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10:00 AM ET, Thursday, September 28, 2023

The Cipher Brief curates open source information from around the world that impacts national security. Here's a look at today's headlines, broken down by region of the world:  

TOP STORIES:

North Korea Enshrines Nuclear Weapons Ambitions in Constitution.  North Korea’s parliament has voted to adopt a constitutional amendment supporting the DPRK’s policy of maintaining a nuclear force in order to ensure its “right to existence” and to “deter war,” according to North Korea’s KCNA state news agency. In an address to the Supreme People’s Assembly following the vote, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country’s policy of building a nuclear force “has been made permanent as the basic law of the state” and that Pyongyang must “exponentially” increase nuclear weapons production and diversify its nuclear strike means.  Kim cited U.S. military exercises and deployments in the region as reasons for the nuclear program.  South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Seoul will continue to expand its military cooperation with the U.S. and Japan and will work with other countries to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.  Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno called North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs a threat that “can never be tolerated.”  Reuters Associated Press Al Jazeera France 24 CNN

U.S. Backing Undersea Internet Cable That Would Connect Up To 14 Pacific Islands.  The U.S. is supporting an undersea internet cable that would connect American Samoa with Guam and up to a dozen more Pacific islands in a region where the U.S. is competing with China for influence.  Details of the Central Pacific Cable were presented by developers at a conference in Singapore.  According to the plan, funding will most likely come from various donors including the World Bank and agencies in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.  Following a meeting between President Joe Biden and Pacific Island leaders, the White House released a fact sheet on Monday confirming that the U.S. Trade and Development Agency would provide $3 million for a feasibility study for the project.  Reuters

Chinese Ambassador To U.S. Calls for ‘Concrete, Small Steps’ to Improve Relations.  Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng on Wednesday called for better China-US relations.  Speaking to a crowd of government officials and others interested in US-China affairs at his embassy in Washington, Xie said Beijing has “no intention to challenge, out-compete or displace anyone else.”  He called for “concrete, small steps” to improve bilateral relations, including faster processing of visas.  He also called on the U.S. to renew the US-China Science and Technology Agreement, which expired amid opposition from some U.S. lawmakers.  Xie cited visits to Beijing by several Biden administration officials in recent months and the establishment of two bilateral working groups on economic issues as signs of progress.  Xie did not say whether President Xi Jinping would attend the APEC summit in San Francisco in November. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will make an announcement on the matter “in due course.”  South China Morning Post

THE UKRAINE UPDATE:

NATO Chief Says Ukraine ‘Gaining Ground in Counteroffensive.  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday in an unannounced visit to Kyiv.  Speaking at a press conference with Zelensky, Stoltenberg said Ukrainian forces are “moving forward” and “gradually gaining ground” in its counteroffensive against Russian forces.  He reiterated NATO support for Kyiv and that Russia has been “diminished” economically and politically due to its war on Ukraine.  Stoltenberg also announced that NATO now has framework contracts with arms makers worth 2.4 billion euros ($2.53 billion) for ammunition, including 1 billion euros in firm orders.  He said the contracts will allow NATO members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while maintaining military support for Ukraine.  Stoltenberg added that it is critical to boost Ukraine’s domestic weapons production to support its military.  Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes attacks near the Ukrainian border with Romania, noting that while there is no evidence the attacks deliberately targeted Romanian territory, they are still “reckless” and “destabilizing.”  CNN Reuters Barron’s

British and French Defense Ministers Visit Kyiv.  Britain’s defense secretary Grant Shapps also made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday.  He reportedly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though it is unknown when exactly they met.  Shapps also met with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.  The two ministers, who are both new in their positions, discussed Ukraine’s need for more air defenses, artillery and air-drone systems, according to Umerov.  Both sides also emphasized the need to support Ukraine as winter weather approaches.  France’s Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu also arrived in Kyiv on Thursday with several defense industry officials.  The ministers’ visits come ahead of Ukraine’s first Defense Industries Forum, which is expected to take place in the coming days and bring together representatives from 160 defense companies and 26 countries.  New York Times Barrons France 24 CNN

Ukraine Reports Massive Russian Drone Attack on South.  The Ukrainian military reported that Russian forces launched a “massive” drone strike into Ukraine overnight.  A military spokesperson said air defenses destroyed more than 30 drones across the region, including in Odesa and Mykolaiv and in central regions.  Earlier Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said that no casualties or damage were reported in a drone attack on southern Odesa region.  Mykolaiv officials added that debris from downed drones damaged a building and power line but did not cause casualties.  CNN Washington Post 

