threaten to overwhelm, if not render partly irrelevant, our foreign intelligence system. That’s the premise of The Future of National Intelligence, by Dr. Shay Hershkovitz, a respected commentator and academic who has focused on innovation and intelligence…”

How FBI Querying Under FISA Section 702 Works

Lawfare | July 10, 2023

“Since its enactment in 2008, the electronic surveillance program established under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has been controversial, in large part because Americans who happen to be in contact with a foreign surveillance target might have their communications picked up by the U.S. Intelligence Community. This ‘incidental collection’ of Americans’ communications is seen as an inevitable byproduct of the program. But the subsequent searching for Americans’ names or email addresses in the information acquired under Section 702—even for well-intentioned and legitimate purposes—has drawn criticism…”

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

The Cipher Brief | June 1, 2023

“A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial for America’s intelligence community in uncovering a web of fraudulent North Korean activity, which had been generating revenue for its nuclear program, according to a top State Department official…”

Biden’s New Cyber Strategy Will Acknowledge an Essential Truth: Market Forces Aren’t Enough

Barron’s | February 6, 2023

“For many of the things we depend on, government regulations keep us safe where market forces alone are insufficient. We feel confident pulling a box of pills off the shelf at the drugstore because we know the government is watching the pharmaceutical industry closely. We don’t even stop to think about it, and that’s true for many other critical products and services. But there is one major exception: the cyber and digital technology we rely on every day. That’s about to change…”

The Problem with Taking TikTok Away From Americans

New York Times | February 1, 2023

“A ban of TikTok throughout the United States, if it could actually be enacted, would immediately solve our national security concerns about the wildly popular Chinese-owned video app. But such a ban might ultimately put our national security at greater risk. Moreover, it would sidestep a broader problem…”

The Mar-a-Lago case is about national security, not politics

The Washington Post | August 31, 2022

“…the intense, politically charged focus on criminality deflects attention from a far more pernicious danger — that we fail to appreciate the national security risks posed by casually tossing government documents into moving boxes.”

Before we regulate Big Tech, let’s make sure we don’t hurt national security

The Hill | May 19, 2022

“With the laudable goals of promoting competition and outlawing unfair tactics in the online world, Congress is considering antitrust bills that would regulate how companies such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook (Meta), Google (Alphabet) and Microsoft treat other businesses that use their digital platforms. Regardless of the extent of regulation, everyone recognizes that the platforms must be kept free from malware and spyware. But some of the provisions in the bills might inadvertently undercut the ability to do that…”

I’ve Dealt With Foreign Cyberattacks. America Isn’t Ready for What’s Coming.

New York Times | March 4, 2022

“As Russian missiles rain on Ukraine, there’s another battle brewing — in the cybersphere. Destructive malware has flooded hundreds of Ukrainian websites and computers since Vladimir Putin announced his invasion. It would be a mistake to assume such attacks will remain limited to Ukrainian targets…”

What Does it Take to Lead NSA’s Legal Team?

ADD Docket | July 29, 2020

“It is an organization both respected and feared: the US National Security Agency (NSA). From its humble beginnings as a US Army unit charged with decrypting enemy codes during World War I, today’s NSA stands at the forefront of technology, privacy, and national security issues. It has played crucial roles in protecting the United States from foreign threats. But the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, as authorized by statutes such as the US Patriot Act, have also spawned great alarm. In an agency subject to increasing public scrutiny, what does it take to lead the NSA’s Office of General Counsel?”…read more

The Cybersecurity 202: Government may be too slow to tackle cyberthreats, outgoing NSA attorney warns

The Washington Post | February 3, 2020

“New forms of ‘unconventional’ thinking are critical when it comes to the risks of hacking threats from China and other U.S. adversaries on American systems. The speed at which technology advances cannot be underestimated, nor can the threat that hacks pose to American national privacy and security. 30 year old laws and regulations on cybersecurity and tech firms will need to be updated soon, before technology fully outpaces legislation…” read more

NSA’s top lawyer on surveillance and new challenges coming with 5G network

CBS News | April 3, 2019

“The inherent legal, ethical, and societal implications implicit in the advent of 5G networks and other rapid technological changes are immense, and new rounds of privacy definitions and considerations must follow with due diligence if the US is to keep up with the changes. Gerstell also explains the NSA’s new take on transparency in the era of agencies and corporations being held accountable by audiences across the globe, and how they plan to navigate the space between keeping information safe and secure, and align sure the American public’s constitutional rights remain protected…” read more

Transcript: Glenn Gerstell talks with Michael Morell on “Intelligence Matters”

CBS News | Intelligence Matters podcast, April 3, 2019

A discussion with Michael Morell, former Acting Director of the C.I.A.…read more

Lawyer Limelight: Glenn Gerstell

Lawdragon | November 2, 2016

Interview with Glenn Gerstell…read more