President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law providing seven federal agencies with additional funding to deliver assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation also authorizes the president to transfer defense articles and services from the Department of Defense to foreign countries or international organizations and enables the implementation of sanctions against foreign...
Author: Kristen Smith (Kristen Smith)
Treasury Designates Companies, Individuals Supporting Iranian Cyberattacks on US Entities; Brian Nelson Quoted
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions on two companies and four individuals linked to Iran-backed cyber operations that targeted a dozen U.S. companies and government entities. The designated companies and individuals are Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command front company Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik; IRGC-CEC-affiliated cyber...
China Creates New Military Units for Information, Space, Cyber Operations
China has reorganized its principal military force to add three new units that will separately deal with information, space and cyber operations. The new units replaced the Strategic Support Force under the People’s Liberation Army to address the limitations associated with conducting such operations under a single support team. In an event on Friday, Chinese...
US Treasury Designates Entities, Individuals Involved in Iranian Drone, Missile Production
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated 16 individuals and several entities for enabling Iran’s production of unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles used in a weekend attack against Israel. Companies and individuals subject to assets and trade restrictions include Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar Co. and its CEO Mohammad Sadegh...
Australia to Implement Force Design, Acquisition Changes to Deter Threats; Gen. Angus Campbell Quoted
Australia’s inaugural National Defence Strategy aims to deter and prevent conflict through changes within the Australian Defence Force, an approach called “Strategy of Denial.” Under the NDS, the ADF will move away from a domain-centric approach and transition to an integrated force focused on addressing the greatest risks facing the country. According to Gen. Angus...
Rheinmetall Signs Agreement to Build Ammunition Factory in Lithuania
Rheinmetall intends to build a 155 mm ammunition factory in Lithuania to support the country’s security partnership with Germany. On Tuesday, Maximilian Froch, coordinator for strategic program management at Rheinmetall, signed a memorandum of understanding with Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovations Ausrine Armonaite and Minister of National Defense Laurynas Kasciunas to begin the processes...
QinetiQ Appoints Former BAE Systems Exec Martin Cooper as Group CFO
QinetiQ has named Martin Cooper as the new group chief financial officer, replacing Carol Borg, who stepped down on Tuesday. Cooper, who has nearly three decades of finance leadership experience, will also join the company’s board by October. He assumed the group CFO role after holding various positions at BAE Systems, including as U.K. and...
DOD Working on New Arctic Strategy Amid Increasing Competition
The United States is updating its strategy for the Arctic in response to Russia and China’s efforts to increase their influence in the region. Esther McClure, director of Arctic and oceans policy at the Department of Defense, said Monday that the agency expects to release a new strategy version in the coming months. She noted...
US, Allies Publish Joint Guidance on AI System Cybersecurity
Agencies in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have issued joint cybersecurity guidance to protect artificial intelligence systems from cyberthreats. The document describes how cyber actors often combine AI and traditional IT infiltration techniques to enable complex cyberattacks that surpass layers of defenses and provides best practices based on the...
US, Japan Partner to Advance Large Language Model Training; Paul Kearns Quoted
Argonne National Laboratory and the Japanese national scientific research institute Riken have agreed to cooperate on a project focused on training large language models on scientific data. Under the AuroraGPT project, ANL and Riken will collaborate with researchers from the Trillion Parameter Consortium to identify solutions to the challenges of large-scale AI system development. The...