Database security and encryption

Database security and encryption Introduction Organisations are increasingly relying on the distributed information systems to gain productivity and efficiency advantages, but at the same time are becoming more vulnerable to security threats. Database systems are an integral component of this distributed information system and hold all the data which enables the whole system to work. A database can be defined as a shared collection of logically related data and a description of this data, designed to meet the information needs of an organization. A database system is considered as a collection of related data, database management system (DBMS) a software that manages (define, create and maintain) and controls the access to the database, and a collection of database application(s) a program that interacts with the database at some point in its execution (typical example is a SQL statement) along with the DBMS and the database itself [1]. Organisations have adopted database systems as the key data management technology for decision-making and day-to-day operations. Databases are designed to hold large amounts of data and management of data involves both defining structures for storage of information and providing mechanisms for manipulation of information. As the data is to be shared among several users the system must avoid anomalous results and ensure the safety of the information stored despite system crashes and attempts at unauthorized access. The data involved here can be highly sensitive or confidential, thus making the security of the data managed by these systems even more crucial as any security breach does not affect only a single application or user but can have disastrous consequences on the entire organisation. A number of security techniques have been suggested over the period of time to tackle the security issues. These can be classified as access control, inference control, flow control, and encryptio n. 1.1 A Short History Starting from the day one when database applications were build using hierarchical and network systems to todays date when we have so many different database systems like relational databases (RDBMS), object-oriented databases (OODBMS), object-relational databases (ORDBMS), eXtended Query (XQUERY); one factor which was, is, and will be of the utmost importance is the security of the data involved. Data always has been a valuable asset for companies and must be protected. Organizations spend millions these days in order to achieve the best security standards for the DBMS. Most of an organizations sensitive and proprietary data resides in a DBMS, thus the security of the DBMS is a primary concern. When we talk of securing a DBMS, this is with respect to both the internal and the external users. The internal users are the organization employees like database administrators, application developers, and end users who just use the application interface, which fetch its data from one of the databases and the external users can be the employees who do not have access to the database or an outsider who has nothing to do with the organization. The other factors which has made data security more crucial is the recent rapid growth of the web based information systems and applications and the concept of mobile databases. Any intentional or accidental event that can adversely affect a database system is considered as a threat to database and database security can be defined as a mechanism that protects the database against such intentional or accidental threats. Security breaches can be classified as unauthorized data observation, incorrect data modification, and data unavailability, which can lead to loss of confidentiality, availability, integrity, privacy, and theft and fraud. Unauthorized data observation results in disclosure of information to users who might not be entitled to have access to such kind of information. Incorrect data modification intentional or unintentional leaves the database in an incorrect state. Data can hamper the functionality of an entire organization in a proper way if not available when needed. Thus the security in terms of databases can be broadly classified into access security and internal security. Access security refers to the mechanisms implemented to restrict any sort of unauthorized access to the database; examples can be authorization methods such as every user has a unique username and password to establish him as a legitimate user when trying to connect to the database. When the user tries to connect to the database the login credentials will be checked against a set of usernames and password combinations setup under a security rule by a security administrator. Internal security can be referred to as an extra level of security, which comes into picture if someone has already breached the access security such as getting hold of a valid username and password, which can help getting access to the database. So the security mechanism implemented within the database such as encrypting the data inside the database can be classed as internal security, which prevents the data to be compromised even if someone has got unauthorized access to the database. Every organization needs to identify the threats they might be subjected to and the subsequently appropriate security plans and countermeasures should be taken, taking into consideration their implementation costs and effects on performance. Addressing these threats helps the enterprise to meet the compliance and risk mitigation requirements of the most regulated industries in the world. 1.2 How Databases are Vulnerable According to David Knox [2], Securing the Database may be the single biggest action an organization can take, to protect its assets. Most commonly used database in an enterprise organization is relational database. Data is a valuable resource in an enterprise organization. Therefore they have a very strong need of strictly controlling and managing it. As discussed earlier it is the responsibility of the DBMS to make sure that the data is kept secure and confidential as it the element which controls the access to the database. Enterprise database infrastructure is subject to an overwhelming range of threats most of the times. The most common threats which an Enterprise Database is exposed to are: Excessive Privilege Abuse when a user or an application has been granted database access privileges which exceeds the requirements of their job functions. For example an academic institute employee whose job only requires only the ability to change the contact information for a student can also change the grades for the student. Legitimate Privilege Abuse legitimate database access privileges can also be abused for malicious purposes. We have two risks to consider in this situation. The first one is confidential/sensitive information can be copied using the legitimate database access privilege and then sold for money. The second one and perhaps the more common is retrieving and storing large amounts of information on client machine for no malicious reason, but when the data is available on an endpoint machine rather than the database itself, it is more susceptible to Trojans, laptop theft, etc. Privilege Elevation software vulnerabilities which can be found in stored procedures, built-in functions, protocol implementations or even SQL statements. For example, a software developer can gain the database administrative privileges by exploiting the vulnerabilities in a built-in function. Database Platform Vulnerabilities any additional services or the operating system installed on the database server can lead to an authorized access, data corruption, or denial of service. For example the Blaster Worm which took advantage of vulnerability in Windows 2000 to create denial of service. SQL Injection the most common attack technique. In a SQL injection attack, the attacker typically inserts unauthorized queries into the database using the vulnerable web application input forms and they get executed with the privileges of the application. This can be done in the internal applications or the stored procedures by internal users. Access to entire database can be gained using SQL injection Weak Audit a strong database