task-force-probing-trump-assassination-attempt-to-expand-to-include-florida-incident

Task force probing Trump assassination attempt to expand to include Florida incident

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Tuesday announced that a bipartisan task force created to investigate the July assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump will expand to include the apparent assassination attempt at the GOP presidential nominee’s Florida golf club over the weekend.

“We have a responsibility here in Congress to get down to the bottom of this, to figure out why these things are happening and what we can do about it,” Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said he spoke with the White House and pressed for Trump to receive the same amount of protection from the Secret Service as a sitting president.

“He is under constant threat,” Johnson said of Trump.

While Trump was not injured in the second possible assassination attempt, he was injured in his ear during a shooting in Butler, Pa., in July.

“He’s in the midst of a heated campaign, and this is an obvious thing that has now been proven that we need to do,” Johnson said. “In the meantime, Congress is going to do everything that we can to ensure that that happens. And one of the things we’re going to do is expand the scope of the existing task force to cover the second assassination attempt.”

That task force, led by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., Tuesday requested that the Department of Justice and FBI brief lawmakers on the possible assassination attempt by Friday.

The suspect in the Florida incident, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged in federal court Monday with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and with obliterating the serial number on a firearm, according to court records.

Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh did not fire his weapon.

Rowe said that since the July 13 assassination attempt, the Secret Service has “moved to increase assets to an already enhanced security posture for the former president.”

He added that President Joe Biden “made it clear that he wanted the highest levels of protection for former President Trump.”

“The Secret Service moved to sustain increases in assets and the level of protection sought, and those things were in place yesterday,” Rowe said of Sunday’s incident.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.

space-force-holds-1st-sealed-contract-bidding-at-vandenberg-base

Space Force Holds 1st Sealed Contract Bidding at Vandenberg Base

Vandenberg Space Force Base has adopted sealed bidding in the recent contract solicitation for its Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineering Requirements, or SABER, program with the bids’ opening conducted live and streamed online.   

The California base’s approach on the SABER indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity contract, a first in the U.S. Space Force, aims to promote visibility and transparency, Alyson Kolding, 30th Contracting Squadron contracting officer, said in a base statement Monday.

“We also learned how to incorporate electronic processes into a regulation which has not been updated to consider the new digital landscape.,” noted Jeffrey Grelck, 30th Contracting Squadron contracting officer.

The focus of SABER, one of Vandenberg’s two major construction programs that require expeditious efforts, is on simpler building projects, Kolding added.

The SABER IDIQ contract awards, worth about $60 million, are for construction projects around Vandenberg over the next five years and supports the base’s aspiration to become a “Spaceport of the Future.”  

In August 2023, the U.S. Air Force previewed its SABER contract solicitation approach in a five-year, $200 million contract designed to address engineering requirements at Eglin Air Force Base and associated facilities in Florida.

trump’s-second-assassination-attempt-is-shocking,-but-attempts-on-presidents’-lives-are-not-rare-in-us history

Trump’s second assassination attempt is shocking, but attempts on presidents’ lives are not rare in US history

Former President Donald Trump survived his second assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024, marking the latest chapter in a long history book. Presidential assassination attempts, whether successful or not, are fairly commonplace in American history.

There have been 45 men elected president since the country’s founding. And 40% of them have experienced known attempts on their lives. Four presidents – Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy – have been assassinated.

While Trump and Theodore Roosevelt were both former presidents when they were shot, Ronald Reagan was injured while in office, with a would-be assassin almost ending Reagan’s life in 1981.

Thirteen others – Andrew Jackson, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden – have had known plots or failed attempts to end their lives.

Many were subject to multiple attempts, and it is likely the public was never informed of other attempts upon them or other presidents.

Presidents symbolize the ideals of ourselves as Americans. They often act as the physical embodiment of our country, their political party and its values. When individuals are unhappy with the United States or its policies, some choose to express their opinions in violent ways. Those who choose to assassinate a president inadvertently humanize the very presidents they want to kill.

A common thread

Every presidential assassination or attempt has been made with a firearm. With the exception of Gerald Ford’s two attempted assassins, all the perpetrators have been male.

This includes Trump’s two assailants, men who were once enthralled by but seemingly grew disenchanted with aspects of modern politics.

The Secret Service thwarted an armed man hiding at a Trump golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15. The Secret Service fired at the person, who fled in a car before he was apprehended and arrested.

