Latest news with #Nakasone
WIRED
09-08-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Ex-NSA Chief Paul Nakasone Has a Warning for the Tech World
Aug 8, 2025 7:21 PM At the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas on Friday, Nakasone tried to thread the needle in a politically fraught moment while hinting at major changes for the tech community around the corner. Photograph:The Trump administration's radical changes to United States fiscal policy, foreign relations, and global strategy—combined with mass firings across the federal government—have created uncertainty around US cybersecurity priorities that was on display this week at two of the country's most prominent digital security conferences in Las Vegas. 'We are not retreating, we're advancing in a new direction,' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief information officer Robert Costello said on Thursday during a critical infrastructure defense panel at Black Hat. As in other parts of the federal government, the Trump administration has been combing intelligence and cybersecurity agencies to remove officials seen as disloyal to its agenda. Alongside these shifts, the White House has also been hostile to former US cybersecurity officials. In April, for example, Trump specifically directed all departments and agencies to revoke the security clearance of former CISA director Chris Krebs. And last week, following criticism from far-right activist Laura Loomer, the secretary of the Army rescinded an academic appointment that former CISA director Jen Easterly had been scheduled to fill at West Point. Amid all of this, former US National Security Agency and Cyber Command chief Paul Nakasone spoke with Defcon founder Jeff Moss in an onstage discussion on Friday, focusing on AI, cybercrime, and the importance of partnerships in digital defense. 'I think we've entered a space now in the world where technology has become political and basically every one of us is conflicted,' Moss said at the beginning of the discussion. Nakasone, who is on the board of OpenAI, agreed, citing Trump's January launch of the 'Stargate' AI infrastructure initiative flanked by Oracle's Larry Ellison, SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI's Sam Altman. 'And then two days later, just by chance, [the Chinese generative AI platform] DeepSeek came out,' Nakasone deadpanned. 'Amazing.' Nakasone also reflected on demographic differences between the US federal government and the tech sector. 'When I was the director of NSA and commander of US Cyber Command, every single quarter I would go to the Bay or I'd go to Texas or Boston or other places to see technology,' he said. 'And every place that I went to, I was twice the age of the people that talked to me. And then when I came back to DC and I sat at the table, I was one of the younger people there. OK, that's a problem. That's a problem for our nation.' Throughout the discussion, Nakasone largely geared his remarks toward efforts to counter traditional US rivals and adversaries, including China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, as well as specific digital threats. 'Why aren't we thinking differently about ransomware, which I think right now is among the great scourges that we have in our country,' he said. 'We are not making progress against ransomware.' At times, though, Moss attempted to steer the conversation toward geopolitical changes and conflicts around the world that are fueling uncertainty and fear. 'How do you be neutral in this environment? Can you be neutral? Or is the world's environment since last year, Ukraine, Israel, Russia, Iran, just take your pick, America—how does anybody remain neutral?" Moss asked at the beginning of the conversation. Later he added, 'I think because I'm so stressed out by the chaos of the situation, I'm trying to feel how do I get control?' Referencing these remarks and comments Moss had made about turning to open source software platforms as a community-building alternative to multinational tech companies, Nakasone hinted at Moss' notion that the world and its entering a precarious state of flux. 'This is going to be an interesting storyline that we play out through '25 and '26. When we come back [to Defcon] next year to have this discussion, will we still be able to have this sense of, oh, we're truly neutral? I sense not. I think it's going to be very, very difficult.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
22-06-2025
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Foreigners Prominent in Memorial Activities for Battle of Okinawa Victims; Event Reading Names of Victims to Continue Through Monday
NAHA — Foreign nationals are starting to have a clear presence at events to remember the victims of the Battle of Okinawa, which marked the devastating end of the Pacific War. People from more than 20 countries are participating in a movement to read out the names of the over 240,000 war dead engraved on the Cornerstone of Peace monument in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture. The monument was established 30 years ago based on the concept of transforming the 'Typhoon of Steel' — the U.S. forces' heavy artillery shelling and bombing campaign — into waves of peace. It marks its 30th anniversary on Monday, amid continuing prayers for peace both in Japan and internationally. On June 6, Vincent Rina, a 26-year-old trainee from South Sudan, carefully read out the names and ages of the war victims at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Okinawa Center in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture. The names included those of a 1-year-old baby and two children believed to be three siblings. 'Thinking about the short lives these children had is truly heartbreaking,' said Rina, who lost her father in a conflict in her country. 'By highlighting innocent victims, this event contributes to building peace. It's something I want to bring back to my country.' Launched in 2022 by an executive committee of local volunteers, the name-reading initiative has had more and more participants every year. This year, applications from foreign organizations have surged, and the total number of participants is expected to exceed last year's record of about 5,800. For this reason, romaji romanized spellings were added to the names for the first time. The readings have been held daily in a relay format since June 1 and will continue until Monday, the day of the Okinawa Memorial Service for All War Dead, which commemorates the victims of the Battle of Okinawa. On June 6, about 20 individuals from 14 different countries participated in the reading at JICA, including JICA trainees and international students. Among them was Fernando Nakasone, a fourth-generation Japanese-Peruvian student from the University of the Ryukyus. Nakasone's uncle lost two younger sisters, ages 11 and 8, in Okinawa during the Battle of Okinawa. The two girls were killed by a bomb shortly after leaving a cave in search of water. Nakasone heard the story from his uncle when he was a child. 'I want to share this unforgettable history in Peru, too,' he said.
