June 5, 2024 | International, Security
Chinese State-Backed Cyber Espionage Targets Southeast Asian Government
Chinese state-sponsored hackers target Southeast Asian government in complex cyber espionage campaign.
June 21, 2018 | International, Security
Synthetic biology raises risk of new bioweapons, US report warns
Report warns that swift progress in our ability to manufacture viruses is making us vulnerable to biological attacks
The rapid rise of synthetic biology, a futuristic field of science that seeks to master the machinery of life, has raised the risk of a new generation of bioweapons, according a major US report into the state of the art.
Advances in the area mean that scientists now have the capability to recreate dangerous viruses from scratch; make harmful bacteria more deadly; and modify common microbes so that they churn out lethal toxins once they enter the body.
The three scenarios are picked out as threats of highest concern in a review of the field published on Tuesday by the US National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Department of Defense. The report was commissioned to flag up ways in which the powerful technology might be abused, and to focus minds on how best to prepare.
Michael Imperiale, chair of the report committee, and professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, said the review used only unclassified information and so has no assessment of which groups, if any, might be pursuing novel biological weapons. “We can't say how likely any of these scenarios are,” he said. “But we can talk about how feasible they are.”
In the report, the scientists describe how synthetic biology, which gives researchers precision tools to manipulate living organisms, “enhances and expands” opportunities to create bioweapons. “As the power of the technology increases, that brings a general need to scrutinise where harms could come from,” said Peter Carr, a senior scientist at MIT's Synthetic Biology Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
More than 20 years ago, Eckard Wimmer, a geneticist at Stony Brook University in New York, highlighted the potential dangers of synthetic biology in dramatic style when he recreated poliovirus in a test tube. Earlier this year, a team at the University of Alberta built an infectious horsepox virus. The virus is a close relative of smallpox, which may have claimed half a billion lives in the 20th century. Today, the genetic code of almost any mammalian virus can be found online and synthesised. “The technology to do this is available now,” said Imperiale. “It requires some expertise, but it's something that's relatively easy to do, and that is why it tops the list.”
Other fairly simple procedures can be used to tweak the genes of dangerous bacteria and make them resistant to antibiotics, so that people infected with them would be untreatable. A more exotic bioweapon might come in the form of a genetically-altered microbe that colonises the gut and churns out poisons. “While that is technically more difficult, it is a concern because it may not look like anything you normally watch out for in public health,” Imperiale said.
The report calls on the US government to rethink how it conducts disease surveillance, so it can better detect novel bioweapons, and to look at ways to bolster defences, for example by finding ways to make and deploy vaccines far more rapidly. For every bioweapon the scientists consider, the report sets out key hurdles that, once cleared, will make the weapons more feasible.
One bioweapon that is not considered an immediate threat is a so-called gene drive that spreads through a population, rewriting human DNA as it goes. “It's important to recognise that it's easy to come up with a scary-sounding idea, but it's far more difficult to do something practical with it,” said Carr.
