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Reposted from the Australian Broadcasting Network
A leading defence expert says the use of artificially intelligent drones to monitor crowds at major events and report "irregular behaviour" to authorities will become widespread, as Victoria Police reveals plans to use the drones as part of its new anti-terror strategy.
Under the refreshed counter-terrorism strategy, drones which detect unusual behaviour in a crowd will report findings back to officers, who can then investigate the potential threat.
Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther told ABC Radio Melbourne the aim of the drones is not to create a "surveillance state", but to help police prevent attacks occurring.
"Say you went to the Myer Music Bowl, for example, and you took a backpack with you to that," he said.
"You drop the backpack down but then you just returned to the gate and left the property, that would be an irregular behaviour.
"If we had a drone in the area using that sort of functionality it would identify an out of normal behaviour and send that information back to police command post.
"The intention of it is to protect the community and it's not that we're using that technology 24 hours a day at all our meeting places, for example."
The use of drones equipped with artificial intelligence is likely to expand over the next three to five years, according to defence expert Professor Clive Williams, from Australian National University.
"[Drones] are useful and much most cost-effective than using a helicopter," he said.
"The main development will probably be in the area of artificial intelligence because already the technology is out there, it's simply a matter of whether police take up the technology or not.
"What it can do is take out some of the monotony of looking over a large crowd for example.
"Artificial intelligence could say 'have a look in that sector, there's unusual activity' and specify what it is and that gives the human operator the chance then to focus in and make a decision about what to do about it."
Professor Williams said the community generally accepts a degree of surveillance already with the growth of CCTV cameras in city centres.
"There used to be public concern about that but I think now people are more concerned about their security and their safety, and these kinds of surveillance can actually provide more security and therefore I think generally speaking people are accepting of it," he said.
"Facial recognition is of course another aspect, although maybe that's a bit more contentious because of the civil liberty aspects of it."
Mr Guenther also said police needed to be prepared for the potential use of drones as weapons in crowd environments.
"Drones have been used in the battlefield and we know that they have got the capability to do bad things in crowded places, so we need to be ready to deal with that," he said.
Police at the Commonwealth Games in Queensland this year were equipped with "drone guns" which have the ability to bring down the aircraft by disrupting electronic signals.
He said despite the importance of adapting to new technology, the links between police and different community groups remained the key to the force's counter-terrorism strategy.
"That engagement with the community is the most important thing we do, and in fact, in this strategy which has four pillars, the first of those is actually prevention, is the community stuff we focus heavily on and will continue to enhance," he said.
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Reposted from Campus Security & Life Safety
At a time when violent events have been woven into the fabric of our memories and lives, we often find ourselves wondering, “What can we do? What should we do?” The debate arises again and again on how best to identify threats and prevent incidents before they occur, but while security measures like access control and video cameras have become standard, schools may lack a more comprehensive, risk-based security plan to adequately protect campus communities. Naturally, a comprehensive campus security plan involves the installation of physical security equipment and personnel, like video cameras and police or security officers, but those measures may not entirely address the shortcomings that come with fully safeguarding our campuses. It is this shortcoming that led Omnigo to adapt the “inside out” approach to campus security. Without this approach, schools are especially vulnerable to threats and crimes carried out by an often-ignored potentially dangerous group of people: trusted insiders.
Many of today’s incidents, including cyberattacks and violent intruders, are devised by those with trusted access to school campuses, networks, and facilities. Insider threats exist at all levels of school and campus administration, and can come from a student, employee, former employee or student, contractor, associate, or any other individual within an organization who has direct access to and knowledge of people, facilities, critical data, and IT systems.
Access to and misuse of these resources poses a significant threat to both the campus and its people. When campuses calibrate their security programs around the people and information they’re trying to protect, administrators can better establish an effective security plan. Countermeasures like prevention training, background investigations for employees and third-party contractors, anonymous reporting, and behavioral intervention/threat assessment teams are key pieces to intervention, detection, and prevention.