audit is essential in an enterprise organization as it helps them to fulfill the government regulatory requirements, provides investigators with forensics link intruders to a crime deterring the attackers. Database Audit is considered as the last line of database defense. Audit data can identify the existence of a violation after the fact and can be used to link it to a particular user and repair the system in case corruption or a denial of service attack has occurred. The main reasons for a weak audit are: it degrades the performance by consuming the CPU and disk resources, administrators can turn off audit to hide an attack, organizations with mixed database environments cannot have a uniform, scalable audit process over the enterprise as the audit processes are unique to database server platform Denial of Service access to network applications or data is denied to the intended users. A simple example can be crashing a database server by exploiting vulnerability in the database platform. Other common denial of service techniques are data corruption, network flooding, server resource overload (common in database environments). Database Protocol Vulnerabilities SQL Slammer worm took advantage of a flaw in the Microsoft SQL Server protocol to force denial of service conditions. It affected 75,000 victims just over 30 minutes dramatically slowing down general internet traffic. [Analysis of BGP Update Surge during Slammer Worm Attack] Weak Authentication obtaining legitimate login credentials by improper way contributes to weak authentication schemes. The attackers can gain access to a legitimate users login details by various ways: by repeatedly entering the username/password combination until he finds the one which works (common or weak passwords can be guessed easily), by convincing someone to share their login credentials, by stealing the login credentials by copying the password files or notes. Backup Data Exposure there are several cases of security breaches involving theft of database backup tapes and hard disks as this media is thought of as least prone to attack and is often completely unprotected form attack [3]. All these security threats can be accounted for unauthorized data observation, incorrect data modification and data unavailability. A complete data security solution must take into consideration the secrecy/confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Secrecy or confidentiality refers to the protection of data against unauthorized disclosure, integrity refers to prevention of incorrect data modification and availability refers to prevention of hardware/software errors and malicious data access denials making the database unavailable. 1.3 Security Techniques As organizations increase their adoption of database systems as the key data management technology for day-to-day operations and decision-making, the security of data managed by these systems has become crucial. Damage and misuse of data affect not only a single user or application, but may have disastrous consequences on the entire organization. There are four main control measures which can be used to provide security of data in databases. These are: Access Control Inference Control Flow Control Data Encryption Chapter 2 Literature Review Secure and secret means of communication has been always desired for in the field of database systems. There is always a possibility of interception by a party outside of the sender-receiver domain when data is transmitted. Modern digital-based encryption methods form the basis of todays world database security. Encryption in its earlier days was used by military and government organizations to facilitate secret information but in present times it is used for protecting information within many kinds of civilian systems. In 2007 the U.S. government reported that 71% of companies surveyed utilized encryption or some of their data in transit [4]. 2.1 Encryption Encryption is defined as the process of transforming information (plaintext) using an encryption algorithm (cipher) into unreadable form (encrypted information called as ciphertext) making it inaccessible to anyone without possessing special knowledge to decrypt the information. The encoding of the data by a special algorithm that renders the data unreadable by any program without the decryption key, is called encryption [1]. The code and cipher are the two methods of encrypting data. The encryption of data or a message is accomplished by one, or both, of the methods of encoding or enciphering. Each involves distinct methodologies and the two are differentiated by the level at which they are carried out. Encoding is performed at the word or block level and deals with the manipulation of groups of characters. Enciphering works at the character level. This includes scrambling individual characters in a message, referred to as transposition, and substitution, or replacing characters with others. Codes generally are designed to replace entire words or blocks of data in a message with other words or blocks of data. Languages can be considered codes, since words and phrases represent ideas, objects, and actions. There are codes that substitute entire phrases or groups of numbers or symbols with others. A single system may employ both levels of encoding. For example, consider a code encryption scheme as follows: the = jam, man = barn, is = fly, dangerous = rest. Then the message, the man is dangerous, would read in encrypted form, jam barn fly rest. Although overly-simplistic, this example illustrates the basis of codes. With the advent of electrical-based communications, codes became more sophisticated in answer to the needs of the systems. For example, the inventions of Morse code and the telegraph dictated a need for secure transmission that was more sophisticated. Codes are very susceptible to breaking and possess a large exposure surface with regard to interception and decryption via analysis. Also, there are no easily-implemented means by which to detect breaches in the system. The other method of encryption is the cipher. Instead of replacing words or blocks of numbers or symbols with others, as does the code, the cipher replaces individual or smaller sets of letters, numbers, or characters with others, based on a certain algorithm and key. Digital data and information, including vi deo, audio, and text, can be separated into groups, or blocks, of bits, and then manipulated for encryption by such methods as XOR (exclusive OR), encoding-decoding, and rotation. As an example, let us examine the basics of the XOR method. Here, a group of bits (e.g., a byte) of the data is compared to a digital key, and the exclusive-or operation is performed on the two to produce an encrypted result. Figure 2 illustrates the process. Figure 2: The XOR process for Encryption When the exclusive-or operation is performed on the plaintext and key, the ciphertext emerges and is sent. The receiver performs the exclusive-or operation on the ciphertext and the same key, and the original plaintext is reproduced [5]. Encryption can be reversible and irreversible. Irreversible techniques do not allow the encrypted data to be decrypted, but at the same time the encrypted data can be used to obtain valid statistical information. Irreversible techniques are rarely used as compared to the reversible ones. The whole process of transmitting data securely over an insecure network system is called as cryptosystem that includes à » An encryption key to encrypt the data (plaintext) à » An encryption algorithm that transforms the plaintext into encrypted information (ciphertext) with the encryption key à » A decryption key to decrypt the ciphertext à » A decryption algorithm that transforms the ciphertext back into plaintext using the decryption key [1]. 2.2 Encryption Techniques The goals in digital encryption are no different than those of historical encryption schemes. The difference is found in the methods, not the objectives. Secrecy of the message and keys are of paramount importance in any system, whether they are on parchment paper or in an electronic or optical format [5]. Various encryption techniques are available and broadly can be classified into two categories; asymmetric and symmetric encryption. In symmetric encryption the sender and receiver share the same algorithm and key for encryption and decryption and depends on safe communication network for encryption key exchange whereas in asymmetric encryption uses different keys for encryption and decryption. Asymmetric encryption gave birth to the concept of public and private keys and is preferred to symmetric encryption being more secure [1], [5]. 