Ukrainian Cabinet Appoints Three Deputies to Minister of Defense.  Ukraine on Wednesday appointed three new deputy defense ministers.  Yurii Dzhygyr will be deputy defense minister for finance, Natalia Kalmykova will handle social development, and Kateryna Chernohorenko was brought on as deputy defense minister for digital development.  This comes after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov’s declaration that the defense ministry would undergo a “rebooting” following a mass shake-up of defense personnel.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed his previous defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, earlier this month due to a need for “new approaches.”  The dismissals came after military corruption scandals.  CNN Ukrinform

Russian Military’s Long-Term Air Power Suffers Due to Ukraine War.  The UK’s Ministry of Defense reported Thursday that the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have lost approximately 90 fixed-wing aircraft in the conflict since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The ministry added that Russia is wearing down the lifespans of many of its combat aircraft more quickly than the VKS expected due to the extra wartime use.  Needed extra maintenance is likely being complicated due to a shortage of spare parts from increased demand and international sanctions.  The ministry added that since the war is continuing longer than Russia originally anticipated, the “wear and tear” of the aircraft will likely have limited the strength of the VKS’s “long-term tactical air power.”  UK Ministry of Defense X

THE CYBER AND TECH RUNDOWN:

Economist Reports on Chinese Disinformation Wave Before Taiwan Elections.  The leadup to Taiwan’s presidential elections next January is fueling a Chinese disinformation campaign that projects the U.S. as a manipulator and exploiter of Taiwan’s vulnerabilities and portrays the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as a barrier to peaceful ties to the mainland.  The Economist illustrated Beijing’s influence operations by recalling an article that appeared in July in one of Taiwan’s leading newspapers, United Daily News, that described alleged “leaked minutes from a secret government meeting” in which the U.S. asked Taiwan to manufacture biological weapons.  The supposed minutes, it turns out, were not written in the typical style of Taipei’s government documents but featured phrases commonly used in China, which led Taiwan to conclude it was a Beijing disinformation ploy, one which nonetheless resonated with certain Taiwanese talk shows and social media influencers.  The breadth and persistence of Beijing’s campaign pits the current government’s alignment with the U.S. in strengthening Taiwan’s defenses against the opposition Kuomintang party’s platform which describes the coming vote as a choice between war and peace.  Popular opinion in Taiwan does not seem to accept that disinformation is rampant in society.   A survey conducted by Doublethink Lab, which analyzes disinformation, reported that fewer than 20 percent of respondents believe false information during elections originates abroad.  China is “piggybacking” on Taiwan fears of abandonment, according to Chihhao Yu, author of a report by the Information Environment Research Center.  Yu pointed out that many Taiwanese have an “orphan mentality” that stems from Taiwan’s experience of losing American diplomatic recognition in the 1970’s.  Chien Yu-yen, author of a book on Chinese influence on Taiwan media, said that Beijing relentlessly feed doubts about the U.S. as an ally of the island.  She spotlighted one story about U.S. designs to “blow up” TSMC, a leading Taiwan chip maker, which was supplemented by a video posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, in which a U.S. legislator discussed the possibility during wartime.  The video went viral in less than half a day, Chien said, repeated by Taiwan’s opposition politicians and media, and further amplified by opportunistic Chinese state media outlets.  The Economist

U.S., Japan Warn of China-Linked Hackers Amid Heightening Tensions.  The NSA, FBI and Japanese police issued a joint, cybersecurity advisory on Wednesday cautioning multinational businesses about the China-linked hacker group BlackTech.  The warning, which also came from CISA and its Japanese counterpart, called on firms to assess the internet routers at their subsidiaries to limit the risk of a possible attack from BlackTech.  The warning said that the group has capabilities to modify “router firmware without detection” and exploit “domain-trust relationships” to target headquarters in Japan and the U.S. through their international subsidiaries.  In a separate advisory, the Japanese National Police Agency said that BlackTech has been carrying out cyberattacks on tech companies and governments in East Asia and the U.S. for at least 13 years. In 2020, the Taiwanese security authority reported cyberattacks to the email accounts of around 6,000 government officials. The attacks allegedly came from Blacktech and a different hacking group Taidoor, and Taipei claimed both groups were likely supported by the Chinese Communist Party.  The same year, Japan’s classified defense networks were also reportedly attacked by Chinese military hackers.  Earlier this month, FBI head Chris Wray said that Beijing "has a bigger hacking program than every other major nation combined.”  Reuters Japan Times