The following countermeasures are key to enhancing prevention, intervention, and detection, and thus create a comprehensive security plan for schools to rely on.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND PREVENTION
When students and teachers are actively engaged in the safety and protection of themselves and their campus, threats can be more easily identified far earlier in the incident lifecycle. Campus administrators should implement steps to help people take responsibility for themselves and the community they live in, employing the successful Department of Homeland Security approach, “If you see something, say something.”
By adapting comprehensive training and microlearning solutions to equip students and employees with the tools they need to make educated decisions and identify warning signs, these campaigns will help raise community awareness of what a real threat looks like, what is doesn’t look like, and how to respond as a member of that community. Instead of one time “acute” training, a microlearning approach provides a more frequent and effective way for these individuals to engage with the training material, allowing for better retention and a more informed and prepared population.
ANONYMOUS REPORTING
A crucial piece of the inside out tactic includes the implementation of anonymous reporting. In addition to protecting a campus’ perimeter with ID badge readers and security cameras, anonymous reporting adds another layer to a school’s comprehensive security plan. By implementing reporting on an anonymous level, concerned members of the community and witnesses can feel more at ease when reporting an incident and will be more likely to do so knowing their identity is protected. To avoid confusion around how and when individuals should anonymously report a concern or suspicious incident, communication campaigns and learning opportunities should be offered to students and employees on campus.
This tactic enables anonymous reports to be sent directly to police and security professionals who then evaluate each report on a case-bycase basis. By integrating new technologies into comprehensive security plans, campuses can offer services like anonymous reporting through easy-to-use apps or websites—encouraging students and teachers alike to utilize these resources to protect themselves and their community.
BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION AND THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAMS
Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment teams are expertly trained to identify and assess any potential threats—including acts of violence or cases of mental health—and to address the threats before they escalate.
These teams are critical to any security response plan, and by regularly monitoring the many moving parts on a campus, they are able to identify risks posed by those intent on doing harm to themselves or others. Campuses must clearly evaluate the risks posed by various types of threats, then prioritize the risks and continuously assess and enhance their security posture and intervention strategies.
Through the inside out approach, campuses can equip themselves with the tools to more effectively identify potential threats and intervene earlier in the incident cycle before a situation escalates into a full-scale emergency. The more steps we take to install better prevention and early intervention protocols, the more effective we can be at maintaining a safe and secure campus environment.
Across the country, many people have become numb to violent attacks, and seem to accept that these incidents are the “new normal.” With effective and secure precautions in place, and a more open dialogue on how to prevent tragedy instead of reacting to it, we can take steps to adapt a proactive, “inside out” approach to protecting our students, teachers, staff, and campus community as a whole.
A truly comprehensive security plan allows campus administrators to work alongside their community members to combat threats of violence and ensure safer tomorrows.
Reposted from CNBC
A Bloomberg BusinessWeek report that Chinese equipment manufacturer Super Micro may have allowed microchips used for spying into U.S. data center equipment run by AWS, Apple and others is likely to stoke trade tensions between the two nations over alleged espionage.
Apple and AWS strongly dispute the Bloomberg report.
Just Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged companies to protect against cyberthreats from their managed service providers. It was the latest warning in a long series of ramped-up concerns over espionage from nation-states involving third-party products and services.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Response Team, which provides disaster response and warnings about serious cybersecurity issues, published an alert that nation-states have been using shared cloud services and managed service providers — like those that provide outsourced handling of corporate functions — to launch advanced attacks and espionage campaigns against critical U.S. companies.
The attacks have resulted in a variety of adverse consequences, including lost sensitive information, disruption of operations and leaks of proprietary material, according to the US-CERT. The agency said victims of the attacks have included information technology firms, health-care companies, communications providers and manufacturers. It did not identify them.
China is not mentioned in the warning, but government agencies have grown increasingly wary about how vulnerable U.S. infrastructure may be to Chinese espionage, said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer for security company Carbon Black and a former top cybersecurity official for the World Bank.
"China's activities in this area have only become ramped up in recent years, particularly as trade tensions between China and the U.S. have increased," he said.
