Today's Headlines and Commentary

A Pakistani journalist, Cyril Almeida, is facing a court hearing for treason in connection with conducting an interview in which former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared to reinforce India’s accusation that Pakistan’s military had aided terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, reports the New York Times. The summons alarmed the Pakistani news media as it correlates with a trend of intimidation tactics against the free press.

Erik Prince, founder of the private security company Blackwater, traveled to Afghanistan in September to advocate his proposal of privatizing the war in Afghanistan to the Afghan government, reports the Washington Post. Reportedly in response to Prince’s visit, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement on Thursday, saying that he would “under no circumstances...allow the counterterrorism fight to become a private, for-profit business.”

The South Korean Foreign Minister said in an interview with the Washington Post that Seoul wants to take a new approach to North Korea’s denuclearization, preferring the dismantling of Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Facility over an exhaustive inventory of Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.

Interpol president Meng Hongwei has disappeared after visiting his native China last week. French authorities have launched an investigation into the matter, reports the Post.

The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on SIA Falcon, a Turkish defense firm, and its executives for allegedly trading in weapons and luxury goods with North Korea, reports the Wall Street Journal.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell posted the latest edition of Rational Security, in which Tamara Cofman Wittes, Shane Harris and Ben Wittes discuss the Trump administration’s accusation against China of interfering in U.S. elections, Facebook’s data security breach and the U.S.’s performance at the U.N. General Assembly.

Nicholas Weaver analyzed the implications of the Bloomberg Businessweek report on China’s alleged hacking of multiple U.S. companies. In addition, Weaver discussed the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration currently pending in Congress that would allow the countering of drone threats.

Herb Lin also assessed Bloomberg Businessweek’s report on China’s hardware supply chain hack against U.S. companies.

Elena Chachko examined the International Court of Justice’s unanimous order for the U.S. to ease some sanctions on Iran.

Mikhaila Fogel uploaded the unsealed U.S. indictment of seven GRU officers accused of hacking and disinformation operations.

Megan Reiss provided us a few takeaways from the latest Russian hacking indictment.

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck posted the latest episode of the National Security Law podcast.

Mikhaila Fogel uploaded the 2018 National Strategy for Counterterrorism, the first such strategy to be released since 2011.

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