National Security and Foreign Affairs

Spies and hackers are actively exploiting a backbone of how mobile phones communicate—and telecoms have known about it for 19 years.

By targeting a network and set of related protocol known as SS7, for-profit surveillance companies and financially motivated criminals can track phones across the planet, or intercept calls and text messages.

A Republican congressman from Florida made a special demonstration of his loyalty to President Trump last week by introducing an amendment to protect him from the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

President Donald Trump won a victory, at least a temporary one, in the simmering crisis on the Korean Peninsula recently when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un backed down on his threats to launch missiles into waters near Guam. The president tweeted that Kim "made a very wise and well reasoned decision. The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!"

HANDS OFF OUR CYBER DIPLOMATS — Congress is still out on recess and lawmakers are still back in their districts, but we're already seeing rumblings of the legislative cyber debates to come. On Wednesday, six House Democrats moved to block Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from closing the State Department office that coordinates government-wide cyber diplomacy. Rep. Debbie Dingell filed an amendment — co-sponsored by Reps.

(CNN) – Following President Donald Trump's speech in Arizona on Tuesday, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on CNN voiced concerns about Trump's mental stability, particularly in relation to his access to the US nuclear arsenal. "The whole system is built to ensure rapid response if necessary," Clapper said.