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US Spies Lag Rivals in Gathering Data That is Concealed From Plain Sight


As the alarms start to go off globally about the spread of the covid virus in China, official authorities in Washington are now concerned about the threat the virus may pose in America. In regards to this, they have turned to U.S. intelligence for insight. 

Although, according to a recent congressional review of classified reports from December 2019 and January 2020, the most prevalent early warnings did not come from spies or intercepts. Instead, officials relied on citizen journalists, reporting public, and diplomatic cables, as well as analysis from medical professionals – some instances of the so-called open-source intelligence (OSINT). 

Predicting the next potential pandemic or the next government to fall will require better utilization of open-source materials, the review noted. 

In a review conducted by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, the authors wrote, “There is little indication that the Intelligence Community’s exquisite collection capabilities were generating information that was valuable to policymakers.” 

This echoes what numerous current and former intelligence officials are increasingly alerting of, i.e. As opponents like China boost their efforts, the $90 billion U.S. spy infrastructure is falling behind because it has not embraced gathering open-source intelligence. 

Traditional Intelligence is Still Prevalent 

While open-source intelligence has become an important tactic in recent times, this does not budge the relevance of conventional intelligence. Spy agencies have unique powers in order to penetrate global communications and cultivate agents. For instance, when the Biden administration made the intelligence conclusions indicating Russian President Vladimir Putin intended to invade Ukraine public, they achieved a high-profile accomplishment. 

Nonetheless, officials and professionals have raised concerns over the fact that the U.S. did not invest sufficient people or finance in analyzing publicly available data. They as well claim that the U.S. did not efficiently utilize advanced technologies in order to yield critical insights. 

Commercial satellite images, social media, and other web data have increased the ability of private enterprises and unbiased analysts to disclose state secrets. And there are rising concerns in Washington about Beijing's influence over popular apps like TikTok, as it is well known that Beijing has stolen or gained control over vast amounts of data on Americans. 

"Open source is really a bellwether for whether the intelligence community can protect the country […] We collectively as a nation aren't preparing a defense for the ammunition that our adversaries are stockpiling," says Kristin Wood, a former senior official at the CIA, currently a chief executive at the Grist Mill Exchange, a commercial data platform. 

Barriers Concerning Open-Source 

Intelligence agencies have noted several barriers in regard to open-source intelligence. Some are technological. For instance, access to unclassified internet or open data sources is frequently difficult for officers working on classified networks. Concerns about civil liberties and upholding First Amendment rights are also present. 

While some experts also raise questions about whether agencies are held back by the reflexive belief that top-secret information is far more valuable. 

Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, and longtime Intelligence Committee member says that he believed there is needed to be “some cultural change inside places like the CIA where people are doing what they’re doing for the excitement of stealing critical secrets as opposed to reviewing social media pages.” 

Open-Source Capability of the U.S. 

According to Frederick Kagan, a senior authority at the American Institute who looks after the creation of those reports, “There is a lot of open-source capability that the U.S. intelligence community can pretty much rely on to be there […] What it needs to do is figure out how to leverage that ecosystem instead of trying to buy it.” 

Of the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, most of them utilize open-source programs, from the CIA’s Open-Source Enterprise to a 10-person program in the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence arm. 

Although, the top officials do acknowledge the lack of consistency across those programs in the way they analyze open-source information or how they use and share it. In regards to the same, Avril Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence has said, “We’re not paying enough attention to each other and so we’re not learning the lessons that different parts of the (intelligence community) are learning, and we’re not scaling solutions, and we’re not taking advantage of some of the outside expertise and information and work that could be taken advantage of.”  

5 Most Significant Online Influencers of 2022

The Wired portal has taken the initiative to publish a list of the individuals that sparked the most online debates in 2022. Controversies motives, false information, and online turmoil will also be on the minds of many people going forward. 

Despite some issues that appear to be fading, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and the world of cryptocurrency, these issues frequently come up on social media. Money laundering, theft, and fraud are among the issues frequently in these debates. 

1. Sam Bankman-Fried

Money laundering, theft, and scams have been rampant in the cryptocurrency sector, from the Crypto dark-web drug trade to billions of dollars being taken from crypto firms by cybercriminals. Sam Bankman-Fried is currently charged with fraud of more than $8 billion in connection with the fall of the bitcoin exchange FTX. The exact extent of the misuse of user cash in FTX's collapse is still unknown, and even the new CEO of the firm, John Ray, claims he's never witnessed a greater catastrophe. This could have far-reaching effects on the cryptocurrency economy. 