The Department of Justice has also boosted enforcement and rhetoric about espionage activities waged against corporations and enterprise infrastructure from China in recent months
On Sept. 25, a Chinese national identified as Ji Chaoqun was arrested in Chicagofollowing a complaint accusing him of acting on behalf of Beijing to recruit spies from government contractors in the Midwest. Ji has denied the charges. The complaint is one of several in recent years calling out what the U.S. says are Chinese government-sponsored campaigns to steal huge amounts of U.S. intellectual property for use both by the government and competitively at Chinese-owned businesses.
China has repeatedly denied a role in espionage against the U.S. In August, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, countered hacking claims by President Donald Trump, saying: "We are firmly opposed to all forms of cyberattacks and espionage."
Equipment manufacturers have recently been targeted by the Trump administration, putting pressure on many large technology companies with roots in China.
In July, the administration moved to block China Mobile from entering the U.S. market over "national security" fears. In August, mobile manufacturers Huawei and ZTE were banned for use in U.S. government agencies, in a bill signed by Trump. Earlier this year, digital surveillance camera maker Hikvision was also the subject of scrutiny after allegations the equipment, used on several military bases and overseas embassies, was capable of sending images back to China. (Some military officials disputed this view. In January 2018, U.S. Army Col. Christopher Beck said the decision to replace the Hikivision cameras was based on concerns about "negative perception" rather than actual security risk.)
Huawei and ZTE have denied claims their technology has been used for espionage. Hikvision has said the alleged security vulnerabilities were bugs that have since been fixed.
"Chinese commercial technology is a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on United States federal agencies, posing a severe national security threat," Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said in January. "Allowing Huawei, ZTE, and other related entities access to U.S. government communications would be inviting Chinese surveillance into all aspects of our lives."
Reposted from Denver7
The Denver Zoo was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after what officials tweeted was a “credible security threat.”
According to Denver Police, the zoo received a call from an unidentified individual threatening to fly an airplane into the facility. They later determined the threat was not credible and announced the park would reopen Wednesday.
The Denver Zoo tweeted around 4 p.m. Tuesday that they received a "credible security threat" and that “The safety of our guests, staff and animals is our top priority and we are taking the necessary precautions.”
They evacuated more than 1,000 guests from the park and moved animals to safety.
Officers from the Denver Police Department were called in to help secure the facility. However, about 15 minutes later they tweeted that they are investigating but they have yet to deem the threat credible at this time.
Dozens of evacuated guests were seen at the corner of East 23rd Avenue and York Street. A short time later, police allowed patrons who were evacuated to retrieve their vehicles.
A spokesperson for the zoo told Denver7 that they are preparing to reopen the park Wednesday. The zoo released the following statement:
"Our top priority is the safety and comfort of our guests, staff and animals. We take every threat very seriously and consistently review and practice our procedures to maintain the utmost safety standards. Denver Police has reopened 23rd Ave. and Denver Zoo will open tomorrow with normal hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)."
Police said they are working with their federal partners to determine where the threat came from.
Reposted from Campus Safety Magazine
Campus Safety magazine has found that more than nine out of 10 schools are using security camera systems. Additionally, K-12 campuses are adopting other security measures to improve safety, but do they make students feel safer on campus?
Not all of them, according to Professor Sarah Lindstrom Johnson of Arizona State University who explored the question, reports ASU Now. Her study found that students feel less safe, as well as less support and equity when there are high numbers of security cameras inside their schools (installed in entrances, hallways, stairwells and cafeterias).
“The big take-home to this is that there may be a cost to these security measures if they are not done well,” said Linstrom Johnson, who studies school environments and their effect on students.
The researchers looked at how outdoor cameras, indoor cameras and security personnel affected students’ feelings about their school in regards to safety, support and equity.
“High levels of cameras inside the school were negatively related to student’ perception of safety, student’s perception of support and their perception of equity,” she said. She believes students see inside cameras as a way for the school to monitor behavior such as cutting class.
A notable exception, however, was the perceptions of black students. The study found that they viewed the inside cameras less negatively than their white peers. The researchers surmised that black students felt this way because the cameras document what happens to them, which they might believe helps to keep them safe.
