Pakistani Army Chief Warns U.S. on Another Raid

In his first public reaction to the American raid early Monday that left many Pakistanis questioning the capacities of the nation’s army, General Kayani did not appear in person, choosing instead to convey his angry message through a statement by his press office and in a closed meeting with Pakistani reporters.

The statement by the army’s press office said, “Any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States.”

General Kayani had decided that the number of American troops in Pakistan was to be reduced “to the minimum essential,” the statement said.

He did not specify the exact number of American troops asked to leave Pakistan, and it was not clear that the level was below what Pakistan had previously demanded after a C.I.A. contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in January.

Then, the Americans were told that the number of Special Operations soldiers involved in a training program would have to be reduced to 39 from 120, that C.I.A. contractors would no longer be allowed to stay in Pakistan, and that other American officials who appeared to be working for the C.I.A., but whose jobs were not clearly defined, would have to leave, too.

Clearly, the Bin Laden raid has compounded Pakistani anger, and further worsened relations.

Calling the American raid a “misadventure,” General Kayani told the Pakistani reporters that another, similar, raid would be responded to swiftly, a promise that seemed intended to tell the Pakistani public that the army was indeed capable of stopping the Americans’ trying to capture other senior figures from Al Qaeda.

General Kayani’s blunt warnings came after he met with his top commanders at their monthly conference at army headquarters at Rawalpindi, a gathering of the top 11 generals. The meeting was devoted to the consequences of the raid, which has severely embarrassed the Pakistani military, leaving the nation’s most prestigious institution looking poorly prepared and distrusted by its most important ally.

The official statement acknowledged “shortcomings” in developing intelligence on the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan, a reference to the fact that the Qaeda leader was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, a midsize city that is home to a top military academy and is about two hours from Islamabad, the capital.

The C.I.A. had developed intelligence on Bin Laden with the Pakistanis in the early going when the Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, had provided “initial information.”

But the C.I.A. did not share further development of intelligence on the case with ISI, “contrary to the existing practice between the two services,” an account that generally conformed with what American officials said in the aftermath of the Bin Laden raid.

Pakistani officials and Western diplomats have described General Kayani and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of ISI, as seething with anger at the American go-it-alone action.

In an earlier account on Thursday, the foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, sought to dispel domestic criticism of Pakistan’s lack of response to the raid, saying that two Pakistani F-16 fighter jets were airborne as soon as the Pakistani military knew about the operation. But, by that time, he said, the American helicopters were on their way back to Afghanistan.

Mr. Bashir, speaking at a news conference, said that the Americans had used technology to evade Pakistani radar.

Alternately combative and defensive, Mr. Bashir said Washington should abandon the idea that Pakistan was complicit in helping Bin Laden hide. But he did not elaborate, saying only that the ISI had a “brilliant” record in counterterrorism.

Defending the Pakistani Army, the fifth largest in the world, Mr. Bashir said, “Pakistani security forces are neither incompetent or negligent about the sacred duty to the nation to protect Pakistan.”

But after withering criticism at home and abroad about how and why the Pakistani security forces could allow Bin Laden to be in Pakistan, the initial reaction here to Mr. Bashir’s appearance was mixed.

One of Pakistan’s best-known television journalists, Kamran Khan, who is regarded as a supporter of the military, dismissed the performance. “They have no answer,” Mr. Khan said. “We have become the biggest haven of terrorism in the world and we have failed to stop it.”

A retired ambassador and newspaper columnist, Zafar Hilaly, who has called for a public inquiry into Pakistan’s military, said that Mr. Bashir had erred in seeming to ask for the world’s sympathy by saying 30,000 Pakistani civilians and more than 3,000 soldiers had lost their lives in the fight against terrorism.

“The world wants to know whether we are effective,” Mr. Hilaly said.

Apparently in response to comments by American officials that the United States decided not to share details in advance with Pakistan because of a lack of trust, Mr. Bashir said, “All we expect is some decency and civility, especially in the public domain.”

The Pakistani authorities first learned of the operation when one of the American helicopters involved in the raid crashed at the Bin Laden compound.