2.2.1 Symmetric Encryption Symmetric encryption also known as single-key encryption or conventional encryption was the only encryption and by far the most widely used of the two types before the concept of public-key encryption came into picture. The figure below illustrates the symmetric encryption process. The original message (plaintext) is converted into apparently random information (ciphertext) using an algorithm and a key. The key is a value independent of the plaintext. The algorithm produces different outputs for specific keys used at the time i.e. the output of the algorithm changes if the key is changed. The ciphertext produced is then transmitted and is transformed back to the original plaintext by using a decryption algorithm and the same key that was used for encryption. Figure: Simplified Model of Conventional Encryption [7 page 22] The model can be better understood by the following example. A source produces a message X = [X1, X2, X3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦XM] in plaintext. The M elements of X are letters in some finite alphabet. The alphabet usually consisted of 26 capital letters traditionally but nowadays; binary alphabet {0,1} is used. An encryption key K = [K1, K2, K3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.KJ] is generated and is shared between the sender and the receiver using a secure channel. Also a third party can generate the encryption key and securely deliver it to both the sender and the receiver. Using the plaintext X and the encryption key K as input, the encryption algorithm produces the ciphertext Y = [Y1, Y2, Y3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.YN] as Y = EK(X) where E is the encryption algorithm and the ciphertext Y is produced as the function of the plaintext X using E. At the receivers end the ciphertext is converted back to the plaintext as X = DK(Y) where D is the decryption algorithm. Figure: Model of Conventional Cryptosystem [7 page 23] The common symmetric block ciphers are Data Encryption Standard (DES), Triple DES, and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 2.2.1.1 The Data Encryption Standard Data Encryption Standard has been used in the most widely used encryption schemes including Kerberos 4.0. The National Bureau of Standards adopted it as a standard in 1977 [7]. DES operates on 64-bit blocks using a 56-bit key. Like other encryption schemes, in DES there are two inputs to the encryption function, the plaintext to be encrypted and the key. The plaintext should be of 64 bits in length and the key length is 56 bits obtained by stripping off the 8 parity bits, ignoring every eighth bit from the given 64-bit key. The output from the algorithm after 16 rounds of identical operations is the 64-bit block of ciphertext. A suitable combination of permutations and combinations (16 times) on the plaintext is the basic building block of the DES. Same algorithm is used for both encryption and decryption except for processing the key schedule in the reverse order [6], [7]. The 64-bit plaintext is passed through an initial permutation (IP) that produces a permuted input by rearranging the bits. This is followed by16 rounds of the same function, which involves both permutation and substitution functions. The last round results in the output consisting of 64-bits that are a function of the input plaintext and the key. The left and the right halves of the output are swapped to produce the preoutput. The preoutput is passed through a final permutation (IP-1), an inverse of the initial permutation function to achieve the 64-bit ciphertext. The overall process for DES is explained in the diagram below Figure: General Depiction of DES Encryption Algorithm [7 page 67] The right hand side of the diagram explains how the 56-bit key is used during the process. The key is passed through a permutation function initially and then for each of the 16 rounds a subkey (Ki) is generated, by combining left circular shift and a permutation. For every round the permutation function is same, but the subkey is different because of the repeated iteration of the key bits. Since the adoption of DES as a standard, there have always been concerns about the level of security provided by it. The two areas of concern in DES are the key length and that the design criteria for the internal structure of the DES, the S-boxes, were classified. The issue with the key length was, it was reduced to 56 bits from 128 bits as in the LUCIFER algorithm [add a new reference], which was the base for DES and everyone suspected that this is an enormous decrease making it too short to withstand brute-force attacks. Also the user could not be made sure of any weak points in the internal structure of DES that would allow NSA to decipher the messages without the benefit of the key. The recent work on differential cryptanalysis and subsequent events indicated that the internal structure of DES is very strong. 2.2.1.2 Triple DES Triple DES was developed as an alternative to the potential vulnerability of the standard DES to a brute-force attack. It became very popular in Internet-based applications. Triple DES uses multiple encryptions with DES and multiple keys as shown in the figure [below]. Triple DES with two keys is relatively preferred to DES but Triple DES with three keys is preferred overall. The plaintext P is encrypted with the first key K1, then decrypted with the second key K2 and then finally encrypted again with the third key K3.According to the figure the ciphertext C is produced as C = EK3[DK2[EK1[P]]] These keys need to be applied in the reverse order while decrypting. The ciphertext c is decrypted with the third key K3 first, then encrypted with the second key K2, and then finally decrypted again with the first key K1; also called as Encrypt-Decrypt-Encrypt (EDE) mode, producing the plaintext P as P = DK1[EK2[DK3[C]]] Figure: Triple DES encryption/decryption [6 page 72] 2.2.1.3 Advanced Encryption Standard 2.3 Encryption in Database Security Organizations are increasingly relying on, possibly distributed, information systems for daily business; hence they become more vulnerable to security breaches even as they gain productivity and efficiency advantages. Database security has gained a substantial importance over the period of time. Database security has always been about protecting the data data in the form of customer information, intellectual property, financial assets, commercial transactions, and any number of other records that are retained, managed and used on the systems. The confidentiality and integrity of this data needs to be protected as it is converted into information and knowledge within the enterprise. Core enterprise data is stored in relational databases and then offered up via applications to users. These databases typically store the most valuable information assets of an enterprise and are under constant threat, not only from the external users but also from the legitimate users such as trusted ins iders, super users, consultants and partners or perhaps their unprotected user accounts that compromise the system and take or modify the data for some inappropriate purpose. To begin with, classifying the types of information in the database and the security needs associated with them is the first and important step. As databases are used in a multitude of ways, it is useful to have some of the primary functions characterized in order to understand the different security requirements. A number of security techniques have been developed and are being developed for database security, encryption being one of them. Encryption is defined as the process of transforming information (plaintext) using an encryption algorithm (cipher) into unreadable form (encrypted information called as ciphertext) making it inaccessible to anyone without possessing special knowledge to decrypt the information. The encoding of the data by a special algorithm that renders the data unreadable by any program without the decryption key, is called encryption [1]. 