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Defense & National Security — Inside the rise in military sexual assault

Incidents of sexual assault in the military grew 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, according to a report from the Pentagon released Thursday.  

We’ll dive deep into the numbers. Plus, we’ll talk about the end of an immigration pathway for those evacuated from Afghanistan during the U.S.’s withdrawal of troops.

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Jordan Williams. Subscribe here.

Reports of sexual assault in the military grew in 2021

Reports of sexual assault in the military grew 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, according to a report from the Pentagon released Thursday.  

The report said the department received 8,866 reports of sexual assault during the last fiscal year, up 1,050 reports over the 7,816 it received in fiscal year 2020. 

‘Tragic and extremely disappointing:’ Elizabeth Foster, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency in the Department of Defense, said the numbers were the highest sexual assault prevalence for women since the department began tracking in 2006, and the second-highest prevalence rate for men.

“These numbers are tragic and extremely disappointing,” Foster told reporters. “Every incident has a ripple effect across the unit and impacts unit cohesion, ability to trust and distracts from the critical mission at hand.”

• The increase in sexual assault reports were driven by increases in the Army, which saw the largest increase in reporting out of all the services. 
• The service received 4,081 reports of sexual assault, a 25 percent increase over fiscal year 2020.  

And as for sexual harassment: The survey found that about 29 percent of active-duty women experienced an incident of sexual harassment in 2021, up from 24 percent in 2018.  

The department received 3,174 sexual harassment reports in 2021, up from 1,781 in 2020. 

Read the report here.  

US ends one immigration path for Afghan evacuees

The U.S. government will no longer temporarily waive immigration requirements for vulnerable Afghans entering the country, instead focusing on more enduring pathways as the evacuation enters a new phase. 

The government will largely cease its use of humanitarian parole to allow at-risk Afghans to enter the country after Oct. 1, requiring remaining evacuees to demonstrate family ties in the U.S., a connection with the U.S. military or that they are among the most vulnerable applicants to the U.S. refugee program.

A shift to long-term strategy: The latest move is a sign of a new phase in the U.S. evacuation effort as the nation marks one year since the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

• The move will ensure that those who arrive in the U.S. come with a more stable immigration status.
• Those who are given humanitarian parole at ports of entry are given just two years to secure another immigration pathway — a detail that has left many of the 85,000 Afghans who arrived during the evacuation uncertain about their future. 

Recognize the ‘urgency:’ As the government shifts from Operation Allies Welcome to a new program they are calling Operation Enduring Welcome, it has pledged to speed up processing of those hopeful of getting a Special Immigrant Visa due to their service to the U.S. military — a yearslong process that requires high-level State Department approval. Refugee applications similarly take years to process. 

“Our hope is that the Biden administration will recognize the urgency of this moment, just as it has for displaced Ukrainians. Far too many of our allies remain in harm’s way, and far too many families remain separated by bureaucratic hurdles,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service said in a statement. 

“As the administration largely discontinues its use of humanitarian parole, it must commit to meaningful and efficient processing under the refugee and SIV programs. While our nation’s commitment to them has no end date, our Afghan allies deserve more than backlogs and red tape.” 

A harsh reality: Thousands of Afghans remain at processing facilities overseas, however, including in both the United Arab Emirates and in Qatar. 

And since March, which the government deemed the second phase of the evacuation, only roughly 5,000 Afghans made it from such centers to the U.S.  

Still, many more remain in Afghanistan who eager to come to the U.S., but with few pathways to do so. Many are applying to the U.S. refugee program or a separate humanitarian parole program but face daunting odds. 

Read the full story here.  

Lawmakers raise concerns with proposed Iran deal

A group of 50 House Democrats and Republicans is calling on President Biden to share with Congress text of a potential agreement with Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal before any papers are signed. 

In a letter sent Thursday and led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), lawmakers raise concerns that provisions reportedly included in the agreement could lead to weakening U.S. sanctions on Iran that are meant to target funding for terrorist activities. 

