Manchester Bomb Suspect, Got Training with AQ in Libya

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

Sure Salmen Abedi was on the watch list of intelligence professionals and law enforcement. Why, his parents reported him. The family immigrated from Libya to the UK where Abedi was born in England.

Abedi was born in Manchester — the second youngest of four children. His parents fled Libya during Moammar Khadafy’s regime, first moving to London in 1994 before settling in Manchester. Police raided an address in the southern Manchester neighborhood Tuesday and detonated a controlled explosion. More here from NYDailyNews.

Salman Abedi was identified as the Manchester suicide bomber on Tuesday. Handout

MANCHESTER, England — Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old British man believed to have killed 22 people in a suicide-bomb attack, had ties to al Qaeda and had received terrorist training abroad, a U.S. intelligence official told NBC News on Tuesday as the United Kingdom raised its terrorist threat level to the highest category.

The U.S. intelligence official, who has direct knowledge of the investigation, said Abedi, whose family is of Libyan descent, was identified by a bank card found in his pocket at the scene of the explosion after an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena. The identification was confirmed by facial recognition technology, the official said.

Abedi had traveled to Libya within the last 12 months, one of multiple countries he had visited, the official said. While he had “clear ties to al Qaeda,” the official said, Abedi could have had connections to other groups.

Members of his own family had even informed on him in the past, telling British authorities that he was dangerous, according to the intelligence official.

*** ISIS claimed responsibility publishing the notion that he was a foot soldier, but that is not so true. He was more connected to al Qaeda, yet the terror operations are for the most part the same.

A spokesman for the University of Salford in Manchester told NBC News that Abedi enrolled there to study business management in September 2015. He re-enrolled last September, but he hadn’t attended classes for several months, the spokesman said.

ISIS has claimed credit for the deadly attack, but so far neither British nor U.S. authorities have been able to link Abedi to the fanatical Islamic organization, which has inspired other lethal terrorist attacks in Europe.

Abedi, however, was known to British police and intelligence services, government sources told NBC News.

Abedi was from the Whalley Range area of Manchester, a town with a long history, dating back to the 1830’s. In 2011, the most recent census report showed the town had a population of 20,000. There are 42 mosques in the Manchester area. Does that seem rather excessive for the size of the population?

Philippines Declares Martial Law, Duterte’s call with Trump Transcripts

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

Philippines: Martial law declared as Islamic State jihadis storm city and battle national army

In Mindanao. This is a global war, and of the most curious type imaginable: no one in authority wants to admit that it is actually going on, and Western governments generally treat each enemy attack in this war as a separate and discrete criminal incident.

“Philippines soldiers battle Isis-linked gunmen on Marawi city streets,” by Gabriel Samuels, Independent, May 23, 2017:

A group of heavily-armed militants from a group linked to Isis have reportedly stormed a city in the Philippines and engaged in firefights with the national army.

Residents of Marawi City, in the south of the country, were urged to remain indoors as at least 15 gunmen from a Muslim rebel group called Maute stormed the streets brandishing assault rifles.

The group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, have reportedly received support from Isis.

Troops and a special police force were deployed to the city after residents in a nearby village raised the alarm and appealed for help.

President Rodrigo Duterte then declared martial law and a state of emergency in the province of Mindano [sic]. General Eduardo Ano, the military chief of staff, said at least one police officer was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the fighting. More here.

***

It was enormously controversial that President Trump placed a friendly call to Philippine strongman Duterte on April 29. Now, we can read what they said. In short, Duterte has been on a killing rampage and frankly has called the United States all kinds of nasty names. Humm…. Then there was the part of the phone call that included North Korea’s nuclear program.

Read all about it with the transcripts here.

*** Image result for duterte meets putin

Duterte Lands in Russia for Visit Cut Short After Martial Law Declaration

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has landed in Russia for what was planned as an extensive visit including one-on-one talks with President Vladimir Putin, but the trip has been cut short following a jihadist attack in the Philippine’s south.

Breitbart: Duterte alluded to this trip as the month began, following a personal invitation to the White House, saying he could not confirm travel to America because he is “supposed to go to Russia.”

Duterte arrived in Moscow Monday night for a four-day visit, accompanied by a large Filipino business delegation. While Duterte will seek more Russian business investment in his country, a key objective of his visit will be signing a defense cooperation agreement expected to provide the Philippines with more weapons to use in the ongoing war against drug traffickers that has become a staple of the Duterte presidency.

Duterte had previously claimed Putin had offered him a “buy one, get one free” deal on firearms.

The Philippines is also facing jihadist attacks by Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State affiliate in the country, which has become increasingly aggressive in the Muslim-majority south of the country, where Duterte is from.

Abu Sayyaf ultimately led to Duterte’s decision to leave Russia early to address the jihadist threat. Duterte declared a 60-day period of martial law in his native Mindanao island and will return home. According to the Philippine Star:

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said at the same press conference that the president will be cutting his visit to Russia short because his presence is needed in the country.