“Immediately our armed forces were asked to check whether it was a Pakistani helicopter,” Mr. Bashir said. Although Abbottabad is home to a major military academy and three military regiments, he said, none of these institutions required sophisticated defenses that could have detected the impending raid.

The authorities learned that Bin Laden had been killed in the raid from surviving members of his family, he said.

Pakistan received the first official word from the United States about the covert operation when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, called General Kayani about 3 a.m. Monday local time, Mr. Bashir said.

That call took some time to arrange, he said, because “secure sets” were needed. Mr. Bashir said Admiral Mullen had been the first to raise the issue of Pakistan’s sovereignty in the call, but he did not specify exactly what the admiral said. Later, President Obama telephoned the Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari.

The relationship between the United States and Pakistan will endure, the foreign secretary said, because “we share strategic convergence.”

In Washington, American aid to Pakistan faced new criticism. The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday expressed “deep and ongoing concerns” about the United States providing Pakistan more than $1 billion a year in security assistance in light of the discovery of Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad and other recent evidence that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are aiding militants.

The lawmaker, Representative Howard L. Berman of California, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that “Pakistan’s continued resistance to cooperate with the United States in counterterrorism bespeaks an overall regression in the relationship.”

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Pakistani Army Chief Warns U.S. on Another Raid

In his first public reaction to the American raid early Monday that left many Pakistanis questioning the capacities of the nation’s army, General Kayani did not appear in person, choosing instead to convey his angry message through a statement by his press office and in a closed meeting with Pakistani reporters.

The statement by the army’s press office said, “Any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States.”

General Kayani had decided that the number of American troops in Pakistan was to be reduced “to the minimum essential,” the statement said.

He did not specify the exact number of American troops asked to leave Pakistan, and it was not clear that the level was below what Pakistan had previously demanded after a C.I.A. contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in January.

Then, the Americans were told that the number of Special Operations soldiers involved in a training program would have to be reduced to 39 from 120, that C.I.A. contractors would no longer be allowed to stay in Pakistan, and that other American officials who appeared to be working for the C.I.A., but whose jobs were not clearly defined, would have to leave, too.

Clearly, the Bin Laden raid has compounded Pakistani anger, and further worsened relations.

Calling the American raid a “misadventure,” General Kayani told the Pakistani reporters that another, similar, raid would be responded to swiftly, a promise that seemed intended to tell the Pakistani public that the army was indeed capable of stopping the Americans’ trying to capture other senior figures from Al Qaeda.

General Kayani’s blunt warnings came after he met with his top commanders at their monthly conference at army headquarters at Rawalpindi, a gathering of the top 11 generals. The meeting was devoted to the consequences of the raid, which has severely embarrassed the Pakistani military, leaving the nation’s most prestigious institution looking poorly prepared and distrusted by its most important ally.

The official statement acknowledged “shortcomings” in developing intelligence on the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan, a reference to the fact that the Qaeda leader was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, a midsize city that is home to a top military academy and is about two hours from Islamabad, the capital.

The C.I.A. had developed intelligence on Bin Laden with the Pakistanis in the early going when the Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, had provided “initial information.”

But the C.I.A. did not share further development of intelligence on the case with ISI, “contrary to the existing practice between the two services,” an account that generally conformed with what American officials said in the aftermath of the Bin Laden raid.

Pakistani officials and Western diplomats have described General Kayani and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of ISI, as seething with anger at the American go-it-alone action.

In an earlier account on Thursday, the foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, sought to dispel domestic criticism of Pakistan’s lack of response to the raid, saying that two Pakistani F-16 fighter jets were airborne as soon as the Pakistani military knew about the operation. But, by that time, he said, the American helicopters were on their way back to Afghanistan.

Mr. Bashir, speaking at a news conference, said that the Americans had used technology to evade Pakistani radar.

Alternately combative and defensive, Mr. Bashir said Washington should abandon the idea that Pakistan was complicit in helping Bin Laden hide. But he did not elaborate, saying only that the ISI had a “brilliant” record in counterterrorism.

