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The Washington Times

Welcome to Threat Status: Share it with your friends, who can sign up here. Send tips to National Security Editor Guy Taylor.

The U.N. General Assembly is playing out this week beneath the shadow of widening global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, and the threat of an even larger conflict in the Middle East.

… Personal information for some 3,191 congressional staffers has been leaked across the dark web, according to new research from the internet security firm Proton being released today.

… House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific Chairwoman Young Kim praised the latest “Quad” leaders summit of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, saying it came “as the Chinese Communist Party continues its efforts to destabilize” the Indo-Pacific region.

… Sweden says Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings.

… The International Criminal Court is being asked to investigate a crackdown on the political opposition in Tunisia, as well as claims of migrant abuse.

… Beijing says it will investigate the fashion giant PVH, whose brands include Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, over the company’s suspected boycott of products from the far western Xinjiang region, where the Chinese government is accused of genocide against local Uyghur Muslims.

… And Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce have now released their report on how American taxpayers and universities fund China’s advanced military and technological research. Threat Status reviewed the report prior to its release.

Thousands of Capitol Hill staffers’ info spilled across dark web

A man visits a hacker community website at a house in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. Indonesian authorities have found no evidence that the country's main intelligence service's computers were compromised, after a U.S.-based private cybersecurity company alerted them of a suspected breach of its internal networks by a Chinese hacking group, an official said. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) ** FILE **

Personal information for some 3,191 congressional staffers has been leaked across the dark web, according to new research from the internet security firm Proton being released today. The Switzerland-based firm says the data available in the hidden online hubs include passwords, IP addresses and information from social media platforms.

“Many of these leaks likely occurred because staffers used their official email addresses to sign up for various services, including high-risk sites such as dating and adult websites, which were later compromised in data breaches,” Proton said in a statement. “This situation highlights a critical security lapse, where sensitive work-related emails became entangled with less secure, third-party platforms.”

National Security Tech Correspondent Ryan Lovelace reports that Proton, working with the firm Constella Intelligence, said it uncovered 1,848 passwords belonging to the political staffers available on the dark web, the digital underground frequented by hackers perusing difficult-to-find information. The research showed one staffer alone had 31 passwords exposed online.

Israel and Hezbollah on brink of all-out war

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

The escalation between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is showing no sign of abating, with both sides carrying out fresh cross-border strikes.

The death toll from a massive Israeli bombardment inside Lebanon has climbed to nearly 560 people, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. Thousands are fleeing from southern Lebanon as the two sides teeter on the brink of all-out war. Lebanon’s border crossing with Syria saw massive traffic jams as a result of people trying to escape the fighting.

Hezbollah said it launched missiles overnight at eight sites inside Israel, including an explosives factory in Zichron, about 37 miles from the Lebanon-Israel border. Israeli military officials said 55 rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting fires and damaging buildings.

Mideast conflict hangs over U.N. world leader gathering

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks to the United Nations General Assembly during the Summit for the Future, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

The Israel-Hezbollah clash comes as world leaders gather at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the escalating conflict will be discussed at UNGA. She noted that “Hezbollah has been supporting Hamas,” which carried out the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza and continues to hold Israeli hostages seized in the attack.

“Our message is, ‘Let us get to a cessation of hostilities in Gaza.’ and that will hopefully bring an end to all of this,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield told CNN News Central on Monday. “Everyone needs to put their efforts behind bringing us to a final cessation of hostilities that will get the hostages out, allow for more assistance to get to Palestinian people in Gaza, and allow people on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon to return to their homes, and allow Lebanese on that border to be able to return safely to their homes.”

FBI says reported crime rate fell across U.S. in 2023

A Houston Forensic Science Center Crime Scene Unit member investigates the scene after Harris County deputy constable Maher Husseini was shot and killed Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Houston. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)

The rate of reported crimes in the U.S. dipped in 2023, according to the latest numbers published by the FBI, with a 3% drop in the number of violent crimes reported to police and a 2.4% drop in property crimes. Even hate crimes fell, despite the tensions in the Middle East.

Motor vehicle thefts were up, and robbery reports remained roughly the same from 2022 to 2023. But other major categories of crime were all down, with reported murders dropping nearly 12% and the number of reported rapes down more than 9%. The data represent an estimate based on numbers submitted to the FBI by more than 16,000 police departments on crimes reported to them within their jurisdictions.

President Biden quickly took credit, saying he moved to try to limit “the illegal flow of guns” and pumped money into state and local police departments. “None of this happened by accident,” he said in a statement.

Opinion: Is America at risk for another terrorist attack?

A vehicle drives along the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Ariz., June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)

The answer is a clear yes, according to Washington Times Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler and Rep. French Hill, Arkansas Republican and member of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees. The two discuss the matter in depth in an exclusive video interview as part of the Politically Unstable podcast.

They argue that the increased threat is a direct result of the Biden administration’s border policies, asserting that America’s open southern border is a national security issue and that drastic changes need to be made to protect American citizens from this growing threat of terrorism.

Open borders enable human traffickers

Illustration on victimization of illegal immigrants and border crisis by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

Dale L. Wilcox writes that the Biden administration has lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children, according to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.

“The main justification for the Biden administration’s anti-border policies is the need to treat foreign nationals who make the perilous journey to the U.S. with compassion,” writes Mr. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute.

“This administration has accused its predecessors of heartlessness and callousness for detaining those who enter the country illegally, especially children,” he writes. “But it is hard to imagine anything less compassionate than creating an environment where cartels and other bad actors are emboldened to exploit and traffic children through Latin America.”

Events on our radar

• Sept. 26 — Defense Innovation and the New Cold War, Hudson Institute

• Sept. 26 — China’s Comprehensive Threat to American Security: A Conversation with Amb. Robert C. O’Brien, American Enterprise Institute

• Sept. 26 — Axis of Aggressors: H.R. McMaster on Defending America’s Interests, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Sept. 30 — The Strategic Culture of the United Wa State Army in Myanmar, Stimson Center

• Oct. 5-8 — 2024 Threat Conference, The Cipher Brief

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If you’ve got questions, Guy Taylor and Ben Wolfgang are here to answer them.