What I'm Reading 5/6/2020 - China, China, China, and Dragos Named a 2020 Best Workplace

Fifth Domain - Proposed rule banning Chinese tech needs to consider small contractors, senators warn -

According to the letter, OMB is currently reviewing the draft proposed rule, statutorily required to be implemented Aug. 13. Because smaller companies don’t have access to the same resources as larger suppliers, they may need “more assistance and time,” the senators wrote. The pair called the guidance for small businesses “vita,l” given that small businesses make up about one-quarter of federal procurement, worth $120 billion.

Washington Post - We may be dramatically overestimating China’s capabilities -

As the United States’ confrontation with China escalates, the Trump administration may be making a classic American mistake: overestimating its adversary’s technological competence and ability to control events.

The outbreak in Wuhan of the novel coronavirus shows how ragged and disorderly the Chinese police state was in the initial weeks of the pandemic. Beijing’s response was to suppress and manipulate information, at home and abroad. Trump administration officials have painted this as a Chinese plot against the West, but it looks more like a frantic effort by a one-party state to survive a domestic crisis.

Workscoop - Senators urge against shuttering of Pentagon’s cyber college -

“We believe that academic programs specializing in cyber and information warfare should not be relegated to standalone elective courses within other NDU colleges, in lieu of their full degree or certificate-granting status at the CIC,” says the letter, signed by Sens. Michael Rounds, R-S.D., Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. “We fear that such an action sends the wrong message to our warfighters and to our adversaries. The strategic environment today demands carefully calibrated strategy, policy and operations in cyberspace and the information domain. Accordingly, we should be building up — not diluting— cyber education for military and civilian personnel.”

Any changes to the college would violate U.S. law, which specifically designated the CIC as “a constituent institution of the NDU.”

ZDNet - Google researchers: COVID-19 super-spreaders are a big part of the problem -

New work from Google scientists suggests that mass-testing of populations for the COVID-19 disease is not the way to go, given that infectious events may be heavily weighted toward the so-called super-spreaders, individuals in the population who have a larger-than-average number of contacts and tend to infect more people as a result.

Scientists Ofir Reich and Guy Shalev of Google, and Tom Kalvari of Tel Aviv University, put together a simulation of the spread of COVID-19 using assumptions about people's networks of relationships. They offer two main takeaways. One is that to unlock society, extensive testing for infection is needed. Second, simply trying to test everyone ignores the structure by which infection spreads, a structure that demands more selective kinds of testing.    

Reuters - U.S. drafts rule to allow Huawei and U.S. firms to work together on 5G standards: sources -

The U.S. Department of Commerce is close to signing off on a new rule that allows U.S. companies to work with China’s Huawei Technologies on setting standards for next generation 5G networks, people familiar with the matter said. 

...

After nearly a year of uncertainty, the department has drafted a new rule to address the issue, two sources told Reuters. The rule, which could still change, essentially allows U.S. companies to participate in standards bodies where Huawei is also a member, the sources said.

The draft is under final review at the Commerce Department and, if cleared, would go to other agencies for approval, the people said. It is unclear how long the full process will take or if another agency will object. 

NBC -  Coronavirus 'parties' in a Washington county linked to rise in cases, officials say -

Health officials in a county in southern Washington state say a rise in coronavirus cases is linked to so-called coronavirus "parties."

"Walla Walla County health officials are receiving reports of COVID-19 parties occurring in our community, where noninfected people mingle with an infected person in an effort to catch the virus," the county said in a press release Tuesday.

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DeBolt noted to the Union-Bulletin that chickenpox parties were at one point considered popular. At the gatherings, unvaccinated children were intentionally exposed to a child with the chickenpox so that they would get the disease.

Inc - Dragos is on the 2020 Best Work Places

I casually know 5 or 6 people who work there,  (casually as in I know them but they wouldn't recognize me if I had a neon sign bolted to my forehead flashing my name) so congrats to them.