The political divide: While Republicans near-universally oppose the JCPOA, Democrats are deeply divided over the effectiveness of the deal, which is intended to trade sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for Tehran agreeing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions and submit to intrusive monitoring of its activities.

But Democrats who criticize the deal say it does little to stop Iran from ever achieving a nuclear weapon and does not address other malign Iranian threats, such as funding for its terrorist activities and threats to Israel.

Backstory: The letter comes as international officials are raising the possibility of an imminent agreement between the U.S. and Iran to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he hopes the JCPOA will be “concluded in the next few days.” 

And Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday, a strong signal that there’s forward movement on a potential deal. The U.S. has maintained close communication with Israel over the negotiations, with Jerusalem virulently opposing a return to the deal. 

The concerns: In the letter sent Thursday, the lawmakers, which include 34 Democrats and 16 Republicans, raise concerns over a number of reported provisions, including that non-U.S. citizens would not be exposed to sanctions for doing business with U.S.-sanctioned Iranian persons. These persons include those associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. 

The bipartisan letter sent Thursday also raised concern about Russia’s role in the talks given the U.S.-led, international isolation campaign against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. 

The lawmakers say they oppose any plan that would make Russia responsible for the disposal of Iran’s enriched uranium, a key factor in depleting the Islamic Republic’s stockpile of a critical component of nuclear weapons. 

Read more here.  

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Judge withholds ruling on special master in Trump, DOJ battle 
• Zelensky: Russia wants world to forget about war 
• Mastriano sues Jan. 6 committee 

That’s it for today! Check out The Hill’s Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you tomorrow!

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Energy & Environment — Why Jackson residents don’t have water

We explain what’s happening to the water in Jackson, Miss., plus a study says the federal government is underestimating the cost of climate change. Meanwhile, California passed a slew of climate legislation.  

This is Overnight Energy & Environment, your source for the latest news focused on energy, the environment and beyond. For The Hill, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. 

Jackson faces a water crisis

Flooding exacerbated existing problems with water infrastructure in Jackson, Miss., leaving residents of the city with more than 150,000 people without potable water to drink.  

The most immediate cause of the problem was flooding from the city’s Pearl River that ran into the streets. This flooding caused issues at the city’s O.B. Curtis Water Plant on Monday.  

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said in a Monday night press conference that the water treatment facility’s main pumps had been severely damaged, and that the facility was using smaller backup pumps.  

• He said that some front-line workers tried to hold the system together, but that the system was expected to eventually fail.  
• “That failure appears to have begun today,” Reeves said on Monday.  

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) said in a Tuesday press conference that the issues were caused by “a lack of pressure in the system … that was complicated by the flood waters that we received.” 

Reeves said Monday that the situation meant that the city can’t produce enough water to fight fires or reliably flush toilets. Reeves also urged the public not to drink the water coming from their pipes, saying it was likely to be untreated.  

But these issues aren’t new: In February 2021, a winter storm caused similar issues in the city, and some people were without water for weeks. The same water treatment plant’s equipment froze up at that time because of the cold weather. The city also experienced water issues in November.  

Even before that, in 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspectors found a host of issues in the city’s water system including: a lack of clarity in the water; leaks and line breaks in the city’s water distribution system; broken and uncalibrated monitoring equipment at the O.B. Curtis plant; and inadequate staffing at both that plant and the city’s J.H. Fewell treatment plant. 

• The report also said that portions of the J.H. Fewell plant, which provides a smaller amount of the city’s water, are more than 100 years old and in a “general state of disrepair.” 
• The EPA further found that the city did not fully implement lead and copper monitoring requirements and also did not make efforts to replace its water service lines that are made from lead . There is no safe level of lead in drinking water, and lead exposure can damage children’s brains and nervous systems.  

In the Tuesday press conference, Lumumba described the city’s problems as long-standing.  

“This is a set of accumulated problems based on deferred maintenance that has not taken place over decades,” he said. 

Read more about the issue here.  