The signing of bilateral agreements with Russia will push through but the meetings with Russia President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were postponed. Cayetano said Duterte may just speak with the two leaders via phone.

“The agreement on military technical cooperation will pave the way for the Philippines to explore a possibility of military procurement from Russia,” Foreign Assistant Secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters before Duterte left to Russia. The agreements would also reportedly create an extradition agreement, which the two countries had not previously had, and allow for “information sharing, training, and technical cooperation,” according to the regional news outlet Rappler.

Officials have also expressed a hope that Duterte’s visit will help end the propagation of negative Russia stereotypes in the country. “There’s been a lot of stereotypes in the Philippines and I don’t really blame it. I mean, growing up watching James Bond movies, the villains were either an evil Russian scientist or some beautiful nubile Russian assassin,” Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said on Monday. “The reality is we have not had a deeper exchange with Russia even though we’ve had good relations, so we’re 40 years. And that’s going to change.”

Sorreta hoped the Russian visit would expand the “kind of independent foreign policy [they are] trying to achieve.”

Before his departure, Duterte emphasized the need to expand cooperation with Russia. “Russia must cease to be at the margins of Philippine diplomacy,” he said. “Overdependence on traditional partners has limited our room to maneuver in a very dynamic international arena. This is a strategic oversight that has led to many missed opportunities for our country. I am determined to correct this.”

Duterte has repeatedly stated that he would like to diminish the role of the United States in Philippine foreign relations, at one point declaring, ” You know, if China and Russia would decide to create a new order, I would be the first to join.”

Prior to Duterte, the government of Benigno Aquino kept close ties to the United States and maintained a distance from Russia. The Philippine Star notes that a head of state from that country has not visited Russia since President Gloria Arroyo did in 2009, and prior to that, no visit is on the record since 1997.

Duterte has eagerly expressed his fondness for Putin. “I like Putin. … We have similarities. When it comes to girls,” Duterte said in August 2016, in anticipation of their first meeting. Following that meeting, Duterte gushed that Putin had a “wide laugh” and had reserved a gun as a present for him in Russia. Neither country has confirmed whether Putin will hand over the present during this visit.

Oh, Another Incident of Chinese Industrial Espionage

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

There is no denying Russia is using cyber warfare against the West. Little is ever mentioned about China’s industrial espionage, something this site attempts to publish as often as possible. Further, the owner of this site participated in two key hearings today in Congress, one with former CIA Director John Brennan and the other included ODNI Dan Coats and DIA Director General Stewart.

Clearly both hearings revealed just how pervasive and common cyber warfare is at the hands of China and Russia. Here is just another example.

China’s theft of IBM’s intellectual property

A former employee of IBM pleaded guilty to theft of source code on behalf of China

Image result for Xu Jiaqiang ibm And you think the FBI has easy work? Further, we are trusting China to deal with North Korea’s nuclear program and missile systems aimed against Western interests.

CSO: China continues to view the theft of intellectual property as a viable means of technology transfer. Global private sector entities are finding their insiders are being used by China to purloin the proprietary information for use by Chinese state-owned-enterprises or national entities with ever increasing regularity.

On 19 May 2017, Xu Jiaqiang, a PRC national, pleaded guilty to economic espionage and trade secret theft. Xu stole source code from his employer, IBM, and attempted to share it with the National Health and Family Planning Commission in the PRC. According to the Department of Justice, Xu pleaded guilty to all six of the counts included in his indictment.

A review of Xu’s Linked-In profile shows only his employment with IBM from November 2010 through July 2014 (date is different from that which is contained in the indictment) as a “General Parallel File System Developer at IBM”

Xu was a trusted insider within IBM. According to the DOJ advisory, which contained content from both the criminal complaint and superseding indictment, Xu worked for IBM from 2010-14, with unencumbered access to the “proprietary source code.” DOJ advises, Xu voluntarily resigned from IBM in May 2014.

In late 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was informed (source unidentified) that Xu claimed to have access (unauthorized) to the source code and was using the source code in various business ventures. Undercover law enforcement officers subsequently contacted Xu to affirm Xu’s possession of the source code

The criminal complaint describes undercover officers posing as investors engaged in a multi-month email exchanges with Xu which culminated in his sharing portions of the source code as bonafides of his knowledge of “operating systems and parallel file systems.” At that time, the victim company, IBM, identified the shared code as identical to their proprietary source code.

In late-2015, Xu had a face-to-face meeting with undercover law enforcement officers. At the meeting, Xu noted the code was his former employer’ s(IBM) code. Xu also confirmed to his interlocutors how he had purloined the code prior to his May 2014 employment separation and had made modification so as to obscure the point of origin, IBM.

In June 2016, Xu was indicted and charged with three counts of economic espionage, one count each of theft of trade secrets, possession of trade secrets, and distribution of trade secrets. He will be sentenced in October 2017.