This came just two months after Trump was wounded at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13 by a young man who attempted to kill Trump with a gunshot to the head.

Many presidential assassination attempts seem incoherent to anyone except the perpetrator.

A man named Charles Guiteau killed Garfield in 1881 because he wanted to be awarded a patronage position in government.

John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln as part of a larger plot attempting to create chaos to help reignite the “Southern cause” and support for slavery. On the same night Lincoln was killed in 1865, his secretary of state, William Seward, was attacked but survived.

At the same time, the plot was for then-Vice President Andrew Johnson to also be killed by another man, George Atzerodt, who instead got drunk and threw the knife in a gutter.

Booth and his co-conspirators hoped that these politicians’ almost simultaneous deaths would throw the Union into disarray, with an unclear path of succession. Their plan fell apart, and with Johnson alive, the nation’s clear path of presidential succession remained intact.

A near miss

Half a century later, while former President Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for a third presidential term in 1912, he was shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Though he was shot at almost point-blank range, Roosevelt was, in a way, saved by his poor eyesight and long-winded nature. Roosevelt had a 50-page speech folded in his pocket, as well as his steel eyeglass case. Both items slowed the bullet enough that it just entered his chest but not deeper than the muscle.

Roosevelt famously proceeded to give a 90-minute speech before leaving for the hospital.

One of the closest comparisons to Trump’s two recent assassination attempts is when two women tried to kill President Gerald Ford in September 1975.

Both Trump and Ford were the targets of well-publicized assassination attempts within a short period of time, and both were targeted by individuals with logically unclear motives.

Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme, a one-time member of the Manson family, a well-known cult in the 1970s, attempted to kill Ford in order, she claimed, to save California redwood trees.

At the time, the Environmental Protection Agency was warning people about worsening smog’s effects on the environment, leading her to believe assassination was the only way to preserve the trees. Fromme dressed entirely in red, went to Sacramento where the president was visiting, aimed and fired at him within a 2-foot range.

Except the gun didn’t fire.

Bystanders heard a click, since she had not put a round in the chamber, likely because she did not know much about guns. After that first attempted shot, Secret Service intervened. Later, Fromme claimed she did not want to shoot the president.

Seventeen days later, on Sept. 22 in San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore shot at Ford from about 40 feet away and missed. Her second shot missed as well, this time because a bystander, Oliver Sipple, grabbed the gun, forcing the shot to go wide, injuring a taxi driver.

Finally, Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981. Hinckley was obsessed with the popular film “Taxi Driver” and, in particular, the character played by actress Jodie Foster.

He believed that if he could impress Foster, she would date him. As Reagan left the Washington Hilton hotel, Hinckley fired six shots in two seconds. One shot deflected off the car and into the president’s left side, hitting his lung. One of the funnier lines Reagan would later repeat was born that day, when he looked at doctors prepping for surgery and said, “I just hope you’re Republicans.” One doctor replied, “Today, Mr. President, we’re all Republicans.”

The best and worst of us

Throughout history, American presidents and occasionally candidates have been targeted by gunmen and other potential attackers to express their unhappiness about the government. The rationales for these assassins’ actions vary from simply chaos to delusions anointing the assassin, or would-be assassin, a heroic main character.

Presidential assassinations reflect the best and the worst of people simultaneously. The violence itself shows the worst of society, but Americans often seem at their best in the aftermath. Like Reagan’s surgeons once recognized, politics should never supplant humanity or be more valued than a person’s health and safety.

The Conversation

Shannon Bow O’Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

cisa,-fbi-issue-alert-on-cross-site-scripting-vulnerabilities

CISA, FBI Issue Alert on Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerabilities

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI have released a Secure by Design Alert concerning cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, or XSS.

CISA said Tuesday that XSS can be prevented and ought not to be present in software products, yet they continue to appear, providing threat actors with exploit opportunities.

According to the alert, XSS can be brought about by the failure of a software maker to properly escape, validate or sanitize inputs, making it possible for threat actors to inject malicious scripts into web applications.

The alert calls on leaders at technology manufacturers to instruct personnel to conduct a review of such deficiencies and develop a strategic plan to prevent them moving forward.

The alert also recommends that technology manufacturers review the principles of secure by design software as outlined in a previous guidance.

The Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Intel Summit will bring together top Intelligence Community officials, government decision-makers and industry executives to discuss the future of American intelligence. Register now to attend this important event!

employees-at-latin-american-aid-agency-vote-to-unionize 

Employees at Latin American aid agency vote to unionize 

The American Federation of Government Employees added a new chapter last week when employees at a small, nonpartisan agency tasked with awarding development grants to Latin American countries voted to unionize. 

According to a post from the nation’s largest federal employee union on Monday, 33 of 34 eligible employees at the Inter-American Foundation voted to unionize on Sept. 11, joining AFGE Local 2211, which represents 202 employees in the Washington, D.C., area as of June 29, a Labor Department filing shows

The IAF formed in 1969 as an independent agency providing grassroots funding for community-led development in Latin American countries, including projects around sustainable agriculture and food security, human capital and job skills development, natural resource management and other operations. 

The agency had a budget of $47 million in fiscal 2023, mostly from direct annual appropriations, but it also has received inter-agency transfers for strategic priorities and can accept donations from corporate and philanthropic partners.

District 14 Special Assistant Peter Winch, who led the IAF unionization campaign, told Government Executive that he would be meeting with the agency’s president and CEO, Sara Aviel, this week to get a sense of management’s perspective on the issues facing IAF, but workers expressed frustrations over high turnover and a recent return-to-office policy from management. 

“I had a group of several IAF employees contact AFGE and we formed them into an organizing committee and they told me what the issues are,” he said. “The message I’m getting from employees is they don’t backfill. It’s not really a budget problem, they just don’t know how to stop all the turnover they have at this agency.” 

Another issue that prompted employees to organize, he said, stemmed from a recent return-to-office policy from management that would require employees to be in person several more days per pay period.

“If an agency goes too far in that direction in this post-pandemic period, they have a lot of people leave,” he said. “We’d like them to look at that again and not implement that change, which I think is due by Oct. 1.”

The addition of IAF employees comes as AFGE — which 750,000 represents federal and D.C. government workers — made international gains last year, unionizing 400 employees at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, followed by another 200 workers in May at the Army Enterprise Service Desk, 2nd Signal Brigade, in Kaiserslautern, Germany and Army’s Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Winch added that the challenges within IAF — who he said outsources human resources operations from service providers in the Interior Department — were similar to the workforce at another agency, the Millenium Challenge Corporation, which has since worked with the union to resolve many of its issues, with members from the local AFGE chapter helping advise IAF employees.

“It’s going really well there,” he said. “MCC was making a lot of errors in hiring and classification and so on. And they’ve really changed a lot for the good since we’ve formed a union there. And what they did was hire some people to work the HR and labor employee relations functions in-house.”

Officials from the IAF were unavailable for comment at press time.

noaa,-esri-to-build-prototype-ocean-&-coastal-data-hub-under-partnership-agreement

NOAA, Esri to Build Prototype Ocean & Coastal Data Hub Under Partnership Agreement

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Esri have signed a partnership agreement to collaborate and build a prototype open data platform designed to deliver actionable ocean and coastal data to decision-makers and communities.

NOAA said Monday the demonstration project’s end goal is to design an information system that could enable users to access, interpret and use ocean and coastal data to address critical issues.

Combining NOAA’s ocean and coastal expertise with Esri’s long history of user-centered tools will unlock the true value of these data in the hands of the communities that need them most,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad.

The two institutions will use NOAA’s massive data stores and Esri’s geospatial technical capabilities to develop the prototype, which will serve as a proof of concept for translating the agency’s data into actionable intelligence or issue-relevant information like renewable energy siting or conservation planning.

They also expect the prototype ocean and coastal data hub to serve as a primary component in the development of cross-sector partnerships among nongovernmental organizations, academia, ocean communities and the private sector to help identify gaps. 

“We are happy to collaborate with NOAA to help make their comprehensive and authoritative ocean and coastal data a mapping resource for decision-making, conservation and education,” said Jack Dangermond, president of Esri.

After six months, NOAA and Esri will reassess the agreement to determine how to advance their work.

pentagon-releases-instruction-on-modeling-&-simulation-verification,-validation-&-accreditation

Pentagon Releases Instruction on Modeling & Simulation Verification, Validation & Accreditation

The Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering — or USD R&E — has issued a document establishing policy and procedures for the verification, validation and accreditation of models, simulations, distributed simulations and related data.

The latest DOD Instruction, titled DOD Modeling and Simulation Verification, Validation and Accreditation, took effect Tuesday.

