Spacex is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a #classified contract w/a US intelligence agency, 5 sources familiar w/the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur #ElonMusk's space company & #NationalSecurity agencies.
The network is being built by #SpaceX's #Starshield business unit under a $1.8B contract signed in 2021 w/the National Reconnaissance Office (#NRO), an #intelligence agency that manages #SpySatellites, the sources said.
The plans show the extent of SpaceX's involvement in #UnitedStates intelligence & #military projects & illustrate a deeper #Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting #satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.
If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the #UnitedStates government & #military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.
The contract signals growing trust by the #intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed w/the #Biden admin and sparked controversy over the use of #Starlink#satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.
#Trump’s son-in-law said he was close to finalizing real estate projects in the two #Balkan nations, an example of the Trump family’s pursuit of deals abroad as the former president seeks the White House.
#Kushner, who was a snr WH ofcl, said he had been working on the deals w/ #RichardGrenell, who served briefly as acting director of national #intelligence under #Trump & also as ambassador to Germany & special envoy to the Balkans.
One of the proposed projects would be the development of an island off the coast of #Albania into a luxury tourist destination.
A 2nd — w/a planned luxury hotel & 1,500 residential units & a museum — is in #Belgrade, the capital of #Serbia….
Tom Nichols reports that it's likely Trump will be given clearance to access highly confidential information with national security implications.
But as Nichols notes, all indicators are that Trump's in terrible financial shape as he faces more than half billion dollars in court judgments. And that kind of debt has always been "a bright-red light in the clearance process" for anyone else.
The top U.S. #intelligence ofcl on Mon warned that the #war in #Gaza could embolden #terrorist groups, which are aligned in their opposition to the #UnitedStates for its support of #Israel.
“The crisis has galvanized #violence by a range of actors around the world. And while it is too early to tell, it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on #terrorism,” #ODNI#AvrilHaines, told an annual hearing on #GlobalSecurity#threats.
The Oct 7 attack on #Israel by #Hamas has inspired fresh threats to the #UnitedStates by #alQaeda & #ISIS-affiliated groups, #AvrilHaines said, while #Iran-backed militant groups have used “the conflict as an opportunity to pursue their own agenda” against the United States. “And we have seen how it is inspiring individuals to conduct acts of #antisemitism & #Islamophobic#terror worldwide,” she added.
…#Republican Sen #TomCotton, a stalwart backer of #Israel, prodded #CIA Dir Burns & #ODNI Haines to refute allegations that Israel is “exterminating the #Palestinian people” w/its military campaign.
The officials declined to do so. Burns said that while the #Biden admin understands “Israel’s need” to respond to the brutal attack it suffered on Oct7, “I think we all also have to be mindful of the enormous toll that this has taken on innocent #civilians in #Gaza.”
The test of a first-rate #intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The unfortunate reality is that most people struggle to hold two #ideas in their head at the same time, let alone introducing any opposition between those two ideas.”
For no reason other than a "historical norm" the current administration's #intelligence#apparatus plans to move forward with supplying #Trump with #Classified information leading up to the election.
Again, there is no law, no mandate & nothing ANYWHERE that says a sitting president MUST provide presidential nominees w/classified information prior to an election. It's a "norm" & one that must be addressed.
Suspicions are high that Trump's #bond came from a Russian source. What has he traded?
If it seems alarmist to anticipate the horrifying aftermath of a #nuclear attack, consider this: The #UnitedStates & #Ukraine govts have been planning for this scenario for at least 2 yrs.
In the fall of ‘22, a US #intelligence assessment put the odds at 50-50 that #Russia would launch a nuclear strike to halt Ukrainian forces if they breached its defense of #Crimea.
#Russia is obtaining U.S.-made computer chips and other dual-use goods, products with potential battlefield use, by transporting them through #centralasia Many of these goods have been the target of #sanctions passed by the U.S. and its allies.
I participated directly in the highest levels of FIVE EYES #intelligence sharing and I believe if Trump takes the Presidency again our allies must restrict their intelligence sharing based on how Trump might seek personal advantage. They know what he is. The most sensitive intelligence would dry up in certain topics & areas because he is a serious national security risk both for us and them. It would be our allies' duty to do this.
#AI#GenerativeAI#LLMs#Intelligence: "Human understanding, she says, is based on “concepts” — basically mental models of things like categories, situations and events. Concepts allow people to infer cause and effect and to predict the probable results of different actions — even in circumstances not previously encountered.
“What’s really remarkable about people, I think, is that we can abstract our concepts to new situations via analogy and metaphor,” Mitchell said.
She does not deny that AI might someday reach a similar level of intelligent understanding. But machine understanding may turn out to be different from human understanding. Nobody knows what sort of technology might achieve that understanding and what the nature of such understanding might be.
If it does turn out to be anything like human understanding, it will probably not be based on LLMs.
After all, LLMs learn in the opposite direction from humans. LLMs start out learning language and attempt to abstract concepts. Human babies learn concepts first, and only later acquire the language to describe them.
So LLMs are doing it backward. In other words, perhaps reading the internet might not be the correct strategy for acquiring intelligence, artificial or otherwise."
Let us raise the average IQ of Filipinos by refusing to date and breed with Marcos apologists, Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS), and Filipino-Americans who vote Republican.
As policymakers reckon w/Russia’s advances in #Ukraine & Trump’s comments about not defending #NATO, the tools of 20th-century #warfare are coming back
2 years after #Russia’s #invasion of #Ukraine, countries such as the #Baltic states & #Finland warn that a threat to their own territory may be just over the horizon, w/some #intelligence agencies saying the #Kremlin could make such an attempt w/in a decade. Now they are taking lessons from their enemy’s robust defense lines in Ukraine, noting that Russia’s system of #minefields, #ConcertinaWire & #trenches made it all but impossible for Kyiv’s forces to advance last summer.
“We rarely get such unfettered access to the inner workings of any intelligence operation,” said John Hultquist, chief analyst of MandiantIntelligence, a #cybersecurity firm owned by GoogleCloud. “We have every reason to believe this is the authentic data of a contractor supporting global & domestic #cyberespionage operations out of China,” he said.
US #intelligence ofcls see #China as the greatest long-term threat to American #security & have raised alarm about its targeted #hacking campaigns.
An ex-FBI #informant accused of lying about #President Joe Biden and his son #Hunter has high-level ties with Russian intelligence, #US prosecutors say.
#GOP’s Biden #Impeachment Witness Told Feds He Got Stories From Russian Officials >>>
#Smirnov admitted to federal authorities that he had ties to high-ranking Russian officials, according to a memo from special counsel David Weiss filed on Tuesday, who said that those ties "are not benign...During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with #Russian#intelligence were involved in passing a story about Hunter [#Biden]."
The terrible human toll in Gaza has many causes.
A chilling investigation by +972 highlights efficiency:
An engineer: “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed.”
An AI outputs "100 targets a day". Like a factory with murder delivery:
"According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”"
"The third is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as universities, banks, and government offices."
“Levy describes a system that has almost reached perfection. The political echelon wants to maintain the status quo, and the military provides it with legitimacy in exchange for funds and status.”
“Levy points out the gradual withdrawal of the old Ashkenazi middle class from the ranks of the combat forces[…]:
• the military’s complete reliance on technology as a decisive factor in warfare;
• the adoption of the concept […] of an army that is “small and lethal”;
• the obsession with the idea of #deterrence, which is supposed to negate the other side’s will to fight; and
• the complete addiction to the status quo as the only possible and desirable state of affairs.”