FTC Chair Says ‘No AI Exemption’ in Agency Enforcement on Sector Practices.  The message from Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, speaking Wednesday at a Politico tech summit, was that the FTC will not hesitate to move against AI companies that engage in monopolistic business practices.  Khan’s comments concerning the AI sector indicate her willingness to address technological innovations with both transformational and disruptive potential for the economy.  In a pointed remark portending the FTC’s close watch on AI development, Khan said, “there is no AI exemption to the laws on the books.”  Regarding governance of emerging technologies, Khan noted that she looks to Congress for more “bright-line” rules on what is allowed or prohibited.  At the moment, there is no clear congressional consensus on what AI regulations might eventually become law.  In those circumstances, Khan said additional resources for the FTC’s new Office of Technology.  Two Republican nominees for places on the FTC told a Senate hearing last week they support congressional AI regulation.  Politico

Web Application Vulnerability Poses Much Broader Threat Than First Thought.  Cybersecurity experts are raising the alarm about a web vulnerability that could jeopardize a much wider range of applications than previously thought.  Researchers have traced the vulnerability to the open-source libwebp library, which provides code for rendering images and is used by multiple browsers and image editors, including Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft Edge.  Google, the operator of the Chrome browser, assigned the highest CVSS severity rating to the vulnerability, 10 out of 10.  Rezilion software researchers last week described the flaw as “much wider than initially assumed, affecting millions of different applications worldwide.”  Rezilion said that limiting vulnerability warnings to selected products runs the risk of creating a “huge blindspot for organizations blindly relying on the output of their vulnerability scanner.”  Callie Guenther, a Critical Start cybersecurity expert, said that initial reports that the vulnerability affected only Google Chrome “underscores the importance of both human expertise and advanced tools in vulnerability detection.”  Automated detection tools need to be complemented, Guenther said, because “human analysis remains invaluable in connecting the dots.”  Centripetal analyst Colin Little said the web library vulnerability “makes me wonder what other vulnerabilities are lingering in the core of critical Internet infrastructure that are still unknown.”  The Record

Senate Staffer Says ’60,000’ State Department Emails Stolen in Springtime Chinese Hack.  A staff member for Senator Eric Schmitt told Reuters on Wednesday that 60,000 emails from 10 different State Department individuals’ accounts were stolen during a Chinese hack of Microsoft’s email platform this spring. According to the unidentified staffer, all but one of the targeted account owners worked on East Asia and the Pacific.  Information extracted from the emails included travel itineraries and diplomatic deliberations.  Up to 10 Social Security numbers may have been exposed during the hack.  A statement by Senator Schmitt relayed to Reuters by the staffer noted, "We need to take a hard look at the federal government's reliance on a single vendor as a potential weak point."  The State Department did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment.   Reuters Politico

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Taiwan Unveils First Domestically Built Submarine.  Taiwan has revealed its first domestically built submarine, a major milestone in Taiwanese shipbuilding and military development aimed at bolstering the island’s defense and deterrence against China and its navy.  President Tsai Ing-wen unveiled the submarine, named the Haikun, in the city of Kaohsiung on Thursday, celebrating the feat of domestic manufacturing and saying that the vessel will help fortify the navy’s "asymmetric warfare" abilities.  The Haikun will now undergo testing and is set to enter service by 2025.  It will join Taiwan’s two other working submarines, which were purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s.  Several other countries have reportedly offered expertise and technology to help Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program.  Reuters Associated Press France 24 BBC

EU Seeking Increased Defense Spending Amid Global Risks.  The EU aims to bolster its defense capabilities amid heightened global tensions and risks. The draft of a declaration to be discussed by EU leaders next week in Granada said that the bloc plans to boost its “defense readiness and develop the European defense technological and industrial base, including with more investments.”  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and concerns about future military cooperation with the U.S. has made defense concerns more prominent for the bloc.  The draft declaration added that enlargement could amplify “our European sovereignty,” calling it a “geo-strategic investment” in security. The document also touched on the fact that it must limit dependencies in sectors where it needs to create a “minimum level of capacity to guarantee its economic and social welfare,” including food, digital technologies, and vital medicines. Bloomberg