THE FEDERAL RESPONSE  

BIDEN: President Biden on Wednesday spoke by phone with Jackson, Miss., Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) about emergency response efforts to the water crisis in the state’s capital.   

A White House aide said that Biden phoned Lumumba “to hear firsthand from the mayor about the urgent situation with access to clean and safe water.” 

The two discussed emergency response efforts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “and the president expressed his determination to provide federal support to address the immediate crisis and the longer term effort to rebuild Jackson’s water infrastructure,” the aide said.   

Biden late Tuesday signed an emergency declaration that frees up federal resources to supplement the state’s own emergency response, authorizing FEMA to mobilize equipment and resources to the area.   

FEMA: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to Jackson on Friday to meet with people who are affected by the crisis. The agency’s efforts are focused on making sure people have immediate access to safe drinking water, a spokesperson tweeted.  

EPA: EPA Administrator Michael Regan tweeted late Wednesday that he deployed staff to Jackson for an emergency assessment of the treatment plants and expedited the delivery of equipment.  

Biden underestimates climate costs: study 

The social cost of carbon is significantly higher than the federal estimate, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.  

Researchers put the financial toll associated with projected future carbon emissions at $185 per ton of carbon pollution added to the atmosphere, more than three times the federal government’s figure of $51. 

They arrived at the conclusion in part by using a lower discount rate, or the cost-benefit analysis of reducing emissions now versus the future impacts of inaction. Lower discount rates result in higher estimates for the price of inaction.  

“Our estimate, which draws on recent advances in the scientific and economic literature, shows that we are vastly underestimating the harm of each additional ton of carbon dioxide that we release into the atmosphere,” co-author Richard G. Newell, president and CEO of the think tank Resources for the Future, said in a statement. 

So what? “The implication is that the benefits of government policies and other actions that reduce global warming pollution are greater than has been assumed.”  

The current federal social cost of carbon estimate is itself the Obama-era estimate. Upon taking office in 2017, the Trump administration dismantled the working group that made the estimate and announced a dramatically smaller estimate of $1 to $7 a ton. 

The Biden administration has since restored the $51 estimate but has pledged to update the number.  

The White House originally said that the updated figure would be published “no later than January 2022” but has yet to announce an update. The Hill has reached out to the White House for clarity on the timeline. 

Read more about the study here. 

California approves climate bills  

California state lawmakers passed an array of climate bills late Wednesday as their legislative session ticked to a close and amid an ongoing heat wave that threatens to cripple the state’s electricity grid. 

While advancing several climate measures, legislators also voted to extend the shelf life of a fiercely disputed nuclear plant — a move supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as a reliable backup for California’s transition to clean energy.  

“Among the legislation to receive a green light and head to Newsom’s desk for a signature is S.B. 1020, which would require 90 percent of the state’s electricity to come from clean energy sources by 2035 and 95 percent by 2040. Those are interim targets toward a 100 percent goal for 2045, and all electricity procured for state agencies would need to come from clean energy by 2035, according to the bill. 

A second key item to get a go-ahead was S.B. 1137, which would prohibit oil drilling within 3,200 feet of places where residents live, work and learn, if signed into law.  

Other bills approved by the legislature would allocate significant funds to clean transportation and energy, establish a statewide carbon capture program and create an incentives-based plan to promote the use of sustainable aviation fuel. 

Read more from The Hill’s Sharon Udasin.  

TEXAS DEALS WITH CLIMATE ISSUES  

As the Western U.S. suffers under its worst drought in a millennium, the government of Texas, a state that faces its own unique set of dangers from extreme weather, is at last turning to deal with the threat that climate change poses to its long-term water supply.  

Texas’s situation is sufficiently dire that in July, a majority-Republican panel on the state legislature voted unanimously to require the state water planning board to consult with the state climatologist as it advises cities in planning to meet the state’s water needs in the future.   

The rule change “removes the possibility that the political climate could harm [local water officials’] ability to plan responsibly for the future,” state Sen. Nathan Johnson (D), a major backer of the shift, told The Hill.  