2.3.1 Access Encryption There are multiple reasons for access control to confidential information in enterprise computing environments being challenging. Few of them are: First, the number of information services in an enterprise computing environment is huge which makes the management of access rights essential. Second, a client might not know which access rights are necessary in order to be granted access to the requested information before requesting access. Third, flexible access rights including context-sensitive constraints must be supported by access control Access control schemes can be broadly classified in two types: proof-based and encryption-based access control schemes. In a proof-based scheme, a client needs to assemble some access rights in a proof of access, which demonstrates to a service that the client is authorized to access the requested information. Proof-based access control is preferred to be used for scenarios where client specific access rights required are flexible. It becomes easy to include support for constraints if the access rights are flexible. However, it is not the same case for covert access requirements. According to the existing designs, it is assumed that a service can inform a client of the nature of the required proof of access. The service does not need to locate the required access rights, which can be an expensive task, in proof-based access control scheme. [9] In an encryption-based access-control scheme, confidential information is provided to any client in an encrypted form by the service. Clients who are authorized to access the information have the corresponding decryption key. Encryption-based access-control scheme is attractive for scenarios where there are lots of queries to a service shielding the service from having to run client-specific access control. As compared to proof-based access control it is straightforward to add support for covert access requirements to existing encryption-based architectures. In particular, all the information is encrypted by the service as usual, but the client is not told about the corresponding decryption key to use. The client has a set of decryption keys, the client now needs to search this set for a matching key. On the other hand, considering that key management should remain simple, it is less straightforward to add support for constraints on access rights to the proposed architectures. [10] 2.3.1.1 Encryption-Based Access Control Encryption-based access control is attractive, in case there are lots of requests for the same information, as it is independent of the individual clients issuing these requests. For example, an information item can be encrypted once and the service can use the ciphertext for answering multiple requests. However, dealing with constraints on access rights and with granularity aware access rights becomes difficult with the uniform treatment of requests. Further challenges are presented in cases of covert access requirements and service-independent access rights. The main requirements for encryption based access control are: à » Any knowledge about the used encryption key or the required decryption key must not be revealed by the encrypted information. à » For decrypting encrypted information, each value of a constraint must require a separate key that should be accessible only under the given constraint/value combination and we want a scheme that supports hierarchical constraints to make key management simple. à » The decryption key for coarse-grained information should be derivable from the key for fine-grained information to further simplify key management. à » A single decryption key will be used to decrypt the same information offered by multiple services as implied by the service-independent access rights. Because of this, same information can be accessed by a service encrypting information offered by other services in a symmetric cryptosystem. This problem can be avoided by using asymmetric cryptosystem. [8] 2.3.1.2 Encryption-Based Access Control Techniques An access-control architecture will be an ideal one if the access rights are simple to manage; the system is constrainable and is aware of granularity. The architecture also has to be asymmetric, provide indistinguishability, and be personalizable in the case of proof-based access control. Some common encryption-based access control techniques are: Identity Based Encryption An identity-based encryption scheme is specified by four randomized algorithms: à » Setup: takes a security parameter k and returns system parameters and master-key. The system parameters include a description of a finite message space m and a description of a finite ciphertext space c. Intuitively, the system parameters will be publicly known, while the master-key will be known only to the Private Key Generator (PKG). à » Extract: takes as input system parameters, master-key, and an arbitrary ID à Ã‚ µ {0,1}*, and returns a private key d. ID is an arbitrary string which is then used as a public key, and d is the corresponding private decryption key. The Extract algorithm extracts a private key from the given public key. à » Encrypt: takes as input system parameters, ID, and M à Ã‚ µ m. It returns a ciphertext C à Ã‚ µ c. à » Decrypt: takes as input system parameters, C à Ã‚ µ c, and a private key d. It returns M à Ã‚ µ m. Standard consistency constraint must be satisfied by these algorithms, especially when d is the private key generated by algorithm Extract when it is given ID as the public key, then à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â€š ¬ M à Ã‚ µ m: Decrypt (params, d) = M where C = Encrypt (params, ID, M) [11] Hierarchical Identity-Based Encryption One of the first practical IBE schemes was presented by Boneh and Franklin. Gentry and Silverberg [7] introduced Hierarchical Identity-Based Encryption scheme based on Boneh and Franklins work. In HIBE, private keys are given out by a root PKG to the sub PKGs, which then in turn distribute private keys to individuals (sub PKGs) in their domains. There are IDs associated with the root PKG and the public key of an individual corresponds to these IDs, any sub PKGs on the path from the root PKG to the individual, and the individual. Public parameters are required only from the root PKG for encrypting messages. It has the advantage of reducing the amount o

Improving homeland security: challenges and improvement Essay

The United States of America had its share of enemies since it was considered as the new military superpower. But with regards to intelligence work and the ability to thwart an attack by an external army nothing was as dramatic as the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. It was a painful lesson in intelligence failure and past presidents vowed it will never happen again. But when 9/11 shook the nation, with an attack closer to home, many are wondering who dropped the ball in terms of intelligence work. This paper will look at the major challenges faced by the US intelligence community and the subsequent changes and transformation initiated by government officials to bring upon a marked improvement when it comes to information gathering and preventing future attacks in the US homeland. Before going any further it is important to examine the historical background of US intelligence and how it was shaped by global events especially during World War II and the Cold War with the former Union Soviet Socialists Republic of Russia. The discussion will then come in sharp focus to the events surrounding the infamous September 11, 2001 attacks. Background At the turn of the century, the American government, buoyed by the economic progress from the Industrial Age began to rise as a superpower. It was considered by many in the global arena as a force to contend with. Yet it took an unprovoked attack from an Imperial Army of Japan to finally force into everyone’s consciousness that indeed America is both feared and respected. So, one Sunday morning, more than sixty years ago, Hawaii – part of the Union yet situated far away in the Pacific – was mercilessly