Though IBM has declined comment to media regarding this theft of their intellectual property, reading between the lines, it would appear IBM had deduced (correctly) that Xu absconded with a copy of their GPFS proprietary source code, and was attempting to use it commercially. They then brought the theft to the attention of the FBI.

Illicit technology transfer

China has not slowed down in their acquisition of technology utilizing the access afforded to trusted insiders. The US Director of National Intelligence made it clear in his May 2017 presentation to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the worldwide threat to the United States as to the threat posed by China.

In April 2017, we saw the arrest of a Dutch employee of Siemens, working within the energy arm of Siemens, charged with stealing the intellectual property of his employer and attempting to share it with China.

From the FBI perspective, this was the perfect economic espionage case. Theft of proprietary information for provision to a foreign government. The theft was from a company with an insider threat program in place and who was cooperative (providing technical expertise during the investigation), and of sufficient size to withstand any blow-back from China which may occur.

There is no need to be xenophobic. Multinational companies employee individuals from a great variety of nationalities. The reality is, few employees break trust with their employer.

That said, having your paper trail on agreements which safeguard intellectual property is mandatory. As is a review of all activities of all departing employees for break from pattern, be it a voluntary separation or for cause. If a deeper dive into the employees activities is warranted, make sure to look for any sudden increase in 403 errors – or similar (caused by attempts to access unauthorized data). Verify the complete inventory of all storage devices which the employee may have accessed, and have each returned and or data on the devices destroyed, and review email and uploads for any inappropriate usage.

Remember, though it is the FBI and DOJ success which brought Xu to our collective attention, it was not the FBI who initially discovered Xu’s intellectual property theft. The FBI pursued the lead brought to them by an unidentified third party (presumably IBM).

You are your company’s first line of defense in the protection of intellectual property, not the FBI.

U.S. is Doing ‘That’ Extreme Vetting in Australia

Posted on May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 by Denise Simon

Remember on the campaign trail when President Trump said it was stupid to take the Syria refugees Australia was holding on a remote island that was under agreement by Barack Obama? Remember when there was a discussion between President Trump and the Prime Minister of Australia where apparently Trump hung up the phone, terminating the conversation. The Prime Minister visited the Trump White House and now all is allegedly fine between the two countries.Remember when VP Pence finally agreed to honor the deal and accept those refugees? The reason? The US. is accepting a number of those refugees.

Exclusive: U.S. starts ‘extreme vetting’ at Australia’s offshore detention centers

Reuters: U.S. Homeland Security officials have begun “extreme vetting” interviews at Australia’s offshore detention centers, two sources at the camps told Reuters on Tuesday, as Washington honors a refugee swap that U.S. President Donald Trump had called “a dumb deal”.

The Trump administration said last month the agreement to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers in the centers would progress on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks.

In exchange, Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a center in Costa Rica, where the United States has expanded intake in recent years, under the deal struck with former President Barack Obama.

DailyMail

The first security interviews finished last week at Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island detention center, two refugees who went through the process told Reuters.

The refugees told Reuters that interviews began with an oath to God to tell the truth and then proceeded for as long as six hours, with in-depth questions on associates, family, friends and any interactions with the Islamic State militant group.

VOANews

“They asked about why I fled my home, why I sought asylum in Australia,” said one refugee who declined to be named, fearing it could jeopardize his application for U.S. resettlement.

The security interviews are the last stage of U.S. consideration of applicants.

Manus Island is one of two Australian-operated detention centers, which hold nearly 1,300 people who were intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat.

Human rights groups have condemned the intercept policy and the harsh conditions of the camps. Australia says offshore processing is needed as a deterrent after thousands of people drowned at sea before the policy was introduced in 2013.

A decision on the fate of the first 70 people interviewed is expected to be reached within the next month, a different source who works with refugees said.

A spokesman for Australia’s immigration minister refused to comment on the resettlement process.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said that refugees from the Australian-run facilities will be subject to the same stringent vetting applied to all refugees who are being considered for entry to the United States.

“The United States remains deeply committed to safeguarding the American public, just as we are committed to providing refuge to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. These goals are not mutually exclusive,” she said.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for extreme vetting have extended to those traveling to the United States from Muslim countries.

Australia’s relationship with the new administration in Washington got off to a rocky start when Trump lambasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the resettlement arrangement, which Trump labeled a “dumb deal”.

Details of an acrimonious phone call between the pair soon after Trump took office made headlines around the world. Australia is one of Washington’s staunchest allies and has sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. military in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The relocation of asylum seekers to the United States is designed to help Papua New Guinea and Australia proceed with the planned closure of the Manus detention center on Oct. 31.

But the fate of approximately 200 men deemed non-refugees is uncertain.

Those not offered resettlement in the United States will be offered the chance to settle in Papua New Guinea or return home.

Australia has already offered detainees up to $25,000 to voluntarily return home; an offer very few have taken up.