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September 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace
USAF to Redesign Oxygen System on T-6 Fleet After Repeated Hypoxia-Like Issues
AMY MCCULLOUGH The Air Force plans to redesign the oxygen system in its T-6 Texan II and adjust oxygen control levels in flight, after an exhaustive study determined that varying levels of oxygen concentrations were to blame for the hypoxia-like symptoms reported by pilots. The service grounded its primary trainer fleet earlier this year while it inspected the Onboard Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) on all T-6 aircraft, and it stood up an independent review team to determination potential causes. “So far, technical efforts to date and analysis of data collected have determined that pilots have been exposed to significantly changing levels of oxygen concentration,” said Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, AETC commander. “The varying levels of oxygen concentration, even though in excess of what the body typically needs, has caused physiological stress that most pilots, on most days, actually adapt to without noticing.” However, the physiological stress of the changing oxygen levels can cause some pilots to experience symptom similar to hypoxia (lack of oxygen), hypocapnea (lack of carbon dioxide), and other related conditions, said Kwast in a press release issued late Thursday. It is expected to take two to four years to redesign the OBOGS system and fully stabilize oxygen levels in the T-6, a joint effort between Air Education and Training Command and Air Force Materiel Command. The two major commands also are working with industry “to adjust the OBOGS software algorithm to stabilize oxygen concentrations,” according to the release. “While this should reduce physiological events, the Air Force will pursue a broader redesign,” states the release. The Air Force and the Navy also have worked together to come up with new maintenance procedures to ensure the OBOGS system operates more efficiently. And, AETC will provide additional training for pilots to help them identify such symptoms and then learn how best to react if they ever encounter them in flight. “Since our T-6 operational pause, we have made every effort to communicate with every instructor and every student exactly what we've found,” Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, 19th Air Force commander, said. “Transparency remains of utmost importance to use as we all work together to ensure that our pilots are safe and know the way ahead.” http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2018/September%202018/USAF-to-Redesign-Oxygen-System-on-T-6-Fleet-After-Repeated-Hypoxia-Like-Issues.aspx
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June 22, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land
The French Army wants to toughen up, and here’s its plan to get there
By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS — France's Army needs to toughen up, according to its chief of staff, and he has the strategic plan to do it by 2030. Gen. Thierry Burkhard, a paratrooper in the Foreign Legion and former commander of its 13th Demi-Brigade and later of the Combined Operations Center, unveiled the 20-page document on Wednesday. The document was prepared by a tight-knit group of senior officers, who worked on it from August to October last year. It was then discussed by senior Army cadres, and by January it was ready. However, the coronavirus pandemic delayed its publication. Burkhard said implementing the plan is critical because a “recurrence of a major conflict is now a credible hypothesis.” He added that the cycle of asymmetrical warfare is coming to a close and that a return to symmetrical, state-on-state conflict is likely. But the document also warns that “there are new means of using force, unforeseeable and more insidious, based on intimidation and manipulation, in a new type of warfare, undetectable and disclaimed, to obtain undeniable strategic gains by imposing a fait accompli.” One of France's concerns is that China's expansion in the Pacific will endanger the European country's territories there, such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia. French armed forces in the area must be able to riposte vigorously if necessary, Burkhard said. To “acquire operational superiority,” the French Army must improve its capabilities in the electromagnetic environment, space, cyberspace and information technology, the report said. It also stressed the importance of “strategic industrial partnerships within Europe,” specifically mentioning the CaMo (Capacité Motorisé, or motorized capacity) program, which will see Belgium receive 382 multirole Griffon armored vehicles as well as 60 reconnaissance and combat Jaguar armored vehicles identical and thus compatible with the French ones. The report also highlighted the importance of the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System — a joint effort to develop a main battle tank that will replace Germany's Leopard 2 and France's Leclerc by 2035. There are 12 major projects meant to make the 114,000 French soldiers (of whom 77,000 are ground troops) better prepared for the future of war as described in the report. These include setting up a new technical school to give noncommissioned officers the stronger technical education they'll need to use the materiel being delivered under the $12 billion Scorpion modernization program. Burkhard also wants to reorganize the management of military vehicles, handing responsibility back to the regiments so they can independently prepare for operations. He also wants training to be more realistic and to involve new technology. Other projects involve improving joint and allied interoperability as well as making better use of the reserve force, which currently stands at 24,000 men and women. According to Burkhard, these reservists should be given more autonomy and be better spread out over the territory, and their contracts should be better adapted to their very different life styles based on full-time profession, academic status and geographic location. He also said the Army should have a role in educating French youth on the importance of defense and in developing the universal national service, which will become obligatory from 2024 for French individuals born in 2008. Burkhard also wants to plan a division-level exercise to prepare for air, ground and sea maneuvers. And lastly, he wants to get the job done without having to cut through a mound of red tape. Things in the Army should be simpler, the report read, “so that at local level things are clear and pragmatic.” https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/06/19/the-french-army-wants-to-toughen-up-and-heres-its-plan-to-get-there/