GOP Senator Wants To Split CIA; Uncertainty Looms over RNC Protests; Munch’s ‘Scream’ Stolen in Broad Daylight; Webcam Worm Spreads

GOP Senator Wants To Split CIA

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Sunday that he will propose legislation that would break up the Central Intelligence Agency and divide its duties among three new spy agencies. According to The New York Times, the plan would move the National Security Agency from under the Pentagon’s direct control and create a post of national intelligence director that would virtually control the government’s $40 billion annual intelligence budget. Opponents of the legislation are likely to include the CIO, the Pentagon and several influential members of Congress, says the Times report. However, eight of nine Republicans on the Senate intelligence committee endorsed the plan. Said Roberts, “We cannot allow turf battles to define this debate. No one agency, no matter how distinguished its history, is more important than U.S. national security.”

For more details, read the full article in The New York Times.

Uncertainty Looms over RNC Protests

With the Rebuplican National Convention set to open in less than a week, city officials and protest organizers remain at odds over where demonstrations may take place. United for Peace and Justice, which is planning a march that could draw up to 250,000 people, according to The New York Times, is battling the city in court over use of Central Park for its protest. The city has offered an alternative, which the group has rejected, that would put the rally on the West Side Highway and then march past Madison Square Garden, site of the convention. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg contends that large demonstrations on Central Park’s lawn would severly damage the turf. Complicating matters further , according to the Times, is the mayor’s battle with police and firefighters unions.

For more details, read the full article in The New York Times.

Munch’s ‘Scream’ Stolen in Broad Daylight

Two men in black ski masks entered a museum in Oslo, Norway yesterday and made off with two masterpieces, including “The Scream,” by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. According to a report in the Washington Post, the gun-toting thieves threatened a guard and then pulled the paintings off the wall as terrified tourtists watched. The theft marked the second time in a decade that “The Scream” has been stolen. In 1994 it was taken from the National Gallery in Oslo. The painting was recovered three months later, after theives sought to collect a ransom. Police don’t believe that the two thefts are connected.

For more details, read the full article in theWashington Post.

Webcam Worm Spreads

A worm that has the capability to use webcams to spy on users is circulating across the net, reports The Register. The variant, Rbot-GR, comes with functionality to control webcams and microphones. Says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for U.K. security firm Sophos, “If your computer is infected and you have a webcam plugged in, then everything you do in front of the computer can be seen and everything you say can be recorded. It would be like having a regular webcam conversation except you wouldn’t know you’re taking part in it.”

For more details, read the full article in The Register.