bombed by Japanese planes. The former President Franklin D. Roosevelt was right in denouncing the surprise attack as a day of infamy. There was no doubt that it was a day of ill repute as America was rudely made aware of their fast rising status. And with it comes enemies who perceive America as a threat or a country guilty of exploiting others. Whatever the perception, the US government will have to defend itself from enemies both foreign and domestic. Intelligence Failure In the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, the U. S. intelligence community was severely criticized for failing to warn the nation of an impending attack from the Japanese aggressors. It was found out late that there was enough intelligence gathered to have alerted the army base there, but it was largely ignored. This is a classic example of intelligence failure and the consequence of which lingers on for a long time. The Pearl Harbor incident was the catalyst that transformed the US Intelligence community. From then on the intelligence gathering capability of the United States of America was forced to improve. And then again, complacency is the predictable effect of success. When America’s chief nemesis the USSR was toppled down, America finds itself in unfamiliar territory, a world where there is no one to challenge and serve as a counter-balance to America’s military superiority. When everything was quiet no one was able to anticipate that it was merely the calm before the storm so to speak. History eerily repeated itself, the infamy of Pearl Harbor was relived again and this time it was not a thousand miles away from the center of America but the enemy struck the economic nerve center of the nation. It was the same cowardly attack that stunned an unprepared government and its people. Predictably, just as it was in Pearl Harbor, there were also a great number of casualties. In spite of the previous changes and improvements, the US Intelligence community was again caught flat footed. Intelligent Work According to Michael Turner intelligence gathering can have a variety of definitions but for the professional it is encapsulated in the following statements: †¦intelligence is a particular kind of information that helps to inform, instruct, and educate the policy world. To consumers of intelligence – the policy makers – intelligence is that and more. To political leaders [†¦] a political liability, depending on whether intelligence information helps or hinders the fulfillment of political goals (2005, p. 3). Intelligence gathering is therefore a tool that helps create certainty in a very uncertain world. It follows therefore that intelligence gathering is not merely the action of collecting data but would also mean the interpretation of the same. This aspect of intelligence gathering requires attention and the neglect of which is the root of many intelligence failures. It is simply not enough to have data but there must also be an equally effective means of interpreting the said information. Adapting to Change For thousands of years the nature of warfare remained constant. Thus, two opposing camps fight it out in the battlefield. There was the effective use of troop movement and the use of military hardware. The commander who can utilize men and resources effectively wins the battle and ultimately the war. But since 9/11 the world has been rudely awakened to a different type of warfare. It is guerilla tactics brought into urban centers and far away from the traditional fields of war. If this is the new face of war then intelligence gathering must also be transformed to adapt to it. Intelligence gathering must now be geared towards an enemy led not by a traditional army but extremists who will fight for a cause that sometimes transcend national boundaries. Rendered Ineffective Aside from the guerilla tactics used by the members of the Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups another reason for the failure of the US response were the laws that prevented for a more thorough investigation of suspicious characters. The strength of America which is the significant number of civil liberties enjoyed by its citizens became the liability that was exploited by the terrorists. In fact the 9/11 Commission pointed out that there were laws that were enacted to curtail some of the investigative powers of the FBI. According to the 9/11 Commission, â€Å"The FBI was criticized, rightly, for the overzealous domestic intelligence investigations disclosed during the 1970s. The pendulum swung away from those types of investigations during the 1980s and 1990s† (see 9/11 Commission Report). The FBI was then forced to take on kids gloves when treating suspected terrorists. Al-Qaeda on the other hand perceived these new developments as weaknesses they can exploit. Aside from ineffective laws the US Intelligence community has to deal with a host of other problems that includes 1) the improper analysis of information and intelligence; 2) the lack of coordination between government agencies; and 3) the absence of system where law enforcement agencies as well as counter-terror groups can share information. Human Intelligence But the most significant intelligence source with regards to the topic is â€Å"HUMINT† or human intelligence. And the reason is easy to understand – there are a lot of problematic factors related to this type of intelligence. First of all most information gathered through this method can be considered as secondary. There must be a way of processing raw data in order to determine its accuracy. In this regard there is now a move to develop technical and human resources that will be able to fully analyze â€Å"humint† as expounded in the following statements: The very nature of the transnational threat demands that we have analysts with language capabilities and are knowledge to understand local situations in relationship to global, transnational, and international trends and impacts. Analysts need a professional network that transcends territorial borders, and they need to be comfortable turning to local as well as global information (Sands, 2005, p. 75).

The Opening

It is named Al-Fatihah, the Opening – in light of the fact that it opens the Book and by it the recitation in supplication starts. It is additionally named Umm al-Qur'an, the Mother of the Qur'an, and Umm al-Kitab, the Mother of the Book in light of the way that the noteworthiness of the whole Qur'an is outlined in that. It is in like way named Sab'ul-Mathani, (the Seven Often Repeated Verses), Al-Hamd, (the Praise), Al-Shifa (The Cure) and Ar-Ruqya, the Spiritual Cure. Its recitation is a condition for the reasonableness of the demand. It is the Mecci Surah of the Holy Quran, which construes that it was found on the Prophet of God while He was in Makkah, i.e. before movement to Madina. It was at first the fifth part to be revealed yet after Furqan e Hameed was assembled, it was put toward the start. Al-Fatiha itself infers â€Å"The Opening† as this territory comes content with beginning of the Holy Book and fills in as a Gateway to look at Quran Majeed further. In addition, it in like way fills in as the beginning of Salah. It in like way has the pleasure of being the standard Surah that is made known totally. Disregarding the way that it includes 7 Ayats just, yet despite it explains the Veneration of the Almighty in an incredibly comprehensive way and also is a sensational system for supplication of advancing toward Allah for keeping one on the correct way. THEME: Allah has instructed in this Surah to mankind to offer supplication to Him, who is the Lord of this universe before chasing down course and Who alone can permit it. The reader should have a firm conviction that the Creator of the universe is the wellspring of all data and the examination of Quran can give him guidance. Islam requires a man to start everything with the name of Allah. By doing this he will keep himself a long way from questionable and wrong deeds. By then there is offered to of Allah Who is Master, Owner, Sustainer, Provider, Guardian, Sovereign, Ruler, Administrator and Organizer. By then it is consolidated that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment, in this way, everyone is responsible for his deeds. Humankind is only admirer of the Lord and thusly, mankind is requesting bearing in each walk around life. The course which make mankind positive is required. The individual will's character off track will continue on through the savagery of Allah (SWT)VIRTUES: There are many virtues related to this Surah.Hazrat Abu Saeed al-Khudri narrates: â€Å"While on a journey we finished at a place. A young woman came to us and expressed: â€Å"The leader of this group has been stung by a scorpion and our men are truant, is there anybody among you who can recite something upon him to treat him?