Outdoor cameras were positively related to support, and the presence of security resource officers was positively related to safety, research showed.
As for security officers on campus, Lindstrom Johnson says more needs to be done in regards to their disciplinary role, the weapons they carry and training to work with adolescents. She added that Arizona is one of the few states that provides training programs for school resource officers.
Although students have mixed feelings about security cameras, most public safety and security professionals believe they are effective.
Earlier this year, Campus Safety surveyed more than 700 school, university and hospital protection professionals on the effectiveness of video surveillance on their campuses. Almost all (96 percent) said these cameras frequently or sometimes provide evidence for investigations. Four out of five said the cameras frequently or sometimes prevent crime, and 74 percent said their video surveillance systems frequently or sometimes act as force multipliers. CS’ survey, however, didn’t differentiate between exterior cameras and ones installed inside a building.
The subject of school security and the impact it can have on students has been studied many times before. Most are based on self-reporting of security measures by students or school administrators.
What Lindstrom Johnson believes sets her research apart from other studies is that it objectively looks at security measures. The professor and her team published the study in the Journal of Adolescent Health that included surveys and independent assessments from more than 54,000 students in 98 middle and high schools in Maryland.
When it comes to how schools should use their money to increase safety, Lindstrom Johnson believes the mental health of students should be more of a priority.
She says research supports mental health resources on campus are effective in reducing student behavior problems and improving academics.
“This work suggests that cameras outside the school and security officers might improve students’ feelings of safety and support, but we also have a body of research that shows that evidence-based mental health resources in schools are effective,” she said.
You can find the full ASU study here.
Reposted from Multibriefs.com
It’s not a topic that anyone wants to think about, but companies should be preparing workplace violence prevention and response plans. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), workplace violence can include verbal abuse and threats, physical assaults, and homicide. Employees, customers and clients, and visitors can be the perpetrators or victims of workplace violence.
While over 2 million American workers a year report being a victim of workplace violence, OSHA notes that millions of other incidents are never reported.
According to a report by XpertHR, workplace violence and active shooter situations are among the most challenging HR compliance issues in 2018. Close to half (45 percent) of respondents felt that preparing for or responding to these types of situations was very or extremely challenging.
No one is immune to workplace violence but some environments and professions are more susceptible than others.
For example, jobs that involve working in high-crime areas, and working with the general public — especially when exchanging money, or working with unstable people or individuals who have been drinking — have a higher risk. Employees who work at night or alone are also more susceptible. OSHA lists some of these jobs as delivery drivers, law enforcement personnel, healthcare professionals, customer service agents, and public service workers.
However, it’s important to note that even though some categories of workers are more likely to encounter workplace violence, these situations can occur anywhere.
MultiBriefs asked XpertHR to tell us more about the report and how companies can prevent and/or respond to workplace violence.
It’s not enough for employers to hope the company is never the scene of a workplace violence incident. They have an obligation to work proactively to prevent such an occurrence.
"Employers have a duty under the General Duty Clause of the federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, which may include preventing acts of workplace violence," according to Beth Zoller, J.D., legal editor of XpertHR.
However, she says there are several ways for employees to prevent and respond to violence in the workplace.
"Draft, implement, and enforce policies and practices that increase awareness and reporting of violence or potential acts of violence that may affect the workplace," Zoller says. By creating a workplace violence prevention program, she says this demonstrates that the employer has a zero-tolerance policy for such acts.
Employers should also make sure that everyone understands the definition of workplace violence. "It is defined as any conduct that is sufficiently severe, offensive, or intimidating as to cause an employee to reasonably fear for his/her personal safety or the safety of his/her family, friends and/or property, such that employment conditions are altered or a hostile, abusive or intimidating work environment is created," Zoller explains.
While most people understand that shooting, hitting, and other forms of physical abuse are considered workplace violence, she says threats of violence, intimidation, and surveilling and stalking are also included. In addition, Zoller says workplace violence is not limited to behavior that takes place on the employer’s premises, but also extends to actions outside the workplace if these actions affect working conditions.