Defending the Pakistani Army, the fifth largest in the world, Mr. Bashir said, “Pakistani security forces are neither incompetent or negligent about the sacred duty to the nation to protect Pakistan.”

But after withering criticism at home and abroad about how and why the Pakistani security forces could allow Bin Laden to be in Pakistan, the initial reaction here to Mr. Bashir’s appearance was mixed.

One of Pakistan’s best-known television journalists, Kamran Khan, who is regarded as a supporter of the military, dismissed the performance. “They have no answer,” Mr. Khan said. “We have become the biggest haven of terrorism in the world and we have failed to stop it.”

A retired ambassador and newspaper columnist, Zafar Hilaly, who has called for a public inquiry into Pakistan’s military, said that Mr. Bashir had erred in seeming to ask for the world’s sympathy by saying 30,000 Pakistani civilians and more than 3,000 soldiers had lost their lives in the fight against terrorism.

“The world wants to know whether we are effective,” Mr. Hilaly said.

Apparently in response to comments by American officials that the United States decided not to share details in advance with Pakistan because of a lack of trust, Mr. Bashir said, “All we expect is some decency and civility, especially in the public domain.”

The Pakistani authorities first learned of the operation when one of the American helicopters involved in the raid crashed at the Bin Laden compound.

“Immediately our armed forces were asked to check whether it was a Pakistani helicopter,” Mr. Bashir said. Although Abbottabad is home to a major military academy and three military regiments, he said, none of these institutions required sophisticated defenses that could have detected the impending raid.

The authorities learned that Bin Laden had been killed in the raid from surviving members of his family, he said.

Pakistan received the first official word from the United States about the covert operation when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, called General Kayani about 3 a.m. Monday local time, Mr. Bashir said.

That call took some time to arrange, he said, because “secure sets” were needed. Mr. Bashir said Admiral Mullen had been the first to raise the issue of Pakistan’s sovereignty in the call, but he did not specify exactly what the admiral said. Later, President Obama telephoned the Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari.

The relationship between the United States and Pakistan will endure, the foreign secretary said, because “we share strategic convergence.”

In Washington, American aid to Pakistan faced new criticism. The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday expressed “deep and ongoing concerns” about the United States providing Pakistan more than $1 billion a year in security assistance in light of the discovery of Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad and other recent evidence that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are aiding militants.

The lawmaker, Representative Howard L. Berman of California, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that “Pakistan’s continued resistance to cooperate with the United States in counterterrorism bespeaks an overall regression in the relationship.”

View the original article here

Bits: Password Service Warns of Possible Hacking Attack

 

5:28 p.m. | Updated Adding more background and information from interview with the company’s chief executive.

LastPass, a service for managing passwords, said late Wednesday that out of concern about a possible hacking attack, it would force its more than 1 million users to change their master passwords, which they use to retrieve passwords for other sites across the Web.

The news comes in the wake of several recent high-profile hacks of computer-security companies, including another maker of technology designed to make access to Web sites more secure, RSA Security.

In a blog post, LastPass, which offers free and paid products, said that last Tuesday it had detected two “traffic anomalies,” including one leaving the company’s database, and could not explain the causes. That sparked fears that intruders may have made off with user information.

“We’re going to be paranoid and assume the worst,” LastPass said. It said its analysis so far suggests hackers could have acquired users’ e-mail addresses and might be able to decipher their master passwords using “brute force” methods, if those passwords are simple enough.

In addition to requiring its users to set new master passwords, LastPass said it would confirm that users of its system are legitimate by matching the numerical Internet Protocol addresses tied to their computers with IP addresses used by them in the past, or by validating them through e-mail.

The password information stored by LastPass clearly makes it a tempting target for hackers.

“The data that they store, it’s the keys to the kingdom” for many consumers and company employees using LastPass to store passwords for bank accounts and sensitive corporate systems, said Jeremy Conway, a senior threat researcher at NitroSecurity, who was formerly part of the team defending NASA’s network. “It’s a high-value target.”

