Chelsea Manning was ordered back to jail after refusing to testify in front of a second grand jury looking into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Manning told federal district judge Anthony Trenga that she would “rather starve to death” than give testimony.
Espionage
Trump signs EO to protect US networks from China
Amid a deepening trade war with China, President Trump on Wednesday declared a “national emergency” via executive order to protect U.S. communications networks in a move that gives the federal government broad powers to bar American companies from doing business with certain foreign suppliers. But instead of Russia, it appears to target China.
Russian agents met with Treasury, Fed
Alexander Torshin, then a Russian central banker, brought his protégée, Maria Butina, for meetings with senior officials from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in 2015. Torshin has since been sanctioned by the U.S. and cannot return, while Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve as a Russian agent and is serving a prison sentence.
FBI Director says he’s seen no evidence of spying on Trump campaign
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that he wouldn’t use the word “spying” to describe the bureau’s investigative work, breaking from Attorney General William Barr’s use of the term in reference to the probe of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
China’s cyber warfare
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford has warned Congress that China uses U.S. companies to steal secrets and benefit its military. A new report from the Pentagon says that China steals military secrets in many ways, saying China engages in “… [targeting] foreign direct investment, cyber theft, and exploitation of private Chinese nationals’ access to these technologies, as well as harnessing its intelligence services, computer intrusions, and other illicit approaches…”
Spy gal unhappy with sentence
While speaking with Russian reporters by phone, convicted Russian agent Maria Butina called her 18-month sentence a “disgrace” and said that she did not expect such a “severe punishment.” Butina pleaded guilty for failing to register as a foreign agent of Russia.
Record number of Americans in contact with foreign intelligence
A U.S. government report indicated that nearly 17,000 Americans were unmasked by U.S. cyber spies for their contact with foreign intelligence targets. Government protocol mandates that when a message is intercepted by the NSA, in which one of the participants is American, the American’s name and identity is blacked out. Unmasking can occur when requested by intelligence officers or high-ranking government officials.