† Then, one of our men obliged her in spite of the way that we didn't deduce that he knew any such treatment. In any case, our sidekick went to the manager and examined something upon him and the supervisor was cured. Instantly, the manager gave him thirty sheep and gave each one of us deplete to drink. When he returned, we asked our buddy: â€Å"Did you know anything to introduce upon him to cure him?† He expressed: â€Å"No, I just talked about Umm al-Kitab (i.e. Surah al-Fatiha) upon him.† We said that don't do anything until the point that the moment that we accomplish Madinah and ask the Prophet as for this (sharpen and reward whether the sheep were lawful or not for us). In the wake of accomplishing Madinah, we depicted this to the Prophet (PBUH), whereupon he remarked: â€Å"How might he come to understand that Al-Fatiha can be used as a cure? (PBUH) Distribute your reward among yourselves and a ton an offer for me likewise†.† (Sahih Bukhari) TAFSEER OF SURAH AL-FATIAH:In the Name of Allah The main ayah of Surah Fatiha is: For the sake of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. (Al-Fatiha: 1) This expression is known as the bismillah. It regards recount it before doing any activity. The Meaning of the letter Baa The Baa in the Arabic dialect can have three distinct implications:With – With/for the sake of AllahSeeking help – Seeking help of the name of AllahSeeking favoring – Seeking favoring with the name of Allah The Meaning of al-Rahman and al-Raheem Both these names are gotten from a similar root letters: raa, haa, meem; which intends to show kindness.They are in this way comparable in importance and both are associated with Allah's (SWT) Mercy. The way that Allah (SWT) notices two of His Names which show to do with Mercy, instead of Might and Power or so on, demonstrates exactly how essential this Attribute is. The distinction between al-Rahman and al-Raheem is that al-Rahman alludes to Allah's (SWT) Mercy to all of creation. It is His Mercy which is stretched out to the two adherents and doubters; creatures, and everything that exists. He says in the Qur'an: My Mercy envelops all things. (Al-A'raf: 156) Al-Rahman in this manner shows the outrageous boundlessness of Allah's (SWT) Mercy. It is said in a hadith that Allah (SWT) isolated Mercy into 100 sections and sent down just a single part to this dunya. It is from this one a player in His Mercy that creatures indicate kindness to their posterity (Sahih Muslim). Al-Raheem alludes to Allah's (SWT) Mercy which is particular for the devotees. He says in the Qur'an: Also, He is Full of Mercy to the Believers. (al-Ahzab: 43) Al-Raheem in this way demonstrates the doing of an activity. All Praise is because of Allah The second ayah is: All acclaim be to Allah, the Lord of the considerable number of universes. (Al-Fatiha: 2) The Meaning of Hamd and the Difference amongst Hamd and Shukr Hamd implies applaud and furthermore appreciation. The researchers contrasted with regards to the connection between the words hamd and shukr. Some said that they both have a similar importance. In this way, the significance of hamd, in their view, is the same as shukr (appreciation, appreciation). Hamd is something which must be finished with adoration and veneration, however shukr does not require this. Shukr is helped in light of out which is done to a man however hamd is done basically on the grounds that the one being lauded and said thanks to is deserving of that. The Meaning of Rabb Rabb is normally deciphered as Lord yet it is significantly more including than that. It likewise incorporates the importance of Nurturer, Sustainer, Cherisher et cetera. The Rabb is the maker, ruler, ace and the person who controls everything. It originates from the root letters raa, baa, baa: which intends to have dominance and control over something. The Meaning of ‘Aalameen A portion of the contrasting perspectives about it are that it alludes to: 1-Everything which exists other than Allah ta'aalaa 2-Mankind and the jinn 3-Those things which have an insightfulness, and they are four: humankind, jinn, holy messengers, and fiends 4-Those things which have souls The best view is the first, the confirmation being ayah 23 and 24 of Surah Shu'ara. (23) Said Pharaoh, â€Å"And what is the Lord of the universes?† (24) [Moses] stated, â€Å"The Lord of the sky and earth and that between them, on the off chance that you ought to be persuaded.† The Beneficent, The Most Merciful The third ayah is: The Beneficent, The Most Merciful. (Al-Fatiha: 3) The clarification of these two names has just been given. Why at that point is it rehashed? This is to by and by accentuation the significance of the nature of leniency. Likewise, when something is rehashed in the Qur'an, at that point you should take a gander at the ayah before it and after it, to perceive how they are connected. For this situation, the past ayah specified that Allah (SWT) is the Rabb of the considerable number of universes. In this way, His rehashing the words, al-Rahman al-Raheem from that point forward, demonstrates to us that His being the Rabb – His taking of and supporting and accommodating us – is all piece of His Mercy towards us. Ace of the Day of Reward The fourth ayah is: The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. (Al-Fatiha: 3) The Meaning of Maalik: The principal expression of this ayah can be discussed in two courses: either as â€Å"Maalik† (with a madd after the meem) or as â€Å"Malik† (without the madd). Maalik implies ace, and it alludes to â€Å"drain† – the responsibility for. Malik implies ruler, and it alludes to â€Å"mulk† – the domain of a man. God is the Lord of the Day when all ages of humanity assemble on request to render a record of their lead, and when every individual will be at long last remunerated or rebuffed for his deeds. The portrayal of God as Lord of the Day of Judgment following the say of his generosity and sympathy demonstrates that we should recollect another part of God too to be specific, that He will judge all of us, that He is so totally intense, that on the Day of Judgment nobody will have the power either to oppose the requirement of disciplines that He declares or to keep anybody from getting the prizes that He chooses to give. Consequently, we should not exclusively to love Him for supporting and managing us and for His sympathy and kindness towards us, however ought to likewise hold Him in amazement on account of His equity, and ought not overlook that our definitive bliss or hopelessness rests totally with Him. You (Alone) We Worship The fifth ayah is: (Only you) we love and (only you) we request help. (Al-Fatiha: 5) Now, there is a move in the Surah from educating us about Allah (SWT) and commending Him, to tending to Him.