"Companies should implement a clear structure for reporting acts of violence and ensure that all complaints or concerns with respect to workplace violence are handled carefully, properly investigated, and promptly remediated," Zoller says.
Training is another important part of workplace violence prevention and preparation. Zoller says employees should be trained to know what to do if an incident occurs. This includes being able to identify the sound of gunshots, knowing where to take cover in safe spots, and also knowing how to react when law enforcement arrives.
"Designate a team to respond to any acts of violence that may affect the workplace," she recommends. "The team may include representatives of senior management, human resources, security, and in-house legal counsel, as well as outside professionals, local law enforcement authorities, and outside counsel." These individuals should also be trained.
In addition to designating a team, Zoller says an emergency response plan should be developed. "This should detail how an incident of workplace violence will be managed — including securing the premises, contacting law enforcement, informing employees of impending danger, notifying families during and after an incident, dealing with media, and providing any counseling or other employee assistance after an act of violence has occurred."
There are other ways that companies can lessen the chances of workplace violence. For example, Zoller says supervisors can be trained how to recognize signs of potential workplace violence. "Also, background screen applicants for red flags that may indicate potentially violent behaviors," she says.
Another step is to institute a no-weapons policy on the employer’s premises. Zoller says there should be strict consequences for violations.
"I also recommend conducting a safety and security audit to identify and correct gaps in safety and security in the employer’s workplace such as broken locks and malfunctioning security systems," Zoller says.
While workplace violence isn’t entirely preventable, taking a proactive approach that includes increasing awareness, providing training, and developing violence prevention policies and procedures, can help to provide the safest work environment possible.
The digital economy is set to unlock tremendous economic value for countries over time. But a common setback for the use of various new technologies is their vulnerability to hackers.
That's because companies and individuals are not taking cybersecurity seriously, according to Erik Brynjolfsson, director at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a professor at MIT Sloan School.
The threat of cyber attacks "can be addressed much more effectively than it has been," he told CNBC's "Street Signs" at the annual Barclays Asia Forum in Singapore. "I think we're just not taking it seriously enough."
Brynjolfsson was commenting on the news that a Google bug exposed the account information of 500,000 users, spurring the tech giant to make a slew of privacy changes and shut down the Google Plus service for consumers.
"The story here isn't really about Google, it's about our atrocious cybersecurity — not just in social networks, but in banking or voting systems," he said. "Whenever I talk to the real cyber experts, they tell me the lights are blinking red, that we're so vulnerable, and we need to do a lot more to make our information system secure."
There have been numerous incidents in recent years where technology companies suffered breaches that resulted in user data getting compromised: Uber was fined for a 2016 data breach, Facebook recently discovered a security issue that allowed hackers to access information that could have let them take over around 50 million accounts, and the personal information of millions of Americans was affected in a data breach at credit reporting firm Equifax last year.
Combating cyber threats "boils down to prioritizing at a higher level," Brynjolfsson said. Some of the fixes are straightforward: For example, he said, two-factor authentication might prevent unauthorized logins and machine-readable paper ballots could make voting systems more secure.
"These small additional steps, they may slow down some of the processes incrementally, add a little bit of cost, a few percent here and there, but they'll make us tremendously more secure," he said.
In cybersecurity, he explained, using publicly available cryptography is usually more secure than proprietary systems that are built for specific companies — that's because the former is extensively tested by the cryptography community.
Digital economies are set to grow as companies spend more money to transform their businesses using technology. International Data Corporation said that in 2018, worldwide spending on digital transformation will shoot past $1 trillion.
Cybersecurity challenges aside, there are plenty of benefits in a digital economy, according to Brynjolfsson.
Artificial intelligence, for example, can make the world more interconnected and specific developments in areas of vision systems, speech recognition, decision-making about credit or hiring are creating plenty of opportunities, he said. Still, it will be a challenge for society to help workers who lose their jobs to automation transition into new roles, Brynjolfsson added.
Reposted from BBC News
A man who threatened to kill his ex-partner with a World War One replica gun he stole from a museum has been jailed for four years.
