Today's Headlines and Commentary

There isn’t much consensus anywhere on NSA-related issues---from Edward Snowden to the agency’s surveillance programs themselves. At various House and Senate hearings yesterday, it became clear that there are sharp divisions, in both chambers of Congress. Snowden's former employer Booz Allen Hamilton has recently posted a new job listing: Insider Threat Analyst. The main job duty? To catch potential future Snowdens.  Meanwhile, a Booz Allen vice chairman sat down with the Wall Street Journal, in order to talk about how Snowden got hired at the firm in the first place---despite security flags. An old vestige of the Cold War---Field Station Berlin---has been taken over by unconventional artists, reports the Times. Graffiti sprayers and others have made good use of the site once controlled by the NSA. Senator John McCain proposes to have a special congressional committee look into NSA leaks.  Read more at Secrecy News.   According to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Iran is cooperating with the agreement to halt its nuclear program. There have been numerous skeptics within Congress, since the United States helped to draft an agreement in which Iran agreed to dismantle any nuclear weapons capability. Clapper urged the House Intelligence Committee  against imposing any further sanctions on Iran. The New York Times reports: during one of yesterday's oversight hearings, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the U.S. federal government should release a yearly report detailing the number of deaths caused by drones. Schiff put forth the proposal while questioning John Brennan, the CIA Director.  The latter was “non-committal." In news from yet another hearing on the Hill yesterday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing for “new standards governing how companies defend against and respond to data breaches.” The Hill has the story. The United States is severely cutting down on its drone strikes in Pakistan, according to the Washington Post. There has not been a drone stroke within Pakistani borders since December. U.S. officials have claimed that the Pakistani government asked the United States to hold back on the strikes,  in light of Pakistan's effort at peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.  Interestingly, another official denied the existence of any arrangement, even an informal one, regarding drone attacks. Secretary of State Kerry has condemned recent violence in Syria, committed by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In the past four days, more than 150 people have been killed by a series of air strikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Now for some tech talk.  Microsoft has a new CEO, Satya Nadella. But the spotlight is still on Bill Gates, who plans to amp up his presence in the company despite stepping down as its chief. The Times wonders if this move is a good one; there are plenty of advantages to having Gates around more, but might he overshadow the young, innovative Nadella? (Politico has a profile on Gates, tracing his somewhat bumpy history with Washington policy makers.) Google has reached an agreement with the European Union in a recent antitrust case.  The company had been accused of abusing its web dominance to skew search results, especially in cases of online retail. Google has settled on an agreement with the EU’s Antitrust Commissioner, whereby the company will drastically change the way it displays its results. The agreement must still be reviewed by the plaintiffs in the case. And though not ideal, the agreement would be a win for Google, which would otherwise have face a very long legal procedure---and the prospect of fines of up to $5 billion. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.