In addition to the staggering losses, Bankman-Fried stands in as a particularly alarming example of the problems with the crypto economy.  He seemed to really embrace increased government controls of the business, unlike so others in the crypto sphere.

2. Elon Musk

After the purchase of Twitter, Musk's dark side was exposed, and the erratic power of the world's richest person suddenly put a major online institution in danger. Elon fired at least 4,400 contract workers after letting go of nearly 50% of the Twitter personnel, jeopardizing the operations of a service that acts as Twitter's main artery.

Additionally, Twitter has drastically reduced the size of its team of content moderators, creating scenarios where only one employee is left to monitor child abuse-related tweets across the entirety of Japan and the Asia-Pacific area. Twitter has also outlawed left-wing accounts under Musk's supervision which goes against his support for free speech. He provides a glimpse of the conspiracy-minded ideas and trolling that really motivates his behavior. 

3. Xi Jinping

Every wave of brutality under Xi Jinping has been accompanied by a tightening of online restrictions as censors combed social media for any mention of protests. Han Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have even insisted that Uyghurs install an app that checks their phones for prohibited information.

This year's protests against China's oppressive zero-Covid lockdowns have sparked a new round of online repression, in which it is now illegal to even like a protest-related post, and any indication of wrongdoing is monitored through a controlled credit system with the potential to result in users' immediate expulsion from online platforms. He's made it quite apparent that dictatorial control will infiltrate the Chinese digital life.

4. Narendra Modi

India has begun to resemble China ever more in how it suppresses both offline and online protests under Modi and the BJP. The Indian government has recently taken steps to tighten its control over social media, including temporarily shutting down the internet in the disturbed region of Kashmir, banning several Chinese apps, including TikTok, and giving a three-person group control over social media moderation policy choices.

The government can use the new IT regulations as a tool to challenge the platforms when it wants. It's the initial step toward making it possible to restrict online speech like in China.

5. GRU

In the past seven years, Russia's GRU military intelligence units known as Sandworm and APT28 caused two blackouts in Ukraine. In 2022, it started a plethora of cyberattacks aimed at erasing data from the Ukrainian government and business networks, frequently concurrent with direct physical assaults by the invading army. In a NotPetya-like incident of collateral damage, one GRU malware operation even managed to shut down connectivity to 5,000 wind turbines spread around Germany. A third blackout strike in Ukraine was also attempted by GRU's Sandworm hackers, but this time, at least in the view of the Ukrainian government, defenses were able to prevent it.

The year 2022 will be regarded as a time of major global events with several noteworthy events and occasions. Despite some issues that appear to be fading, such as the COVID-19 outbreak and the world of cryptocurrency, money laundering, theft, and fraud are among the issues frequently on social media. 

China Covid: Area Around World's Biggest iPhone Plant Locked Down

The Chinese Government on Wednesday imposed locked down in Zhengzhou city which is home to the world's largest iPhone factory after workers had fled the facility to avoid Covid restrictions. 

Central China's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, where Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn runs a massive plant. It has to be in a "static management" because of the coronavirus measures. 

The lockdown has been set to last for seven days, local officials said in a statement, using a euphemism for lockdown. 

“All people except Covid-prevention volunteers and essential workers must not leave their residences except to receive Covid tests and emergency medical treatment", the officials said on Wednesday. 

Public transport services will be suspended and people of the city have to prefer work-from mode, an official notice on the WeChat social media platform reads. Officials also said that they would "resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations of regulations". 

As per the data, around 200,000 workers work at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant. The plant produces the majority of Apple's new phones. The lockdown restrictions come at a key time for Apple, shortly after the launch of the iPhone 14. The company has to bear losses since the crucial Christmas and Lunar New Year shopping seasons are ahead. 

Last Wednesday, Foxconn said a "small number of employees in Zhengzhou had been affected by the pandemic and were being provided with material supplies, psychological comfort, and responsive feedback..."

"…At present, the epidemic prevention work in Zhengzhou is progressing steadily, and the impact on the group is controllable. The operating outlook for this quarter remains unchanged," it added. 

On Tuesday, Foxconn said that the company increased its daily bonuses at the manufacturing hub for its workers after a breakout during a Covid lockdown. Additionally, it described the detailing of the bonuses for assembly line workers that will be raised to 400 yuan ($55.02; £47.76) a day. 

Foxconn also said that the people who had worked for more than 25 days a month at the facility would be granted a maximum bonus of 5,000 yuan, up from 1,500 yuan.