Threat of 'cyberwar' has been hugely hyped
Bruce Schneier
Special to CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/OPINION/07/07/schneier.cyberwar.hyped/tzleft.schneier.courtesy.jpg caption="Bruce Schneier: Cyberwar threat often hyped to make case for military control " width=300 height=169]
There's a power struggle going on in the U.S. government right now.
It's about who is in charge of cyber security, and how much control the government will exert over civilian networks. And by beating the drums of war, the military is coming out on top.
"The United States is fighting a cyberwar today, and we are losing," said former NSA director - and current cyberwar contractor - Mitch McConnell. "Cyber 9/11 has happened over the last ten years, but it happened slowly so we don't see it," said former National Cyber Security Division director Amit Yoran. Richard Clarke, whom Yoran replaced, wrote an entire book hyping the threat of cyberwar.
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Why good jobs are going unfilled
David Frum
CNN Contributor
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/OPINION/07/06/frum.skills.mismatch/tzleft.david.frum.ckennedy.jpg caption="Some jobs remain unfilled because not enough skilled workers, manufacturers say" width=300 height=169]
We're getting to the point where even good news comes wrapped in bad news.
Good news: Despite the terrible June job numbers (125,000 jobs lost as the Census finished its work), one sector continues to gain - manufacturing.
Factories added 9,000 workers in June, for a total of 136,000 hires since December 2009.
So that's something, yes?
Maybe not. Despite millions of unemployed, despite 2 million job losses in manufacturing between the end of 2007 and the end of 2009, factory employers apparently cannot find the workers they need. Here's what the New York Times reported Friday:
Obama to announce significant uptick in U.S. exports
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/POLITICS/07/07/obama.exports/story.obama.afp.gi.jpg caption="U.S. exports are up 17 percent in the first four months of the year, President Obama will announce Wednesday." width=300 height=169]
A series of steps aimed at bolstering U.S. exports has so far brought a 17 percent increase in the first four months of 2010 over the same period last year, President Obama will announce Wednesday.
Obama's National Export Initiative, introduced during his State of the Union address in February, seeks to double exports over the next five years.
A White House statement said Obama, in a statement scheduled for later Wednesday, will show that the program is on schedule so far.
The program has made progress on its five main objectives, Obama will say, including the coordination of trade missions in 24 countries; increased loans to help American exporters; breaking down trade barriers; enforcing trade rules, and promoting international economic cooperation.
Arizona immigration law sponsor blasts feds over 'political' lawsuit
Ethan Harp
CNN
The Arizona lawmaker who sponsored the state's controversial new immigration law blasted Tuesday's lawsuit by the Justice Department, saying, "The misinformation out there is outrageous."
Appearing on CNN's "Campbell Brown" hours after the suit against the state was filed, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican, said, "The Obama administration simply is filing suit, a political lawsuit if you will, (be)cause they have no leg to stand on."
"They are simply trying to enforce their current policy of no enforcement and amnesty. That's what it's about. They're not worried about (racial) profiling and this bill prohibits it," Pearce said.
Alleged Russian spies to appear in court hearings
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/CRIME/07/07/russian.spy.hearings/story.spy.ring.suspects.cnn.jpg caption="Two other suspects, Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley, already have made their initial court appearance." width=300 height=169]
More information about an alleged Russian spy ring that was operating in the United States is expected to be revealed Wednesday at court hearings in Virginia and Massachusetts, court officials said.
Accused Russian spies Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley have a newly scheduled hearing in Boston federal court at 11 a.m., according to their attorney, Paul Krupp.
Three other suspects, Michael Zottoli, Patricia Mills and Mikhail Semenko, are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning in an Alexandria, Virginia, federal court, the officials said.
Zottoli and Mills have already admitted that they are Russian citizens and have been living as a couple under false identities in Virginia. Prosecutors said that they made the admissions soon after being arrested and authorities have found evidence to support that information.
'Climategate' review clears scientists of dishonesty
Hilary Whiteman
CNN
An independent report released Wednesday into the leaked "Climategate" e-mails found no evidence to question the "rigor and honesty" of scientists involved.
The scandal fueled skepticism about the case for global warming just weeks before world leaders met to agree a global deal on climate change at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen last December.
The seven-month review, led by Muir Russell, found scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) did not unduly influence reports detailing the scale of the threat of global warming produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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Randi Kaye | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Video: Feds sue Arizona over immigration law
Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Video: Did watchdog agency drop the ball?
Joe Johns | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Letters to the President #534: 'Why I would have waited on Arizona'
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/02/13/king.sou.border/art.borderfence.cnn.jpg caption="Foreman: 'Polls have shown that most Americans think what Arizona has done to address illegal immigration is proper, and they aren’t too impressed with what the federal government has done…which, uh, seems to be not much.'" width=300 height=169]
Reporter's Note: The Administration has launched a legal challenge to Arizona’s new immigration law. So I have launched another letter to the Administration. Huzzah!
Dear Mr. President,
So you have pressed ahead with that lawsuit against the new Arizona Immigration law before it is even put into action, eh? Well, win or lose, no one can accuse you of being timid about stepping into minefields at this point. Still, without taking sides on whether you are right or wrong to do this (and certainly without trying to cast the bones on what the courts will do, because heaven knows they have plenty of options) I don’t think I would have taken such an action at this point.
First, because, let’s face it, you have plenty of trouble already. Oil spills, foreign wars, and oh yes…and economy that has more people pounding the pavement than New Year’s Eve in Times Square. If you think the millions of unemployed families in this country are sitting around saying, “Oh yes, I need work, but let’s focus on the Arizona law first,” I fear you are mistaken. Remember, even presidents have to pick their fights. You can’t go to the mat over every issue.
Second, people like this law. Polls have shown that most Americans think what Arizona has done to address illegal immigration is proper, and they aren’t too impressed with what the federal government has done…which, uh, seems to be not much.
And third, as far as I can tell, you don’t have a good alternative. This is really the backbreaker, I think. As you have learned, there are plenty of people in the public sphere who just like to stand in the way of anyone else doing anything. Heck, your political party loves to go around calling the Republicans the party of “no.” And yet, here you are telling Arizona “no” while offering no concrete plan for something else that might help.
And again, without passing judgment on your philosophical stance for or against illegal immigration, this is the kind of thing that drives people stone-eye-rolling-steam-puffing-crazy. Rather than spend time trying to make the courts override what a border state is trying to do to protect its people, I suspect you’d get a much warmer reception from people all across the political spectrum if instead you rolled out a comprehensive plan explaining what the feds are going to do to solve this problem of people pouring across our border.
Just saying. You know I always try to be encouraging. Give me a call if you want to talk. I’m around, and heaven knows in this scorching heat I’m not doing much! Ha!
Regards,
Tom
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