But security professionals praised LastPass’s swift disclosure and action to protect users as a model of how to handle a security problem. Security experts have been relentless in their criticism of other companies that have suffered hacks recently and were slow to report them or provided few details.

Two security firms, RSA, whose SecurID technology was raided by hackers, and Comodo, whose system for certifying Web site authenticity was hit, have come under particular criticism for security fumbles and slow or incomplete disclosure.

However, some, including Mr. Conway, questioned the adequacy of LastPass’s internal security, noting that the company’s description of the incident suggested it was not using available technology that would provide more visibility into activities on its network and are necessary to understanding the true extent of a data breach.

“They don’t know what data was accessed. Why not?” Mr. Conway said. “It shows that they are immature in their security practices. They have issues they need to address.”

Joe Siegrist, LastPass’s chief executive, said that the growing popularity of the company’s service has made it more attractive to attackers, and that it would look for ways to make itself harder to hit. For one, he said he would hire a security firm to audit its systems.

LastPass’s rapid action also sparked problems for some users. The company was triggering password resets by asking users to enter the e-mail address associated with their account when they entered in their master password, and then sending an e-mail with a link to a site where they would enter a new master password. In a Catch-22, many users found they were unable to get the e-mail because, without a working master password, they were locked out of their e-mail accounts. Others ran into different roadblocks trying to reset their master passwords.

“Was this mandatory panic thoroughly thought about before being initiated?” asked one anonymous “paying customer” who commented on LastPass’s blog post. “It will take a lot for Lastpass to restore trust in the system, because I am out as soon as this fiasco is over.”

LastPass conceded that its systems were overwhelmed by the task of resetting so many passwords and responding to customers running into difficulties. In response, it slowed things down by forcing immediate resets only on users visiting its service from unfamiliar IP addresses. And it encouraged other users to wait to reset their master passwords until LastPass prompted them to do so.

With the extent of the potential breach unknown, experts said extra-cautious users may also want to change their passwords, especially for sensitive accounts, stored with LastPass.

View the original article here

Bits: Password Service Warns of Possible Hacking Attack

 

5:28 p.m. | Updated Adding more background and information from interview with the company’s chief executive.

LastPass, a service for managing passwords, said late Wednesday that out of concern about a possible hacking attack, it would force its more than 1 million users to change their master passwords, which they use to retrieve passwords for other sites across the Web.

The news comes in the wake of several recent high-profile hacks of computer-security companies, including another maker of technology designed to make access to Web sites more secure, RSA Security.

In a blog post, LastPass, which offers free and paid products, said that last Tuesday it had detected two “traffic anomalies,” including one leaving the company’s database, and could not explain the causes. That sparked fears that intruders may have made off with user information.

“We’re going to be paranoid and assume the worst,” LastPass said. It said its analysis so far suggests hackers could have acquired users’ e-mail addresses and might be able to decipher their master passwords using “brute force” methods, if those passwords are simple enough.

In addition to requiring its users to set new master passwords, LastPass said it would confirm that users of its system are legitimate by matching the numerical Internet Protocol addresses tied to their computers with IP addresses used by them in the past, or by validating them through e-mail.

The password information stored by LastPass clearly makes it a tempting target for hackers.

“The data that they store, it’s the keys to the kingdom” for many consumers and company employees using LastPass to store passwords for bank accounts and sensitive corporate systems, said Jeremy Conway, a senior threat researcher at NitroSecurity, who was formerly part of the team defending NASA’s network. “It’s a high-value target.”

But security professionals praised LastPass’s swift disclosure and action to protect users as a model of how to handle a security problem. Security experts have been relentless in their criticism of other companies that have suffered hacks recently and were slow to report them or provided few details.

Two security firms, RSA, whose SecurID technology was raided by hackers, and Comodo, whose system for certifying Web site authenticity was hit, have come under particular criticism for security fumbles and slow or incomplete disclosure.

However, some, including Mr. Conway, questioned the adequacy of LastPass’s internal security, noting that the company’s description of the incident suggested it was not using available technology that would provide more visibility into activities on its network and are necessary to understanding the true extent of a data breach.