“It kind of insulates the regional water authorities from political pressures that would harm their ability to do what they need to do,” Johnson said. 

But that process won’t bear fruit for years — and Texans increasingly worry that the crisis is here now.  

All or nothing weather: The most recent demonstration of the volatile climate was last month’s flash downpours that stunned Johnson’s hometown of Dallas — a record rainfall that interrupted the city’s longtime drought, running off baked earth and acres of asphalt infrastructure to flood much of the city.  

• Those kinds of events offer a foretaste of the future Texas can expect, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told The Hill.  
• “You saw record dry conditions week after week after week — and then all of a sudden, a summer’s worth of rain in a single day,” Hayhoe said.  

For much of the state, annual levels of rainfall may not change much — but that average conceals potentially lethal extremes of drought and flood, she said. “The amount of precipitation is staying the same. But the distribution is changing. It’s getting more extreme in both directions.”  

Read more about the issue here, from The Hill’s Saul Elbein.  

This story is part of The Hill’s “Dried Up” series. Also in this series: 

• Lake Mead and Lake Powell are at the epicenter of the biggest Western drought in history 
• Texas cattle industry faces existential crisis from historic drought 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• The Tragedy of North Birmingham (ProPublica) 
• Why California wants to give residents $1,000 not to have a car (The Washington Post) 
• Firefighters Battling Wild Blazes Are Suffering From Anxiety, Addiction—and Can’t Find Help (The Wall Street Journal) 
• August saw no named storms for only the third time (E&E News) 
• Mississippi Crisis Highlights Climate Threat to Drinking Water Nationwide (The New York Times) 

ICYMI

• California gas-powered car ban could fuel GOP legal battle 
• Five reasons extreme weather is bigger in Texas 

🤔 Lighter click: We can meme…and so can the government.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Energy & Environment page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.  

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Starbucks announces new CEO

Starbucks on Thursday announced Laxman Narasimhan as the coffee giant’s next CEO.

Narasimhan has served for three years as the CEO of health-product company Reckitt, which owns brands like Lysol and Mead Johnson. Reckitt announced earlier on Thursday that Narasimhan was stepping down at the end of the month to relocate to the United States.

He will join Starbucks on Oct. 1 and assume the CEO role, and a position on the company’s board six months later, taking over the company’s operations as it faces a wave of union campaigns at its locations across the country. 

Starbucks said in a statement Narasimhan will spend time with interim CEO Howard Shultz and other executives during the transition, and Schultz will continue on the board once Narasimhan becomes the coffee giant’s top executive on April 1.

“When I learned about Laxman’s desire to relocate, it became apparent that he is the right leader to take Starbucks into its next chapter,” Schultz said in a statement. “He is uniquely positioned to shape this work and lead the company forward with his partner-centered approach and demonstrated track record of building capabilities and driving growth in both mature and emerging markets.”

In announcing Narasimhan’s departure, Reckitt said he led a “successful rejuvenation” of the company’s strategy, but he wanted to relocate back to the United States for personal and family reasons. Narasimhan also previously served in various leadership roles at PepsiCo.

“Starbucks commitment to uplift humanity through connection and compassion has long distinguished the company, building an unrivaled, globally admired brand that has transformed the way we connect over coffee,” Narasimhan said in a statement. “I am humbled to be joining this iconic company at such a pivotal time, as the reinvention and investments in the partner and customer experiences position us to meet the changing demands we face today and set us up for an even stronger future.” 

Narasimhan joins Starbucks as the company faces a wave of union campaigns that began in December, when a store in Buffalo became the first of Starbucks’s U.S. locations to unionize.

More than 200 other locations have followed suit, and Starbucks has attempted to stymie those efforts, at times leading to battles in court. In some cases, Starbucks was found to have violated federal labor laws.

Starbucks Workers United, which represents the baristas that have unionized, called on Narasimhan to end what it described as “union-busting tactics” by the company.

