Morning Security Brief: Corruption & the CIA, Security Software in China, Piracy Legal Response, Cyberdefense Strategy, & More

♦ An aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai under investigation for corruption is on the CIA's payroll. "Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both," according to The New York Times. "Mr. Salehi’s relationship with the C.I.A. underscores deep contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, with American officials simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetrating it."

♦ China has demanded its bank and large companies limit their use of foreign security software. "Beijing's restrictions cite security concerns but are also consistent with its efforts to build up Chinese technology industries by shielding them from competition and pressing global rivals to hand over know-how," reports The Associated Press. "The United States and the European Union have raised questions in the World Trade Organization about the rules.An American industry group is criticizing them as an attempt to shut competitors out of a promising market. Authorities are inspecting companies to enforce the restrictions and some have been told to replace foreign technology."

♦ The United Nations Secretary General addressed the Security Council yesterday and laid out seven options for dealing piracy off the coast of Somalia. The big problem, however, according to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, is how to institutionalize an international legal regime to address this age old scourge made new. "The Council has clearly emphasized the need to achieve and sustain substantive results in combating piracy. To do so – whether through a new or existing judicial mechanism -- will require political and financial commitment from Member States," said Ban. "We will need both to establish the mechanism and ensure that it has the capacity and resources to prosecute a large number of suspects, while ensuring due process. Furthermore, in considering the establishment of such a mechanism, a host State will need to be identified.This, in turn, will require adequate arrangements for transferring those convicted to third States for their imprisonment. This is particularly relevant given the large number of suspects apprehended at sea." Ban said he has appointed Special Adviser on Legal Issues Related to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia to explore these issues.

♦ The Washington Post's David Ignatius says the Pentagon's almost complete cyberdefense strategy has the whiff of Cold War thinking about it. "Even though it deals with a distinctly 21st-century problem, the strategy has echoes of the Cold War: America's closest allies would be drawn into an early-warning network of collective cybersecurity; private industry would be mobilized in a kind of civil defense against attackers; and military commanders would be given authority to respond automatically to electronic invaders," he writes.In place of 'massive retaliation' against attackers whose country of origin may be unclear, the strategy proposes an alternative concept of deterrence based on making America's infrastructure robust and redundant enough to survive any attack. The Department of Homeland Security would oversee this hardening of infrastructure, with help from the National Security Agency." The strategy should be complete by December, according to Ignatius.

♦ Anniston, Alabama's Center for Domestic Preparedness let local media see how first responders prepare for a real life emergency where disaster healthcare is critical to saving lives. "In this scenario, health care workers from throughout the U.S. acted out an explosion at a battery acid factory," reports FOX's WBRC. "Patients show up bleeding and in various states of shock and hysteria. More and more casualties pile up and workers have to set up a decon station outside the emergency room." Then the generator fails. The hardship and obstacles, however, are all part of the exercise and for good reason. "Essentially what they bring back is a little bit more knowledge to go back and check their emergency operations plan at their facility, and check and see, hey, do we have this accounted for, can we or are we prepared for this," Health care course manager Candice Gilliland told the station.