†We revere† implies we comply. Love is dutifulness and self-humbling. It intends to lower yourself before Allah (SWT) and to submit to His Will. Apparently it is self-dishonor, however actually, it is eminence and beautification. The ayah certifies the Lordship of Allah and asserts that love is because of Him. â€Å"Iyyaaka nasta'een† implies we look for help, support and achievement. As a rule, in many sentences the verb starts things out and after that the protest; yet in this ayah the question of the verb is specified first and after that the verb. So why would that be? It is with a specific end goal to append significance to it, to Allah (SWT). It likewise alludes the status of the slave and his love which is bring down so it will come in the wake of specifying the Lord, Allah (SWT). Guide us on the Straight Path The 6th ayah is: Guide us on the Straight Path. (Al-Fatiha: 5) This ayah is a dua which we make to Allah (SWT). We request that he demonstrate to us the Straight Path and to direct us on it, with the goal that we will get His Guidance which moves us nearer and closer to Him. We have to battle towards Allah (SWT) by doing great deeds and by avoiding every single terrible deed which will separate us from Him. The Meaning of Siraat Siraat is a street or a way. Be that as it may, there are sure conditions which it needs to satisfy keeping in mind the end goal to be a siraat else it would be called something unique, for example, tareeq or sabeel which additionally mean a street. The conditions are that it must be straight. It must achieve the objective and it must be the most limited course to arrive. It should likewise be wide and sufficiently roomy for everybody who needs to movement it. The Meaning of MustaqeemMustaqeem is gotten from istaqaama, which intends to be straight, upright, amend. We as of now said that for a street to be a sirat it must be straight, so this modifier of mustaqeem again accentuation the straightness of this Path. Another significance of mustaqeem is to stay firm or to stand firm without tilting. For instance, a tree that is solidly grounded when the breeze passes up it. Along these lines, the Straight Path is a way on which individuals are immovably grounded. The Path of Those The seventh and last ayah is: The way of those you have favored, not of those with outrage on them, nor of the individuals who are off track. (Al-Fatiha: 7) Who are the general population who have been honored by Allah (SWT) and whose Path we request to manual for? This is clarified by Allah (SWT) in another ayah where He says: Whosoever obeys Allah, and the Messenger, they are with those whom Allah has favored, the Prophets, the earnest, the saints and the equitable, and these are the best organization. (Al-Nisa': 69) In this way, the favored and favored individuals are the Prophets, the equitable, the saints and the devout. What's more, who are the general population with outrage on them and the individuals who are off track? This is clarified by the Prophet. ‘Adi ibn Hatim (RA) got some information about those with outrage on them and he answered that it alludes to the Jews. He at that point got some information about the individuals who are off track and he answered that it alludes to the Christians. This is accounted for by al-Tirmidhi and is credible.Effect on the life of a Muslim1-Forgoing gaining His dismay and endeavouring to acquire his supportIn a Hadith described by Companion Abu-Sa'ad (RA), a section read: â€Å"I will instruct a Surah which is the best Surah in the Quran before you leave the Masjid†. At that point he grabbed hold of my hand and when he planned to leave [the Masjid], I asked him, â€Å"Did you not state that you would show me a Surah which is the best Surah in the Qur'an?† He answered, â€Å"Yes. It is [the Surah initiating with], ‘All acclaim and thanks are because of Allah'. It is the Seven Oft-Repeated verses and the Great Qur'an that has been given to me.† 2.The regularly adoring, consistently managing nature of God The petition incorporated into the part is routed to God following the revelation by the devotee that he looks for assistance from nobody else however God. This equitable indicates the hugeness of the idea that, God alone is the turner of fortunes, the reliever of agony and the planner of predeterminations. Along these lines, an adherent ought to dependably swing to God for help as no one but He can change things around for him. This idea helps the devotee to enjoy supplication for his improvement. 3.Have confidence in God's Mercy The verses of this section incorporate a stressed specify of God's kindness. It expands the psyche of an adherent to realize that God is dependably there to hear us out, excuse us and better our lives. This general concept gives the devotee an extreme shelter; the asylum of God's unfathomable kindness. It's that place of refuge you can simply swing to if your expectation is honorable and confidence is clear. 4.Affirmation of God's characteristics The verses say God's lordship over the world and the great beyond. It passes on the adherent a basic thought that whatever lies in this world is made, kept up and directed by God alone and whatever lies past and after this world; the great beyond, is likewise represented by God in totality. This sets being an unassuming hireling of God and partner all acclaim because of Him. The Opening â€Å"In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"(All) praise is (only) Allah's, the Lord of the Worlds.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Beneficent, The Merciful.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Master of the Day of Judgement.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Guide us (O' Lord) on the Straight Path.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Thy bounties, not (the path) of those inflicted with Thy wrath, nor (of those) gone astray.â€Å"The Opening (Surah e Fatiha) has a different opening tone as compared to other surahs, its tone is extraordinary and has a particular style which is clearly different from others. The others surah of Quran includes commands for the mankind from Allah, whereas Surah e Fatiha is a way for the mankind to speak and communicate to their creator Allah Almighty without any mediator.It is a Mecci surah of Quran which means it was discovered by Prophet PBUH when he was in Makkah. It is kept at the the beginning of Quran and serves as a gateway to read the Holy Quran. It consists of 7 surahs and it is also a way to salah.Theme:Surah e Fatiha is described as the Mother of the Quran and the Seven oft-repeated verses. It describes the basic tenets of Islam, belief in Allah, the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and the purification of the soul and character. In many ways, Surah e Fatiha is a summary of the main themes of the Qur'an. The scholars have mentioned that the Qur'an is broadly divided into 3 main themes. Number one the Quran speaks about Allah, number two about the Prophets and past nations, and number three about the halal and haram.Allah: In the first three verses of the surah Allah Almighty tells about the very first principle that is to know Allah about His creation, His power, His attributes, His names. It gives us the message of Tauheed. It tells us that Allah is the most merciful and most beneficent and that He is the owner of the day of Judgement.Prophet:In the next verses of Surah, the second principle is described. It tells us to follow the Prophet PBUH his sacrifices, his life, his way of living, his character. It tells us to follow the straight path, the path of Prophet Muhammad PBUH to follow his Sunnah. And that he is the best example to follow.Halal and Haram:After following the first two principles a person heart becomes pure and it allows a person to do only those things that Allah lov es and follow the Sunnah and straight path of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH this helps a person to do halal deeds which leads to attain Allah's grace, blessings and love.Whereas if a person will not follow the first two principles it will lead to the creation of an evil person who does bad deeds and we only get Allah's wrath and anger.Virtue of Surah e Fatiha:There are many virtues of Surah e Fatiha such asIbn ‘Abbas narrated:†While Jibril was with the Messenger of Allah, he heard a noise from above. Jibril lifted his sight to the sky and said: â€Å"This is a door in the Heavens being opened, and it has never been opened before now.† An Angel descended from that door and came to the Prophet and said: â€Å"Receive the glad tidings of two lights that you have been given, which no other Prophet before you was given The Opening of the Book (Al Fatiha) and the last verses of ‘al-Baqarah.' You will not read a letter of them except that you will gain its benefit.