Joe Biden warns U.S. companies of potential Russian cyberattacks
President Joe Biden on Monday urged U.S. companies to make sure their digital doors are locked tight because of “evolving intelligence” that Russia is considering launching cyberattacks against critical infrastructure targets as the war in Ukraine continues. Addressing corporate CEOs at their quarterly meeting, Biden told the business leaders they have a “patriotic obligation” to harden their systems against such attacks. He said federal assistance is available, should they want it, but that the decision is theirs alone. Biden said the administration has issued “new warnings that, based on evolving intelligence, Russia may be planning a cyberattack against us. … The magnitude of Russia’s cyber capacity is fairly consequential, and it’s coming.” The president said the federal government is “doing its part” to prepare for an attack and warned the private-sector CEOs that it also is in the national interest that they do the same. “I would respectfully suggest it’s a patriotic obligation for you to invest as much as you can” in technology to counter cyberattacks, Biden told members of the Business Roundtable. “We’re prepared to help you, as I said, with any tools and expertise we possess, if you’re ready to do that. But it’s your decision as to the steps you’ll take and your responsibility to take them, not ours.” Biden’s top cybersecurity aide, Anne Neuberger, expressed frustration at a White House press briefing earlier Monday that some critical infrastructure entities have ignored alerts from federal agencies to fix known problems in software that could be exploited by Russian hackers. “Notwithstanding these repeated warnings, we continue to see adversaries compromising systems that use known vulnerabilities for which there are patches,” said Neuberger, who is the president’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies. “That makes it far easier for attackers than it needs to be.” The federal government has been providing warnings to U.S. companies of the threats posed by Russian state hackers since long before the country invaded Ukraine last month. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has launched a “Shields Up” campaign aimed at helping companies strengthen their defenses and has urged companies to back up their data, turn on multifactor authentication and take other steps to improve cyber hygiene. Neuberger said there’s no intelligence suggesting a specific Russian cyberattack against U.S. targets, but she did add that there has been increase in “preparatory activity,” like scanning websites and hunting for vulnerabilities, that is common among nation-state hackers. In a written statement earlier Monday, Biden said Russia could launch a cyberattack against U.S. targets as retaliation for “the unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed” on Russia through sanctions. “It’s part of Russia’s playbook,” Biden said. The United States and its allies have put a slew of sanctions in place aimed at crippling the Russian economy, and Biden recently announced the U.S. is sending more anti-aircraft, anti-armor weapons, and drones to help Ukraine. John Hultquist, a vice president of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said cyberattacks give Russia the ability to punch back. “Cyberattacks are a means for them to exact costs without crossing a major red line,” he said. Russia is considered a hacking powerhouse but its offensive cyberattacks since it invaded Ukraine have been muted compared to what some feared. Russia has carried out significant cyberattacks against Ukraine in years past, including the devastating NotPetya attack in 2017 that spread far and wide and caused more than $10 billion in damage globally. Neuberger said Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine are ongoing, though she did not provide specifics. She said the Biden administration has made clear there will be consequences if Russia engages with the U.S. in cyberspace. “We’re not looking for a conflict with Russia. If Russia initiates a cyberattack against the United States, we will respond,” she said. The Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Ketanji Brown Jackson pledges to decide cases ‘without fear or favor’
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson pledged Monday to decide cases “without fear or favor” if the Senate confirms her historic nomination as the first Black woman on the high court. Jackson, 51, thanked God and professed love for “our country and the Constitution” in a 12-minute statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee at the end of her first day of confirmation hearings, nearly four hours almost entirely consumed by remarks from the panel’s 22 members. Republicans promised pointed questions over the coming two days, with a special focus on her record on criminal matters. Democrats were full of praise for President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee. With her family sitting behind her, her husband in socks bearing George Washington’s likeness, Jackson stressed that she has been independent, deciding cases “from a neutral posture” in her nine years as a judge, and that she is ever mindful of the importance of that role. “I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building — equal justice under law — are a reality and not just an ideal,” she declared. Barring a significant misstep, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to wrap up her confirmation before Easter. She would be the third Black justice, after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, as well as the first Black woman on the high court. Jackson’s sternest Republican critics, as well as her Democratic defenders, all acknowledged the historic, barrier-breaking nature of her presence. There were frequent reminders that no Black woman had been nominated to the high court before her and repeated references to another unique aspect of her nomination: Jackson is the first former public defender nominated to be a justice. “It’s not easy being the first. Often, you have to be the best, in some ways the bravest,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee chairman, said in support. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke of the “joy” in the room and acknowledged her family’s pride as Jackson’s parents beamed behind her. Booker repeated a story Jackson has frequently told about a letter her youngest daughter wrote to President Barack Obama several years ago touting her mother’s experience. “We are going to see a new generation of children talking about their mamas and daring to write the president of the United States that my mom should be on the Supreme Court,” Booker said. “I want to tell your daughter right now, that dream of hers is so close to being a reality.” In their opening statements, Democrats sought to preemptively rebut Republican criticism of her record on criminal matters as a judge and before that as a federal public defender and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Jackson “is not anti-law enforcement” and is not “soft on crime,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said, noting that members of Jackson’s family have worked in law enforcement and that she has support from some national law enforcement organizations. ”Judge Jackson is no judicial activist.” The committee’s senior Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, promised Republicans would “ask tough questions about Jackson’s judicial philosophy” without turning the hearings into a ”spectacle.