“They don’t know what data was accessed. Why not?” Mr. Conway said. “It shows that they are immature in their security practices. They have issues they need to address.”

Joe Siegrist, LastPass’s chief executive, said that the growing popularity of the company’s service has made it more attractive to attackers, and that it would look for ways to make itself harder to hit. For one, he said he would hire a security firm to audit its systems.

LastPass’s rapid action also sparked problems for some users. The company was triggering password resets by asking users to enter the e-mail address associated with their account when they entered in their master password, and then sending an e-mail with a link to a site where they would enter a new master password. In a Catch-22, many users found they were unable to get the e-mail because, without a working master password, they were locked out of their e-mail accounts. Others ran into different roadblocks trying to reset their master passwords.

“Was this mandatory panic thoroughly thought about before being initiated?” asked one anonymous “paying customer” who commented on LastPass’s blog post. “It will take a lot for Lastpass to restore trust in the system, because I am out as soon as this fiasco is over.”

LastPass conceded that its systems were overwhelmed by the task of resetting so many passwords and responding to customers running into difficulties. In response, it slowed things down by forcing immediate resets only on users visiting its service from unfamiliar IP addresses. And it encouraged other users to wait to reset their master passwords until LastPass prompted them to do so.

With the extent of the potential breach unknown, experts said extra-cautious users may also want to change their passwords, especially for sensitive accounts, stored with LastPass.

View the original article here

Bank Warns of Effects of Rising Food Prices on Asia

BANGKOK — Sharp rises in food prices are a threat to economic growth in Asia and could push millions of people into extreme poverty, the Asian Development Bank said in a report to be released on Tuesday.

Food prices in Asia have increased an average of about 10 percent so far this year, which the bank calculates could force 64 million people below the poverty income threshold of $1.25 per person a day if prices remain at current levels.

“Whenever we say that Asia’s growth rate is booming and Asia is a new global growth center, people misunderstand the point,” said Changyong Rhee, the chief economist of the bank, which is supported by governments and helps finance infrastructure projects around the region, among other activities. “Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s poor. There is still a long way to go.”

Asia is a major contributor to global inflation and is vulnerable to its effects. Growth in China and India is blamed for pushing up prices of many commodities. The region’s population density and uneven income distribution make people there especially susceptible to spikes in food prices, Mr. Rhee said. The poor in Asia typically spend about two-thirds of their income on food.

A continued rise in prices for food and fuel could leave Asia’s consumers with less disposable income to spend on electronics, clothing and other products. Inflation could also spur central banks to further raise interest rates. Taken together, this could slow down economic growth by as much as 1.5 percentage points this year, the development bank has calculated.

Much depends on whether prices continue to climb. On Monday, Barclays Capital, a securities firm, reported that food prices in Vietnam, one of the countries worst hit by inflation, rose 24 percent over the last 12 months, the fastest pace in more than two years.

But Prakriti Sofat, the analyst at Barclays who wrote the firm’s report, predicted that prices in Vietnam, especially for rice, would fall in the coming months as farmers who were hoping for even higher prices sold off their stocks with the arrival of a new harvest.

“We believe rice prices should taper off as the spring harvest begins in May,” Ms. Sofat said.

Mr. Rhee of the Asian Development Bank also expects a moderation in food prices later this year, but he fears it could lull governments into inaction.

“It’s time for us to talk about long-term investments in food to make sure this problem is not recurring,” he said.

Poor countries that are net food importers are the most vulnerable to the increases, Mr. Rhee said, citing Bangladesh, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka.

In theory, the winners from higher food prices in Asia are countries like Thailand, a major food exporter. Indeed, the countryside in Thailand has shown some signs of vitality.

Car dealerships in regions heavy with plantations have reported sharp increases in sales as a result of rising prices of palm oil and rubber. Sales of pickup trucks nationwide were up 25 percent in March from a year earlier.

But farmers were also being hit by the rising price of oil, both for fertilizers made from petroleum products and fuel for their machinery.