“We are hopeful that Mr. Narasimhan will end Starbucks’ scorched earth union-busting campaign and work with all Starbucks partners to make Starbucks a better company and better place to work,” Starbucks Workers United organizing member Michelle Eisen said in a statement. “This is the perfect opportunity for Starbucks to end the wrongful terminations, store closings and war against workers, and instead embrace our union and sign the Fair Election Principles.”

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Q&A: Meet the woman who made history in Alaska

Mary Peltola on Wednesday became the first Alaska Native in the state’s history and the first Democrat in decades to be elected to fill Alaska’s lone House seat.

Peltola, who is Yup’ik, won the special election to serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) term in an upset. She beat out former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and Nick Begich III (R), whose grandfather once held the seat and who was a co-chair of Young’s 2020 reelection campaign. 

Peltola’s win came the first time Alaska used a new system of an open primary followed by ranked-choice voting in the general election.

Peltola is also running against Palin and Begich for the full two-year term to represent Alaska in the House starting next year. That election will be decided in November.

The Hill spoke with Peltola by phone less than 24 hours after her historic win to talk about her race, her response to criticism over ranked-choice voting and her call with President Biden. The interview has been edited for length and clarity:

The Hill: So my first question is, you just turned 49, and you had your special election win yesterday. How does it feel right now to be the first ever Native Alaskan and the first Democrat in decades to represent Alaska in the House?

Peltola: It’s just a real honor and a privilege and very humbling to have been chosen to fill out the remainder of Congressman Young’s term. Congressman Young has really established a legacy of working for all Alaskans, regardless of their party affiliation or what region of the state they’re from, and I intend to continue his legacy of working for all Alaskans.

What message do you think voters are sending by electing you to Congress?

You know, ranked-choice voting, this is the first time we’ve been able to use ranked-choice voting. I’m very optimistic about it. I think that getting away from partisan primaries will help attract more moderate candidates that really reflect better the moderate Alaskan voters. I think the majority of Alaskans are very moderate and middle-of-the-road. And I think that, for me, one of the takeaways is that the person, the candidate who is most negative in this race, got the fewest votes. And the candidate who really worked hard at staying on message and not being distracted with partisan pettiness got the most votes.

There have been some Republicans including, you know, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was also going head-to- head with you for this special election, who have criticized ranked-choice voting … I’m curious what your response is to some of these criticisms we’re hearing regarding ranked-choice voting?

Ranked-choice voting is still new to a lot of people. And change is hard, and it doesn’t come easy. But I think that, in this regard, change is certainly good and worth the growing pains. I do think — I have a lot of faith in ranked-choice voting. Eighty-five percent of the time, the person with the most votes is the person who ends up with the seat. You know, clearly there has been a lot of messaging in the last couple years about — kind of attacking the confidence that we have in our electoral process and our electoral system. And Alaska has a very, very solid and … great elections. We have a lot of faith in our elections. And I think it’s a disservice to, you know, shoot holes in the confidence that we have in our election.

Does your win on Tuesday change your outlook on how you think Democrats will fare in the House and Senate ahead of November?

I don’t like to make too many predictions. I’m a pretty superstitious person and feel like making declarative statements tends to jinx things. So I do not want to speculate on national trends. I won by a decent margin, but it certainly wasn’t a landslide. I’ll be taking a very careful look at where I need to focus more of my time in terms of outreach to Alaskans and connecting with voters. But I am also very – I’m going to be very focused on the November election and making sure that we stay on track for capturing that two-year seat and really building on the momentum that we’ve built in this special election.

I heard that President Biden had called you following your win. What did President Biden say to you?

Well, he offered me a lot of congratulations and good humor and just touching base and reaching out and and primarily offering congratulations.

Are there areas that you’re thinking of where you feel like you align well with the president and maybe others where you feel like you may differ, for example?

Sure, health care. I agree with his desire to help with student loan forgiveness. I think that’s a step in the right direction. I think helping families find affordable health care and just health care in general is the right direction. I think that the president’s stand on many issues are ones that I will be in alignment with.

