Today's Headlines and Commentary

Well that was fun. Shutdown over---for now. Default averted---for now. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Can we all agree not to talk about Ted Cruz for at least the next two weeks? It's official: Gen. Keith Alexander and John Inglis, the top official and his deputy at NSA, are both leaving the agency. Brendan Sasso of the Hill reports that "Alexander's decision has 'nothing to do' with the leaks." Reuters also has the story. Andrea Peterson of the Washington Post tells us about the current commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, Vice Adm. Michael Rogers, who might succeed Gen. Alexander. Speaking of the NSA, the Post reveals that the Agency has played rather a large role in the CIA's drone campaign. The story focuses on an associate of Osama bin Laden's, Hassan Ghul, who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan last year because the NSA "spent a year tracking Ghul and his courier network, tunneling into an array of systems and devices." Matthew M. Aid at Foreign Policy has an important story about the evolution of codebreaking in the intelligence community. Gone are the classic "cryptanalytic attacks on encrypted messages" of the Cold War-era. Now, it seems, NSA relies on

new and innovative ways to circumvent the protections supposedly offered by encryption systems by compromising them through clandestine means. Among these clandestine means are CIA and FBI "black-bag jobs," as well as secret efforts by the U.S. intelligence community to interdict the shipment of advanced encryption technology to America's enemies around the world and insert "back doors" into commercially available computer, communications, and encryption technologies that allow the NSA to covertly access these systems without the users knowing it.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron accused the Guardian of damaging national security in Parliament yesterday. Parliament's Home Affairs committee announced it would investigate the newspaper's actions, according to Alan Cowell of the Times. Michael O'Hanlon of Brookings and Kay Bailey Hutchinson, former Republican senator from Texas, argue in an op-ed that there are many responsible and reasonable ways to cut defense spending in order to reduce the overall federal deficit. Nic Robertson of CNN provides an analysis of what to expect from Abu Anas al-Libi's trial, and what it means for Libya and Al Qaeda. In news from abroad, yet another suicide bomber killed yet another high-level political official in Pakistan today, says the New York Times. Israr Gandapur, the law minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, was entertaining guests at his home when the attacker struck. A local affiliate of the Pakistani Taliban, the Gandapur Group, is thought to be responsible. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has ordered a surge of African Union troops in Somalia to thwart advances by Al Shabaab and keep the nascent government in place. Colum Lynch of the Post has more. David Ignatius of the Post tells us about the bitter feud between Turkey and Israel; in this latest installment, the Turkish government disclosed the names of at least ten Iranians who have been meeting Mossad officers in Turkey. By most accounts, Western and Iranian alike, nuclear talks went better than expected in Geneva. Here are the Post, the Times, and the Wall Street Journal on the subject. Negotiations will resume in three weeks. Inspectors with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria are facing a host of security threats---such as roadside bombs, mortar attacks, and shelling---that are impeding the disarmament of President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons arsenal. Carlo Munoz has the story in the Hill. However, the BBC reports that the team is making good progress and has "completed nearly half of their work in the country." Syria's deputy prime minister proposed Nov. 23 for talks with U.S. and Russian officials on a political solution to the years-long civil war in Syria, says the Associated Press. Email the Lawfare Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Visit the Lawfare Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings at the Lawfare Job Board.