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noted that Democrats had opposed some past Republican judicial nominees who were Black or Hispanic, and he said that he and his GOP colleagues wouldn’t be deterred by Jackson’s race from asking probing questions. He said of some criticism from the left: “It’s about, ‘We’re all racist if we ask hard questions.’ That’s not going to fly with us.” Graham was one of three Republicans to support Jackson’s confirmation, 53-44, as an appellate judge last year. But he has indicated over the past several weeks that he is unlikely to vote for her again. While few Republicans are likely to vote for her, most GOP senators did not aggressively criticize Jackson, whose confirmation would not change the court’s 6-3 conservative majority. Several Republicans used their time to denounce Senate Democrats instead of Jackson’s record. The Republicans are trying to use her nomination to brand Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns. Biden has chosen several former public defenders for life-tenured judicial posts. In addition, Jackson served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency created by Congress to reduce disparity in federal prison sentences. With Jackson silently taking notes, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in his opening statement that his research showed that she had a pattern of issuing lower sentences in child pornography cases, repeating comments he wrote in a Twitter thread last week. The Republican National Committee echoed his claims, which Hawley did not raise when he questioned Jackson last year before voting against her appeals court confirmation. The White House, along with several Democrats at the hearing, has rejected Hawley’s criticism as “toxic and weakly presented misinformation.” Former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, who is guiding Jackson as she navigates the Senate process, told reporters afterward that “she will be the one to counter many of those questions” from Hawley and others on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hawley is one of several committee Republicans, along with Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who are potential 2024 presidential candidates, and their aspirations may collide with other Republicans who would prefer not to pursue a scorched-earth approach to Jackson’s nomination. Her testimony will give most Americans, as well as the Senate, their most extensive look yet at the Harvard-trained lawyer with a broader resume than many nominees. She would be the first justice with significant criminal defense experience since Marshall. Jackson appeared before the same committee last year, after Biden chose her to fill an opening on the federal appeals court in Washington, just down the hill from the Supreme Court. The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, has given her its highest rating, “well qualified.” Biden chose Jackson in February, fulfilling a campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in American history. She would take the seat of Justice
$5 million distributed through Rebuild Alabama benefits to cities, counties
Revenue acquired through the state’s gas tax is being distributed in the form of grants to help repair the state’s roads and bridges, Gov. Kay Ivey said. The governor announced that $5 million is being sent to cities and counties to help improve the condition of roadways and bridges under the Rebuild Alabama Act. “Since becoming governor, with the support of Rebuild Alabama, we have embarked on more than 1,500 new road and bridge projects worth more than $5 billion,” Ivey said in the release. “We certainly have more work in front of us, and I am proud to continue those efforts today. Every single penny generated by Rebuild Alabama has gone to road and bridge projects, and we are not relenting on our efforts any time soon.” The Rebuild Alabama Act, according to the release, was passed by the Legislature and signed by Ivey in 2019. The law mandates the state’s Department of Transportation to set aside $10 million each year from funding culled from the state’s gasoline tax that is earmarked for local projects. Since the bill was signed, the state has set aside $20 million in revenue that has been awarded for local projects across the state, which includes 21 projects this year. For 2022, the projects receiving funds from the state are also contributing $2 million in local matching funds. The use of matching funds is not a requirement to be included in the disbursement of state funds. More projects, according to the release, are expected to be announced later in the year, and a number of projects are expected to be under contract by the year’s end. Projects must move forward within one year of receiving funding. In Elba in Coffee County, $250,000 will be used with $79,725 in matching funds to resurface Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from state Route 203 to Adkinson Avenue and then from Adkinson Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to state Route 189. In Saraland in Mobile County, $250,000 will be used with $394 in matching funds to widen and resurface Old Highway 43 from East Bayou Avenue to H.P. Cain Bridge, East Maple Avenue from 3rd Street to Park Street, and Park Street to Tajuacha Drive South to East Orange Avenue. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
New Orleans police executive named chief in Montgomery
A longtime police executive from New Orleans will take over as police chief in Alabama’s capital city, Mayor Steven Reed’s office said Monday. Darryl Albert, who has spent more than 30 years in law enforcement and held several key roles in the New Orleans Police Department, was selected following a search to succeed Ernest Finley, who resigned in June. New Orleans police announced in January that Albert, who held the rank of captain, was moving from his leadership position with the department’s Special Operations Division to oversee the agency’s training academy. He also held positions in New Orleans, including deputy chief of field operations, commander of the homicide division and the crime laboratory, and deputy superintendent. Albert is a member of organizations including the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. Montgomery, the third-largest city in the state, said it considered almost 100 candidates before selecting Albert as chief, and the hiring process included a committee of community leaders that evaluated finalists. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