I’m curious what some of your legislative priorities are once you get sworn in.

Well, I’ll only have four months. And as you know, as political insiders know, it often takes 10 years to make advances in public policy on any given issue. And I’ll only have four months. So my objective is going to be getting a good lay of the land and meeting my colleagues and starting to build positive working relationships with my colleagues and looking at where I can build coalitions and consensus to help solve some of our big pressing issues. We’ve got tremendous challenges right now in terms of inflation, and in terms of a lot of other things. So I’m going to be most focused on meeting my colleagues and developing positive relationships.

I understand that, you know, you focused a major component of your campaign on a pro-fish campaign. I’m curious if there’s any environmental priorities you have in Congress that you’d like to see or you’d like to work on.

So one of the things I’m very interested in is the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens [Fishery Conservation and Management] Act, and that is, especially in regard to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Bering Sea is not as productive as it should be. Just as an example, Chinook salmon, when I was growing up, for every Chinook that spawned, six would return. Now for every Chinook salmon that spawns, less than one return. And this really reflects the low ocean productivity that we’re seeing and the factory trawling that’s going on in the Bering Sea is not helping the situation. And I think that it’s time that the federal government really implement adaptive management and precautionary management while we’re trying to get a handle on what the factors are that are causing this steep decline in Chinook returns.

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Watch live: Biden delivers remarks from campaign event in Philadelphia

President Biden will deliver remarks on the “Soul of the Nation” on Thursday evening in Philadelphia .

The event is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Watch the video above.

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New Jersey man pleads guilty to assaulting two Capitol Police officers on Jan. 6

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting two law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, causing them bodily injury during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. 

The Justice Department said in a release that 33-year-old Julian Elie Khater, from Somerset in the northern part of the state, sprayed pepper spray at officers across a bike rack that they were using to hold rioters back and secure the Capitol’s grounds. 

He first sprayed a Capitol Police officer, identified as “Officer B.S.” in court documents, in the face. The officer turned his head away and retreated from a police line. 

Axios identified the officer as Brian Sicknick, who had two strokes and died of natural causes the day after the insurrection. 

Khater then sprayed a female Capitol Police officer, identified in court documents as “Officer C.E.,” directly in the eyes from a few feet away, the release states. The officer dropped her head and retreated, needing another officer’s help because she could not see. 

Khater then sprayed a Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police officer, identified as “Officer D.C.,” in the face, and he retreated from the line. 

Court documents state that Khater and a co-defendant, George Pierre Tanios, traveled to D.C. together on Jan. 6, when they attended former President Trump’s rally at the Ellipse and then joined rioters on the Capitol grounds. 

Tanios had previously bought two cans of bear spray and two cans of pepper spray, giving a pepper spray container to Khater on Jan. 6. Both men were arrested on March 14, 2021, according to the release. 

Tanios pleaded guilty in July to charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing. He will be sentenced on Dec. 6 and could face up to two years in prison overall for the charges. 

Khater will be sentenced on Dec. 13 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. Both men could also face financial penalties. 

Khater’s guilty plea comes on the same day that a former New York City Police Department officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison for using the U.S. flagpole to assault a police officer trying to hold back the rioters. The sentence is the longest that a Jan. 6 defendant has been given so far. 

The release states that more than 860 people have been arrested in almost all 50 states for crimes related to the insurrection, and more than 260 of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

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Watch live: McCarthy speaks in advance of Biden's 'soul of the nation' speech

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is addressing an audience in President Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa., in advance of Biden’s anticipated prime-time speech, which the White House has said will be about “the soul of the nation.”

Watch the live video above.

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Mastriano sues Jan. 6 committee

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is suing the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, seeking to block the panel from enforcing its subpoena for his testimony.

The suit makes a familiar argument that has largely been rejected by courts, asserting the committee has no authority to compel testimony given its construction with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) serving as its vice chair rather than a leadership-appointed ranking member.