Lee Rousseau, 48, took the replica Luger pistol after ripping the arm from a mannequin on display at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.
He then took it to his former partner's home, Lincoln Crown Court heard.
Rousseau admitted possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
The court heard Rousseau, of Turner Avenue, Lincoln, removed the pistol from the mannequin's arm in the toilets of the museum in Lincoln on 14 March.
Prosecutor Gurdial Singh told the court Rousseau claimed "he shook the mannequin's hand and the arm fell off".
Mr Singh said after taking the gun Rousseau - who the court was told was obsessed with guns and was a regular visitor to the museum - went to the home of his ex-partner Cheryl Smith.
The court heard he was told to leave but started "kicking the front door and threatening to kill her" when she told him she was seeing somebody else.
"He appeared to make off and thrust a gun through the letter box," Mr Singh said.
"She was in the kitchen with her child. She saw the tip of the barrel."
The court heard Rousseau had 26 previous convictions for a total of 49 offenses.
In addition to the charge of possession of an imitation firearm, he admitted theft and criminal damage.
Rousseau also pleaded guilty to three charges of possession of a knife from an incident 10 days earlier.
Reposted from the New York Times
The Trump administration vowed to fight “radical Islamist” militants, as well as Iran, as part of a multifront campaign to eliminate the terrorist threat to the United States, according a long-delayed counterterrorism strategy released on Thursday by the White House.
Administration officials promoted the strategy, the first released since 2011, as a new approach to fighting terrorism in a “landscape more fluid and complex than ever.” It embraced, however, many of the principles adopted and refined by both the Bush and Obama administrations.
The 25-page document noted that extremist groups, armed with encrypted communications and savvy social media skills, are dispersed globally more than ever before. After 17 years of armed conflict, the document said, the United States has had only “mixed success” in preventing attacks against American interests.
“While we have succeeded in disrupting large-scale attacks in the homeland since 2001,” the report said, “we have not sufficiently mitigated the overall threat that terrorists pose.”
The sobering assessment of a persistent, resilient threat seemed to contrast with other parts of the strategy that flatly assert the administration will wipe out terrorism against Americans — a goal most counterterrorism experts say is unrealistic.
It was also somewhat at odds with the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy, released this year, which pivoted the military away from counterterrorism to face threats from a pair of strategic adversaries, Russia and China.
The plan was delayed by many months, a victim of fierce internal debates over counterterrorism policy as well as a bureaucratic tug of war between President Trump’s two top former security advisers, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster and Thomas P. Bossert, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The strategy went through multiple drafts early in 2017 before languishing in the National Security Council. An early draft leaked to Reuters in May 2017 did not include the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism,” which Mr. Trump used regularly during the 2016 presidential campaign but which General McMaster urged N.S.C. staff members to avoid.
General McMaster was forced out of the White House in April, and Mr. Bossert was fired days later, after Mr. Trump appointed John R. Bolton to replace General McMaster.
The final document mentions “radical Islamist terrorism,” a term that refers to acts of terrorism by Sunni Muslim-affiliated networks like the Islamic State, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the report before its release.
But by substituting “Islamist” for “Islamic,” the official said, the strategy seeks to avoid condemning Islam as a whole.
The new strategy bears the imprint of Mr. Bolton with its emphasis on the threat from Iran, which he described in a White House briefing as “the world’s central banker of international terrorism since 1979,” supporting militant and terrorist groups across the Middle East. Iran’s role was previewed in the State Department’s annual list of global terrorist threats last month.
The strategy set an uncompromising goal, declaring, “We will eliminate terrorists’ ability to threaten America, our interests and our engagement in the world.” And it embraced the martial language that former President George W. Bush used after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “We are a nation at war,” the document said, “and it is a war that the United States will win.”
That reverses a position taken by former President Barack Obama, who said in May 2013: “Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.”
Mr. Bolton argued that it was wrong to lull Americans into thinking that the war on terror, which he characterized as a long ideological struggle, was over. “The idea that somehow we can just say, ‘Well, we’re tired of this war and it will go away,’ I think is a mistake,” he said.
