National Security and Foreign Affairs

TODAY: STATE OF THE STATES — Two House Homeland Security subcommittees today will join forces for a hearing on how to improve cybersecurity at the state level. For Rep. John Ratcliffe, who chairs the cybersecurity-focused subcommittee, the emphasis should be on enhancing information sharing. “What we are hoping to gain from today’s hearing is what more we can be doing to further these partnerships and programs,” he plans to say, according to prepared remarks.

Two House lawmakers with computer-science expertise are warning their colleagues to improve their cybersecurity hygiene as hackers get smarter and increasingly target government officials.

"The ease with which foreign governments, criminal syndicates, and everyday hackers can access your smartphone, tablet, desktop, or laptop is frightening," Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote Monday in a "Dear Colleague" letter to the entire House of Representatives, the text of which was shared with the Daily Dot.

Human rights groups say Saudi-led coalition warplanes improperly used U.S.-made cluster bombs in Yemen, posing a danger to civilians two months after a cease-fire was struck in the country's civil war.

A report issued Monday by Amnesty International was the latest by non-governmental aid groups to claim misuse of the controversial munitions, which spray hundreds of soda-can-sized bomblets over an area the size of a football field.