“Because the Select Committee has absolutely no authority to conduct compelled depositions, plaintiff was willing to sit for a voluntary interview,” Mastriano’s attorney Timothy Parlatore wrote in the filing.

“However, because plaintiff is currently the Republican nominee for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he asked the committee to agree to certain prophylactic measures that would ensure that his participation would not run the risk of improperly influencing the Pennsylvania state election. Unfortunately, the committee refused to negotiate any terms of a voluntary interview that would prevent them from improperly influencing the election, thus necessitating this litigation.”

The select House committee subpoenaed the Pennsylvania state lawmaker in February, citing his involvement in a plan to send alternate slates of electors on Jan. 6, 2021, in order to swing the 2020 election for former President Trump.

Mastriano in June said he would sit for an interview with the committee and released documents he had shared with the panel. But it was more limited than what the committee asked for, with Parlatore saying they needed guardrails to avoid information “related to official actions that you took as an elected lawmaker.” 

DEVELOPING.

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Technology alone can’t solve the cybersecurity problem; we need better information sharing

On the modern battlefield, commanders and others share information in real time to gain a common, accurate view of what’s happening so forces can react quickly to whatever occurs.

The fight against cyber criminals should be no different.

When it comes to identifying attackers’ constantly changing tactics and the best defense strategies, information is power.

But, alas, this too often is not the case today. The public and private sectors have lacked formal mechanisms for quickly sharing threat information, hampering the extensive and seamless collaboration needed to address a cybersecurity problem that keeps worsening.

Global cybercrime costs are growing 15 percent annually and are projected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to research firm Cybersecurity Ventures. If it were measured as a country, cybercrime would be the world’s third largest economy after the United States and China.

Ransomware attacks, designed to cripple organizations by locking up their computer systems until they pay cryptocurrency, are especially on the rise. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reported that 14 of the nation’s 16 critical infrastructure sectors experienced ransomware attacks last year.

As everything has gone digital, companies and government agencies must face a disturbing reality: All it takes is one person in an organization to have a bad day — whether it’s Bob in the finance department who is fooled by a phishing email into clicking on malware or Betsy in IT who fat fingers a command while configuring a network device — to expose their enterprises to hackers. In cyber defense, you are always subject to the weakest link in your chain.

It is tempting to believe that technology alone can solve the entire cybersecurity issue, but while solutions for protection and post-attack recovery are potent and invaluable, they’re only one part of the puzzle.

A greater flow of threat intelligence and breach reporting through formal processes also is needed to win a war in which malicious actors are constantly coming up with new tricks. We need cybersecurity leaders and peers in both the public and private sectors to keep up with the bad guys by constantly collaborating, coordinating, and liaising with each other.

After all, businesses and government are deeply interconnected in trying to meet the cybersecurity challenge. For proof of that, one needs to look no further than the SolarWinds hack, in which attackers believed to be directed by the Russian intelligence service acquired sensitive government information by targeting companies with government contracts.

Unless corporate and government security experts become more intentional and systematic in learning from one another in real or near-real time about the latest threats, critical information will too often remain siloed. The world can no longer afford that. Cyber defense has to be a team effort.

Fortunately, there are signs of progress. In mid-March, President Biden signed the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act, which requires businesses considered “critical infrastructure” to report cybersecurity incidents to a federal agency within 72 hours and any ransomware payment within 24 hours.

While implementation specifics are still being worked out by CISA, the law will add to the nation’s collective knowledge about cyberattacks by creating a record, for all to see, of vulnerabilities exploited, defenses that were in place, types of information compromised, and, if known, any information about the attackers.

In addition, President Biden’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, issued in May 2021, includes actions designed to remove barriers to threat information sharing between the public and private sectors.

The order directed CISA to work with the Office of Management and Budget to recommend contract language that makes sharing critical data easier and established a Cyber Safety Review Board, co-chaired by government and private sector leads, to convene after a major cyber incident, analyze what happened, and make recommendations for improving security.

