Senator Dianne Feinstein on PA's move to Join International Criminal Court.

Dear Mr. Patterson: Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about recent actions taken by the Palestinian Authority to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).  I appreciate the time you took to write, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.  On January 6, 2015, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally approved recent documents submitted by the Palestinian Authority to accede to the Rome Statute and become a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).   As you may know, the United States has publicly stated opposition to Palestinian efforts to join the ICC.  I believe that unilateral actions by either Israel or the Palestinians, including the Palestinians' move to join the ICC, make achieving a two-state solution more difficult.  Please know that I am strongly committed to Israel's continued survival as a safe, secure, and democratic country.  As Vice Chairman of the of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I have had the opportunity to see firsthand the strength of the American-Israeli relationship, one based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.  The recent violence in the region reaffirms the need to resume peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in order to create a viable two-state solution.  As the United States has done in the past, I believe we must always stand ready to be an active partner in this process.   Please know that I have made careful note of your thoughts on this issue, and I will be sure to keep your concerns in mind as I continue to monitor the situation.  Once again, thank you for writing.  I hope that you will continue to keep me informed about issues of importance to you.  Should you have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C., office at (202) 224-3841 or visit my website at www.feinstein.senate.gov.  Best regards. Sincerely yours,   Dianne Feinstein          United States Senator Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the nation are available at my website, feinstein.senate.gov. And please visit my YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for more ways to communicate with me.

China's Innovative Approach

China's long and slow march to the 21st century is worthy reading in the popular and academic press. CEO Jack Ma is taking considerable risk but likely with Beijing's blessing as long as AliBaba is profitable and can be managed in such a way Beijing's dinosaurs do not feel threatened.

China faces many obstacles to quick economic growth. Clear, future will show economic growth at a rate Beijing finds acceptable. With growth goes information, which investors will need to fund the growth.

To date, Japan and Germany seem to be addressing economic growth effectively. Still, much work needs to be done.

Tim Cook announced Monday Apple operations in China are expanding. Chinese want more technology to gain an edge over other economies. Maybe in the long run this is the way to manage. Though Cook's first concern should be how easily China can copy his technology and disrupt his market and unsettle his stockholders. Therein lies the big question for China. Will it continue to be s society that values intellectual property theft or will the mainline blossom for entrepreneurs.      

Evidence exists China maybe slowly embracing values that breed modern-style entrepreneurship. According to UCLA words, like "innovation," used in more than 270,000 Chinese-language books published between 1970 and 2008. Traditionally, Chinese come to the US West Coast for education and business training in"innovation" and "innovative" thinking in technology. Ditto for Koreans. Anyone been to Korea lately? It is a thriving economy in overdrive.

Innovation in an economy seen as desperately out of step with Korea, Japan, and other economically thriving Asians countries, pressures Beijing socially and culturally. Thus, Xi Jinping attempt to weaken sophisticated Western values among his citizenry. Internet freedom and the freedom of speech that goes with it are attracted among Chinese willing to learn evermore about Western values, innovation, and the World Wide Web. Does this spell an end to Communism? Perhaps it becomes a Westernized market economy lite form of Communism. 

Whatever economic path the Chinese are taking, it will be vastly different than past economic planning and maybe more profitable for all involved, provided Xi Jinping can control his military.  

"You can be brilliant here," a Chinese researcher told the Financial Times. But you can be more brilliant in the US. As the world’s largest and most populous economy, China needs to be a leader in innovation. 

The most brilliant Chinese students consider an education in California to he an (investment) their government owes them. For the country to approach its economic potential, Western values like freedom, should be encouraged in China. 

Dear Mr. Patterson:

Thank you for your letter regarding the recent cyber attack on Sony Picture Entertainment. I appreciate the time you took to write, and I look forward to the opportunity to share my views on the subject.

In November 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment stated that it had been a victim of a destructive cyber attack that caused widespread damage and stole significant amounts of data from its corporate servers.  A group called the "Guardians of Peace" claimed responsibility for the attack.  However, on December 19, 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it had "enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible" for the cyber attacks against Sony Pictures.

The attack on Sony is notable both because of its scale and the fact that the attack was conducted with the intent to physically destroy systems and not simply to steal data.  This new objective of attack suggests that cyber intrusions may have entered a new and more destructive phase.  As the global trend of cyber attacks continues to tick upward, I believe that legislation must be enacted to strengthen the cyber defense of both our government and those of private industry.

To that end, Senator Saxby Chambliss and I introduced the "Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act" (S. 2588) in the 113th Congress.  This bill would have required the federal government to share information about cyber threats with private sector companies and would have allowed, but not required, companies to share threat information with the government under appropriate privacy protections.  The Senate Intelligence Committee approved the bill on July 8, 2014 by a bipartisan vote of 12-3, but it did not receive Senate action prior to the Senate's adjournment in December 2014.  I am currently working with Senator Richard Burr to introduce the bill again in the current Congress.

Again, thank you for your letter.  I will keep your concerns in mind as Congress continues to consider methods for combatting cyber attacks.  If you should have any additional questions or concerns about legislation to combat cyber threats, I invite you to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.

Sincerely yours,


  Dianne Feinstein
         United States Senator