The document outlines the responsibilities of the USD R&E director of operational test and evaluation and heads of the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Defense Health Agency, among other officials, when it comes to verifying and accrediting models and simulations.

The instruction, for instance, directs the USD R&E to coordinate with the department’s component heads to develop policies, plans and procedures for implementing and managing VV&A for models, simulations and associated data and foster cooperative research, development, investment and application of VV&A technologies.

The document establishes the basis for credible modeling and simulation across the department and includes a section for VV&A documentation requirements.

Heidi Shyu, DOD’s under secretary for research and engineering and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, approved the latest instruction.

un-guidelines-for-long-term-sustainability-of-outer-space-activities-do-not-address-cyber-threats,-mitre-says

UN Guidelines for Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities Do Not Address Cyber Threats, MITRE Says

MITRE said the United Nations guidelines for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities do not address cybersecurity challenges and other threats to space systems.

Good cyber hygiene is essential to the sustainability of the space environment amid the efforts of competitors and adversaries to build capabilities that could impact space system operations, MITRE said in a white paper published on Friday.

The document is MITRE’s response to a Department of State notice seeking public sector input on the implementation of the 21 long-term sustainability guidelines for outer space activities.

According to the organization, implementing robust cyber hygiene practices should be prioritized on the same level as debris mitigation efforts.

The paper also highlighted the company’s efforts that directly align with the long-term sustainability guidelines, including the development of the Sensor Network Autonomous Resilient Extensible system, which uses permissioned blockchain to record orbital element sets from space sensors, and the decentralized Space Information Sharing Ecosystems; its collaboration with the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center; and the implementation of Mitre’s International Space Strategy aimed at balancing efforts across defense, preservation and sustainability and organizational and policy components of space use.

cisa-releases-analysis-of-security-assessments-done-on-critical-infrastructure-networks

CISA Releases Analysis of Security Assessments Done on Critical Infrastructure Networks

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is calling on network defenders to review the analysis of the risk and vulnerability assessments it and the U.S. Coast Guard conducted through fiscal year 2023.

CISA said Friday that the recently-released analysis and an accompanying infographic discuss the details of and findings from the 143 RVAs performed across multiple critical infrastructure—or CI—sectors.

The RVA were carried out to assess the network capabilities and defenses of an organization against known threats with the ultimate aim of formulating strategies to bolster cybersecurity.

CISA performed RVAs on select state, local, tribal, and territorial, or SLTT, organizations; the federal civilian executive branch; and private and public sector CI operators. For its part, the Coast Guard performed RVAs on maritime CI operated by private sector organizations as well as SLTTs.

Based on the analysis, the most successful attacks conducted by the RVA assessors involved the use of common methods, tools and techniques. The assessors also exploited common system vulnerabilities seen among many CI sector organizations.

To counter such threats, the analysis offered several recommendations, including the implementation of enhanced protection mechanisms in addition to strong credential policies.

“CISA encourages system owners and administrators to share this guidance with leadership and apply relevant changes tailored to their specific environments,” the document said, adding, “Analysis of this nature can effectively prioritize the identification and mitigation of high-level vulnerabilities across multiple sectors and entities.”

Hear from various speakers to learn more about the security concerns facing the U.S. and what’s being done to address them at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Homeland Security Summit, which will take place on Nov. 13. Register now to attend this important event!

daf-space-program-issues-rfi-for-domain-awareness-capabilities

DAF Space Program Issues RFI for Domain Awareness Capabilities

The Space Security and Defense Program, which operates under the Department of the Air Force, is seeking input for space domain awareness capabilities and services to address threats in a dynamic and increasingly crowded space environment.

Interested contractors should submit concepts that address key focus areas—particularly, support to fires, surveillance of man-made objects, intelligence and reconnaissance, and environmental monitoring, according to a request for information notice posted on Sam.gov Wednesday.

In addition, the SSDP is looking for concepts that would enable military forces to plan, integrate, execute and assess space operations. They should have one or more of these features: high sensibility to detect small objects across a wide area of space, the ability to reduce solar, earth and lunar exclusion zones and the capability to process collected data quickly.

The concepts should also be capable of detecting, tracking and identifying resident space objects, characterizing or determining strategies, intent and activities of threats, predicting and assessing potential and actual threats and integrating and utilizing multi-source data for dynamic decision-making.

Interested parties may send their responses to the RFI no later than Nov. 14.