These measures are a helpful start, but anybody who has moved from the public to the private sector — as I did in May when I left my position as acting chief information security officer (CISO) at the CIA for a similar role at cybersecurity company Rubrik — is well aware of the need for a more substantive threat-intelligence-sharing partnership.

But how? Here are a few ideas:

1 – CISOs often talk informally with each other about what’s happening, but their insights stay within the group. That wastes an opportunity to inform others and leads to isolation of time-sensitive knowledge. There needs to be a way to promulgate threat intelligence and best practices to a wider audience.

For example, my company in June named Chris Krebs, the first director of CISA, to create and lead a strategic CISO advisory board to help private and public sector organizations tackle the growth of ransomware and other cyberattacks. It’s an example of how valuable it can be for companies from across the cybersecurity industry, along with key government stakeholders, to jointly act as information clearinghouses and go-to authorities on the latest threats and ways to mitigate them.

2 – A company could sponsor a network of cybersecurity leaders and authorities, similar to Gartner’s Peer Connect, which describes itself as “the world’s most influential network of business leaders” and “a community of your peers to discuss key issues and to inform your critical business decisions.”

3 – Anyone can visit the State Department website and learn about threats in any country, from armed combat to crime to disease, before deciding whether to travel there. The Department of Homeland Security maintains the National Terrorist Advisory System, which provides timely, detailed information about terrorist threats. Perhaps CISA can do something similar on the cybersecurity front.

The nation’s cybersecurity posture would benefit greatly from such open lanes of communication. We need those on the front lines to be constantly learning from each other. With a more collaborative approach, cyber criminals will be facing a defense that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Michael Mestrovich is chief information security officer at zero trust data security company Rubrik and former acting CISO at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Source: TEST FEED1

CDC panel recommends updated COVID-19 booster shots

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee on Thursday recommended updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters, helping clear the way for a fall campaign for the shots.  

Once CDC Director Rochelle Walensky gives the final sign off, which is expected soon, the shots can begin.  

The vote passed 13-1, with one member, Dr. Pablo Sanchez of Ohio State University, voting no over a concern about lacking enough human data on the updated shots.   

The updated shots were designed to specifically target the subvariants of omicron that are currently circulating, known as BA.4 and BA.5, as well as the original virus.  

By updating for the latest evolutions in the virus, the shots are intended to be more effective than the current vaccines, though the current ones still provide important protection against severe illness.  

As long as people have received the first two shots, it has been at least two months since their last dose, and they are aged 12 or older, they are eligible for the new updated booster dose.  

The Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that the campaign of administering the new shots, from both Pfizer and Moderna, is expected to begin “in earnest to eligible people shortly after Labor Day.” 

In a bid to keep up with changes in the virus, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday authorized the updated vaccines without waiting for the full clinical trials to be completed, which did provoke some discussion at the CDC meeting, with Sanchez in particular expressing concern.  

But the FDA and several CDC panel members noted there is a strong safety record from the millions of doses of the original vaccine that have already been given, as well as data from a slightly different tweaked vaccine, and preliminary data for this one.  

Waiting would delay administration of the updated vaccines even as the virus continues to take a toll.  

The FDA noted that the updates to this vaccine are similar to the process that happens every year for updating the flu vaccine to the latest strains.  

“The public can be assured that a great deal of care has been taken by the FDA to ensure that these bivalent COVID-19 vaccines meet our rigorous safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality standards for emergency use authorization,” said Peter Marks, a top FDA vaccine official.

A major question, though, is how many people will actually want the updated booster, given lagging uptake for booster shots of the original vaccine. Only about half of the people who got the first two shots got the initial booster shot, according to CDC data.  

Officials are hoping, though, that enough people get the updated booster to provide protection against another wave this fall and winter as the weather gets colder.  

“These boosters will be available at tens of thousands of vaccination sites [people have] used previously, including local pharmacies, their physicians’ offices, and vaccine centers operated by state and local health officials,” HHS said.

Source: TEST FEED1