Cybersecurity

Why did the U.S. Navy reinstate celestial navigation as part of its curriculum a few years ago? Well, you can’t hack a sextant.

In this episode, we look at some of the vulnerabilities that come with an over-reliance on high-tech defense systems. Our guests are Peter Singer and August Cole– national security experts who have taken to writing futuristic techno-thrillers to sound a few alarms. Among their warnings: The opening battles of WWIII won’t happen on a battlefield, and they will probably be silent.

GUESTS: Peter Singer, strategist and senior fellow at New America; August Cole, non-resident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council.

ADDITIONAL READING:

Burn-In, Forbes.

Ghost Fleet, The Diplomat.

China Uses AI To Enhance Totalitarian Control, The Atlantic.

December 16, 2016:

1. 2016 Is Deadliest Year on Record for Refugee Crossings (14 min)

2. Republicans Divided Over Russian Cyberattacks (6 min)

3. You Can Fight City Hall — And Win (8 min)

4. In New Jersey, 13 Years of Mall Madness Costs Billions 5 min

5. Movies to Help You Get Through the Holidays (4 min)

6. Films to Catch and Skip at the Box Office This Weekend (7 min)

Click on the audio player above to hear this interview.

A final budget from the Office of the President landed before Congress on Tuesday. The $4 trillion proposal for 2017 includes $19 billion in cybersecurity funding. That’s a third more than last year’s budget.

President Obama’s “Cybersecurity National Action Plan” includes money to overhaul federal computer systems and the development of a closer working relationship with the private sector.

Is it a bold step in the president’s cyber legacy, or too little to late? For answers, we turn to Nuala O’Connor, the former chief privacy officer for the Department of Homeland of Security and currently president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit focused on advancing a free and open internet.

What you’ll learn from this segment:

What is and isn’t in Obama’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan.
The short and long term threats facing America’s cybersecurity.
What Obama’s legacy on the issue will be.

February 10, 2016: 1. First-Time Voters Stir Revolution in Both Parties | 2. Searching for Solutions as Heroin Claims 10,000 Lives | 3. Supreme Court Issues Blow to Obama’s Climate Legacy | 4. Obama Invests $19 Billion in U.S. Cybersecurity | 5. Road Trip Adventure Celebrates 100 Years of National Parks