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Cipher Brief Exclusive: North Korean
Missile Launches Testing Trump’s Nuclear Fuse
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North
Korea launched what appeared to be two short-range missiles on
Thursday, which constitutes the second round of missile tests in less
than a week.
- The U.S. also seized a
North Korean shipping vessel on Thursday that it says was in
violation of international sanctions.
- What does all of this
mean? Cipher Brief expert, Ambassador Joseph DeTrani talks with TCB ahead of
his visit to the region this weekend as part of a fact-finding
delegation.
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Cipher Brief
Exclusive: The Dead Drop
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Each week, we use our own sources and
methods to bring our members the latest gossip and interesting nuggets
from the national security world. In this week’s Drop:
- Shanahan gets the nod
for SecDef job
- NGA gets a new DD
- The CIA goes dark (web)
- What would Bernie
Sanders do to the CIA, if elected?
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China:
United States Blocks Bid to Allow China Mobile To Operate. Federal regulators have voted to bar a Chinese
state-owned telecommunications firm from selling phone service in the
United States. The company had sought to sell a service
connecting Americans to phone users in foreign countries. The
FCC said granting permission to China Mobile “would raise substantial
and serious national security and law enforcement risks” by allowing
the Chinese government to spy on sensitive U.S. communications. France 24 Reuters
China: Two
Chinese Nationals Indicted in U.S. on Hacking Charges. A
Chinese national and an unnamed co-defendant were indicted on Thursday
on computer hacking charges related to a campaign to breach large U.S.
businesses, includingthe 2015 theft of data from Anthem
Inc. Fujie Wang and another individual were accused of
working for “an extremely sophisticated hacking group operating in
China,” though prosecutors did not name the group. In
addition to Anthem, the hackers are accused of breaching at least three
other U.S. businesses, none of whichwere named in the
indictment. Prosecutors were unable to find clear links
between the attacks and the Chinese state, but the charges are the
latest in a series of prosecutions to emerge accusing either the
Chinese government or Chinese nationals of making cyberattacks against
U.S. companies.
The Wall Street
Journal
North Korea: Two
Short-Range Ballistic Missiles Fired. North
Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the
South Korean military said, an escalation from the North’s most recent
weapons test just five days earlier. The two missiles were
launched eastward from the country’s northwest, with one flying 260
miles and the other about 170 miles, the military said in a
statement. It said officials from the South and the United
States were jointly analyzing flight data to determine what type of
missiles they were. North Korea’s actions vaulted its longstanding
grievances with the United States over the North’s missile and nuclear
programs into a more tense confrontation, despite pledges of good will
by President Trump and the North Korean leader, who have met twice in
the past year. The New York Times CNN
Thailand:
Military Junta Expected to Remain in Power. Thailand’s
opposition Pheu Thai Party won the most seats in the country’s first
election since a 2014 coup, but despite an alliance with other
pro-democracy parties it likely will not be able to form a government
because of rules that help the military. The Pheu Thai Party
won 136 seats in the House of Representatives, while a pro-military
party, Palang Pracharat, won 115. Prime Minister Prayuth
Chan-ocha appeared likely to retain his position after the election
commission ruled that the anti-military coalition was just short of a
majority in the lower house. The New York Times
The Miami Herald
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The Middle East and North Africa
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Libya:
Operations of 40 Foreign Firms Suspended. Libya’s
internationally recognized government has suspended the operations of
40 foreign companies including French oil multinational
Total. The move is thought to have been prompted by the
besieged Libyan government’s anger at the reluctance by French
President Emmanuel Macron to offer Libyan Prime Minister Fayez
al-Sarraj more explicit support when they met this week in
Paris. Total is a major oil player inLibya,which pumps more
than 1 million barrels of oil a day and aims to have reached 2.1
million barrels by 2023. The Guardian
Syria: Regime
Forces Capture Town in Northwest. Government
forces captured Qalaat al-Madiq in northwest Syria as they push
into the biggest remaining rebel territory. Syrian
government forces, backed by Russian air power, launched ground
operations this week against the southern flank of the rebel zone
consisting of Idlib and parts of adjacent provinces. The
area is nominally protected by a Russian-Turkish deal agreed last year
to avert a major new battle that could lead to hundreds of thousands of
people fleeing the area. Qalaat al-Madiq was the rebel town
closest to the Russian Hmeimim airbase at Latakia, which fighters have
previously targeted with rocket fire.
Al-Jazeera
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South Africa:
ANC Leads in Election. South Africa’s long-governing
African National Congress party appeared headed for a victory in
national elections,partial results showed on Thursday, though its
support seemed to have dipped under the leadership of President Cyril
Ramaphosa. The party led with 57 percent of the vote on
Thursday evening, with ballots for the national Parliament and
provincial legislatures counted in about 65 percent of polling stations
nationwide. The government’s Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research projected that the ANC would end up with less than
60 percent of the vote—a symbolically important threshold that the
party has not failed to cross since coming to power in 1994 at the end
of apartheid. The New York Times BBC
Togo:
President’s Term Extended. Togo’s
parliament approved a constitutional change that will allow current President
Faure Gnassingbe to stay in office for two more five-year
terms. Protesters have called for the President, who
succeeded his father fourteen years ago, to step down in order to end
the family’s continual power. Gnassingbe has the ability to
remain in office until 2030 under the new amendment. Al-Jazeera
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