GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Obama to veto House efforts to scuttle Internet fairness rules

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: NextGov

05April2011 12:45pmEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The White House threatened on Monday to veto any bill from Congress that would scuttle new rules aimed at keeping Internet access free and open.

"If the president is presented with a resolution of disapproval that would not safeguard the free and open Internet, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the resolution," the Office of Management and Budget said in a Statement of Administration Policy.

The House Rules Committee voted on Monday evening to send the resolution to the House floor. The resolution would repeal the Federal Communications Commission's so-called "network-neutrality" regulations, designed to prevent Internet carriers from blocking websites that use too much bandwidth. The committee voted to allow one hour of debate on the issue. House aides say a vote is expected on Tuesday but the resolution is not expected to make it past the Senate. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY BRIEFING: New Cybersecurity Bill Not A Hit With Civil Liberties Groups

 

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: HS Today

25February2011 8:00pmEST

GCIS CYBER-SECURITY UPDATE: The Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act, introduced February 17 by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, (I-Conn.) ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, (R-Maine), and Federal Financial Management Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is meeting with a chilly reception by civil liberties groups.
 
The bill is a revision of legislation originally proposed last year, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, that was updated to counter fears that the law, if enacted, could allow a president to shut down or otherwise take control of the Internet in an emergency via a “kill switch."
 
The  new bill explicitly states that “neither the President, the Director of the National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications or any officer or employee of the United States Government shall have the authority to shut down the Internet.” It also provides an opportunity for judicial review of designations of our most sensitive systems and assets as “covered critical infrastructure.”
 
“We want to clear the air once and for all,” Libermann said when reintroducing the bill. “There is no so-called ‘kill switch’ in our legislation because the very notion is antithetical to our goal of providing precise and targeted authorities to the President.”
 
Civil liberties groups including  the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), voiced concerns over the new bill, insisting that that powers granted to the federal government in the bill remain potentially excessive.
 
“The president would have essentially unchecked power to determine what services can be connected to the Internet or even what content can pass over the Internet in a cybersecurity emergency,” EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston said in a statement Friday. “Our concerns have not changed.” (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Is the Arab Middle East Really Ready for a True Revolution?

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: News Real Blog

BY PHYLLIS CHESLER

14February2011 10:58amEST

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Is the Arab Middle East really ready for a true revolution? A genuine uprising in the Muslim world which does not focus on the issue of women’s rights is not much of an uprising and does not bode well for a true democracy, one defined by the rule of law, a constitutional system of checks and balances, a separation of mosque and state, freedom of religion, a free press, universal education, individual human rights and freedom.

Miraculously, amazingly, a Saudi woman or a number of Saudi women have just launched a new and fabulous Facebook page. They call it Saudi Women Revolution. It features a white smurf-like figure joyfully throwing off her chains and has links to the Saudi women’s drive-in and to campaigns against child brides.

They are talking about arranging meetings in Jeddah and Riyadh.

Given what they know can happen to them: divorce, loss of custody, being honor murdered by their families, jail, torture (flogging), and murder (beheading, stoning), I must congratulate them for their awe-inspiring bravery. Alas, we do not have such brave women here.

I will also pray for their safety. (read full report)

"GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is an intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, it's partners or affiliates. All opinions presented are those of the author, and not necessarily those of GCIS or it's partners.

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Obama Stands by Muslim Brotherhood Endorsement

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE:

Israel National News

Haaretz.com

02February2011 2:05pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: For the first time, a U.S. government supports granting a government role to an extremist Islamic organization: the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

On Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Egypt's new government will have to include a "whole host of important non-secular actors." Most prominent among these is clearly the Muslim Brotherhood – which has made Islamic world domination one of its ultimate goals. It also opposes Egypt's 30-year-old peace treaty with Israel.

Gibbs said the Muslim Brotherhood must reject violence and recognize democratic goals for the U.S. to be comfortable with it assuming a role in the new government. This caveat does not significantly alter the new American approach, which is very different than that of the previous Administration, in which George W. Bush pushed Mubarak for democratic reforms but never publicly accepted a role for Islamists. (read full report)

In a separate report:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that if democracy prevails in Egypt then it will not pose a threat to peace with Israel.

"All those who value freedom are inspired by the calls for democratic reforms in Egypt," Netanyahu said during a speech to the Knesset. "An Egypt that will adopt these reforms will be a source of hope for the world. As much as the foundations for democracy are stronger, the foundations for peace are stronger."

The prime minister said that there is a risk that instability in Egypt could last for years, and called for "bolstering Israel's might" in response to the turmoil. (read full report)

 

 

"GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE" is a cooperative intelligence briefing presented by Griffith Colson Intelligence Service and Machaseh Security Service, and provided to the public for informative purposes only. All subject matter is credited to it's source of origin, and is not intended to represent original content authored by GCIS, MSS or it's advertisers or affiliates.

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Newsmax Source in Cairo: Riots Have Nothing to Do With Religion

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: Newsmax

28January2011 10:58pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: A source on the ground in Cairo who supports the protesters and who joined the rally that triggered a brutal backlash from police Friday tells Newsmax that the uprising in Egypt has no link to Muslim extremism, nor any other religious motivation.

“It has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood, there were no religious connotations in this revolt,” says Ahmed, an owner of a high-tech business who has lived his entire life in the Cairo region. “People were just asking for freedom and liberty after 30 years of oppression.”

Newsmax is withholding Ahmed’s full name to avoid any chance of reprisals from his speaking to the media. This morning the government of Egypt shut down all cell phone communications, and about 85 percent of the nation’s Internet traffic, in order to block protesters’ efforts to coordinate their activities. But Ahmed was still able to speak to Newsmax via a landline.

Despite the important role played by Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, whose return to Egypt encouraged tens of thousands to pour out into downtown Cairo and Alexandria to protest the 30-year rule of strongman President Hasni Mubarak, Ahmed says the uprising in Egypt is essentially leaderless. (read full report)

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Egypt tense after bloody protest

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

28January2011 10:48pmEST

GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Protesters in the Egyptian cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have defied a nighttime curfew and continued with demonstrations demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak's 30-year presidency.

Speaking on national television in the early hours of Saturday, the president said he had ordered the government to step down and that he would name a new cabinet later in the day.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Cairo, said protesters had been "galvanised" by Mubarak's announcement that he was staying in power.

"The streets are definitely still abuzz," he said at 4am local time. "The chants have died down in the last hours but there are still many people out and about in the street despite the fact that there is a curfew supposed to have been imposed, starting from 6pm to 7am.

"The protests and the clashes with police have completely died down as a result of the fact that the police have melted away and the military has taken over."

Military armoured vehicles rolled onto the streets of the capital on Friday night in a bid to quell the protests. People cheered as the army arrived, and hundreds of people thronged around a military vehicle near Cairo's Tahrir square.

"The army is a respected establishment in Egypt, and many feel they need their support against what they see as excessive force by the police and security forces," our correspondent said. (read full report)