In contrast to Mr. Trump’s confident public statements, the report took a sober view of the threat posed by the Islamic State. Despite losing all but 1 percent of the territory it previously seized in Iraq and Syria, it remains a potent threat to the United States, the document said.
The extremist group is still supported by eight official offshoots and more than two dozen related networks that regularly conduct attacks across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Similarly, the strategy said Al Qaeda’s global network “remains resilient and poses an enduring threat to the homeland and United States interests around the world.”
The assessment calls for a panoply of familiar tactics.
Military, diplomatic and law enforcement officials will apply constant pressure on terrorist networks. Government experts will sleuth ways to cut off terrorist financing and disrupt terrorist travel. Border security will be tightened. Increased attention will be paid to thwart terrorists’ use of the internet to plot attacks, raise money and attract new recruits.
“The debate is really about how to calibrate and where to deploy those tools, and increasingly how to do so in a world in which America’s high-end capabilities are also needed for other pressing threats,” said Joshua A. Geltzer, who was senior director for counterterrorism in the Obama administration and is now the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.
Mr. Trump came into office without a clearly articulated philosophy for using the military to fight terrorist groups. He had promised to be more aggressive in taking on the Islamic State — even suggesting during the 2016 campaign that he had a secret plan — but also signaled a desire to rein in the United States as the world’s peacekeeper.
Surrounded by generals who have been at the center of a decade-long shift toward relying on Special Operations rather than ground troops, Mr. Trump has chosen to maintain the same approach as Mr. Obama but has given the Pentagon more latitude in conflict zones like Somalia and Yemen.
The strategy also emphasizes the need for allied partners to help conduct counterterrorism missions — something France is now doing in West Africa and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen.
There are demonstrable shifts in at least some of the tools the United States can bring to bear.
The strategy, for example, calls for employing cyberoperations against terrorist foes. Last week, White House officials said Mr. Trump had authorized new, classified orders for the Pentagon’s cyberwarriors to conduct offensive attacks against state and nonstate adversaries more freely and frequently.
The administration acknowledged that another information-age goal — fighting extremist ideology, including terrorist organizations’ ability to continue attracting new recruits — remains one of counterterrorism officials’ most intractable problems.
“Unless we counter terrorist radicalization and recruitment,” the document concluded, “we will be fighting a never-ending battle against terrorism in the homeland, overseas and online.”
Reposted from ArtCrimeResearch.org
The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) warmly invites applications to its postgraduate certificate program in the study of art crime and cultural heritage protection. In 2019, the program will be held from May 31 through August 15, 2019 in the heart of Umbria in Amelia, Italy.
In its 11th year, this academically-challenging, eleven course program will provide in-depth, postgraduate level instruction in important theoretical and practical elements related to art and heritage crime. By examining art crime’s interconnected world, participants will experience an integrated curriculum in a participatory setting. The program’s courses will include comprehensive, multidisciplinary lectures, classroom-based discussions and presentations, and field classes that serve as the backdrop for exploring art crime, its nature, and its impact.
Each course associated with the program has been selected to underscore the value of, and necessity for, a longitudinal multidisciplinary approach to the study of this type of criminal behaviour, as well as its trends and motivating factors. Designed to expose participants to an integrated curriculum in a highly interactive, participatory, student-centered setting, the ARCA professional development program utilises instructional modules that include both classroom and in situ field lectures as well as “hands-on” learning from case studies, organised research, and group participatory assignments and discussions.
Participants are encouraged and challenged from the outset of the program to develop their scholarly interests, and to evolve as independent thinkers and researchers while simultaneously contributing to the theoretical discourse.
At the conclusion of the program, participants will have a solid mastery of a broad array of concepts pertaining to provenance, art market due diligence, illicit trafficking, cultural property protection, and cultural security.
November 30, 2018 – Early Application Deadline January 30, 2019 – General Application Deadline
Minerva scholarship applications will be accepted through February 01, 2019.
As spaces on the program are limited, candidates are strongly advised to submit their application materials as soon as possible. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until census is achieved, after which candidates will be placed on the waiting list.
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