Europe Seeks African Minerals Pacts to Lessen Dependence on China.  The EU is establishing partnerships with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) aimed at diversifying the bloc’s access to critical materials for the digital and green sectors.  Sources say that planned memorandums of understanding will facilitate EU investments in local infrastructure to develop and ship critical minerals, including the Lobito/trans-Africa corridor, a railway project that will connect Angola, the DRC and Zambia.  The agreements, which are set to be signed in late October, are part of the bloc’s efforts to lessen its reliance on China, which controls a large portion of the processing of critical minerals, like cobalt and lithium.  Bloomberg

India Expanded Spy Networks Ahead Of Canada Killing Accusation.  Security experts say India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, has taken a more aggressive approach under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  Canada’s accusation that India was involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijar, a Canadian citizen who advocated a separate homeland for Sikhs in India, has brought increased focus on the agency.  Current and former Indian security officials deny the agency was involved in Nijar’s death or any other covert killing missions, but security officials say India has bolstered its intelligence networks in the West, including Canada and the U.S. Indian officials say they have shared information about alleged terrorist activities in Canada and Pakistan with the governments of those countries, but without result.  Wall Street Journal

Explosion Close to Uzbek Capital’s Airport Kills One, Injures 162.  A powerful explosion in a warehouse close to Uzbekistan’s Tashkent airport killed one person and wounded at least 162 others on Thursday.  Officials said that flights were operating normally at the international airport in the capital.  Footage posted online shows massive flames and clouds of smoke hovering above the warehouse.  The emergency ministry said that the cause of the explosion is not yet clear, but that “the situation is completely under control” and a specialized laboratory has been set up at the scene to investigate the explosion.  Reuters CNN  Deutsche Welle Al Jazeera

Karabakh Armenians Dissolving Breakaway Government.  Ethnic Armenian leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh said on Thursday that they are dissolving the breakaway government of the region, which was seized by Azerbaijan last week.  The leaders said that their self-declared Republic of Artsakh would “cease to exist” by January 1. Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-declared republic, said that the decision to dissolve the state was to ensure the security of its people.  Shahramanyan also encouraged Karabakh Armenians to “familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration” into Azerbaijan, though many have fled the region fearing persecution and genocide under Azerbaijani rule.  As of Thursday morning, Armenia says 65,036 people entered its territory out of Karabakh’s estimated population of 120,000.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashnyan has said “ethnic cleansing” has begun in the region.  Additionally, Azerbaijani authorities arrested Ruben Vardanyan, a former head of Karabakh’s government, on Wednesday as he was trying to leave for Armenia.  Azerbaijan’s state security service says he is being charged with financing terrorism and illegally entering Azerbaijan last year.  Reuters BBC

Israel Reopens Gaza Crossing Points.  After nearly two weeks of closure, Israel reopened its crossing points with Gaza on Thursday, allowing thousands of Palestinian workers to get to their jobs in Israel and the West Bank.  Around 18,000 Gazans have Israeli permits to work outside the enclave, bringing around $2 million in needed cash a day to the territory.  The reopening of border crossings comes amid increased international efforts by Egypt and the U.N. to reduce tensions and prevent new violence in Gaza.  The closures came in response to protests by Gazans who threw stones and explosive devices at Israeli troops who responded with live fire, killing at least one man and injuring dozens more.  Protests and the Israeli response were less intense on Wednesday amid efforts by mediators.  The “Revolutionary Youths” group, which organized the protests, said that they are suspending their demonstrations after mediators secured promises that Israel would stop provocative measures in Jerusalem and in prisons and ease up the Gaza blockade. Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency that coordinates with Palestinians, said that the security situation would determine if the borders remained open.  Reuters

Burkina Faso Junta Claims to Thwart Attempted Coup.  Burkina Faso’s military junta claimed to have defeated a coup attempt on Tuesday.  The junta said on Wednesday that officers sought to destabilize the country by attacking its government institutions but did not provide further details on what happened or who was involved.  A military prosecutor later said that four people have been arrested over the coup attempt and two are on the run, adding that further investigations will be launched.  The announcement came a day after thousands of pro-junta demonstrators rallied in the streets of the capital city of Ouagadougou in response to the banning of French news magazine Jeune Afrique, which the junta said was publishing “untruthful” articles about tension in Burkina Faso’s armed forces.  The junta came to power after two military coups last year that were partially in response to rising violence from al Qaeda- and Islamic State-linked insurgents.  Reuters Associated Press

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