† (Sahih Muslim).B) Impact of Surah e Fatiha On the Life of Muslim:There are many impact of surah e fatiha on the life of a Muslim. It is a blessing and holds a great position in the heart of every Muslim. By accepting every single word of it a person submits himself to Allah and because of submission of a person to Allah SWT we shape our lives in every manner possible. We recite surah e fatiha 17 times a day and without it our prayer remains incomplete. It helps us solve all our problems in daily life and connect us to Allah. It creates a mentality in the believer that the road to every moment of happiness and contentment. Every word of each verse nurture a sense of gratitude for the losses, hardships, and disappointments we face in life, by realizing that Allah offers us an opportunity to gain nearness to Him and forgiveness and rewards through patience during such events in life.C) Tafseer of Surah e Fatiha:The first verse:The first ayat of Surah Fatiha is: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. It is known as bismillah. It is good and necessary to recite before every action. The Meaning of al-Rahman and al-Raheem:Both these names are derived from the same root letters: raa,haa, meem; which means to have mercy. They both similar in meaning and both are connected to Allah. The fact that Allah and mention of two of His Names which have to do with Mercy, rather than Might and Power, to show just how important this is. The difference between al-Rahman and al-Raheem is that al-Rahman refers to Allah mercy to all of creation. It is His mercy which is extended to everything that exists.Al-Raheem refers to Allah's mercy which is specific for the believers. It indicates the doing of actionsThe second verse:The second ayat is: All praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. The word hamd means praise and thankfulness. The meaning of hamd, is the same as shukr. Hamd is something which must be done with love and affection, but shukr does not need this. Shukr is done in response to a favour which is done to a person but hamd is done simply because the one being praised and thanked. The Meaning of Rabb and Aalameen:Rabb is usually means and translate as Lord but it is much more. The Rabb is the creator, the king, the master and the one who controls everything in this universe. It comes from the root letters raa, baa which means to have control over everything.Aalameen means everything which exists other than Allah that is mankind, jinn, angels, and devils. In short, all those things which have souls.The third verse:The third ayat is: The Beneficent, The Most Merciful. The explanation of these two names has already been given. Why is it repeated? This is to once again emphasize the importance of the mercy. Also, when something is repeated in the Quran, then you should look at the ayat before it and aft er it, to see how they are related. In this case, the previous ayah mentioned that Allah is the Rabb of all the worlds. So, repeating the words, al-Rahman and al-Raheem after that, shows us that being the Rabb He provides us mercy.The fourth verse:The fourth ayat is: The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense.The Meaning of Maalik. Maalik means master and refers to â€Å"milk† that is the ownership of something whereas Malik means king, and it refers to â€Å"mulk† that is the dominion of a person. God is the Lord of the Day of Judgement. He will judge us He is powerful, that on the Day of Judgement no one will have the power either to resist the enforcement of punishments that He decrees or to prevent anyone from receiving the rewards that he decides to bestow. Hence, we should not forget that our ultimate happiness or misery rests completely with Him. The fifth verse:The fifth ayat is: You (alone) we worship and You (alone) we ask for help. Now we are addressing Allah. Worship means to obey, it means to submit yourself before Allah and to His Will. The ayah tells us that lordship and worship is due to Him. â€Å"Iyyaaka nasta'een† means we seek help, support and success. Usually, in most sentences the verb comes first and then the object but here the object of the verb is mentioned first and then the verb so to attach importance to it, to Allah refers the status of the slave and his worship which is lower so it will come after mentioning the Lord, Allah. The sixth verse:The sixth ayat is: Guide us on the Straight Path. This ayah is a dua which we make to show us the straight path and to guide us on it, so that we will get guidance and get closer to Him. We must prevent ourselves from doing bad deeds so that it doesn't draw us far away from Allah The Meaning of Siraat and Mustaqeem:Siraat is a road or a path. The ways to fulfil a siraat is tareeq or sabeel which also mean a road. The conditions are that it must be straight,reach the goal, it must be the shortest route to get there, must also be wide and spacious enough for everyone who wants to travel it.Mustaqeem is derived from the word istaqaama, which means to be straight, upright.The adjective of mustaqeem is to emphasize again the straightness of this path. The seventh and final verse:The seventh ayat is:The path of those you have blessed, not of those with anger on them, nor of those who are astray.So, the favoured and blessed people are the Prophets, the martyrs and the pious. And who are the people with anger on them and those who are astray? This is explained by the Prophet. ‘Adi ibn Hatim (RA) asked him about those with anger on them and he replied that it refers to the Jews. He then asked him about those who are astray and he replied that it refers to the Christians. This is reported by al-Tirmidhi and is authentic.

How Napoleon Became Emperor of France

Napoleon Bonaparte first took political power in France through a coup against the old government, but he had not instigated it: that had principally been the plotting of Sieyes. What Napoleon did was to capitalize on the situation in order to dominate the new ruling Consulate and gain control of France by creating a constitution which bound his interests to many of the most powerful people in France: the landowners. He was then able to use this to leverage his support into being declared Emperor. The passage of a leading general through the end of a revolutionary series of governments and into an emperor was not clear and could have failed, but Napoleon showed as much skill in this area of politics as he did on the battlefield. Why the Landowners Supported Napoleon The revolution had stripped the land and wealth from the churches and much of the aristocracy and sold it to landowners who were now terrified that royalists, or some sort of comprise government, would strip them of it, in turn, and restore it. There were calls for the return of the crown (small at this point, but present), and a new monarch would surely rebuild the church and aristocracy. Napoleon thus created a constitution which gave many of these landowners power, and as he said they should retain the land (and allowed them to block any movement of land), ensured that they would, in turn, support him as leader of France. Why Landowners Wanted an Emperor However, the constitution only made Napoleon First Consul for ten years, and people began to fear what would happen when Napoleon left. This allowed him to secure the nomination of the consulship for life in 1802: if Napoleon didn’t have to be replaced after a decade, land was safe for longer. Napoleon also used this period to pack more of his men into government while debasing the other structures, further increasing his support. The result was, by 1804, a ruling class which was loyal to Napoleon, but now worrying what would happen on his death, a situation exacerbated by an assassination attempt and their First Consul’s habit of leading armies (hed already nearly been killed in battle and would later wish he had been). The expelled French monarchy was still waiting outside the nation, threatening to return all ‘stolen’ property: could they ever come back, such as had happened in England? The result, enflamed by Napoleon’s propaganda and his family, was the idea that Napoleon’s government must be made hereditary so hopefully, on Napoleon’s death, an heir who thought like his father would inherit and safeguard land. Emperor of France Consequently, on May 18th, 1804, the Senate – who had all been chosen by Napoleon — passed a law making him Emperor of the French (he had rejected king as both too close to the old royal government and not ambitious enough) and his family was made hereditary heirs. A plebiscite was held, worded so that if Napoleon had no children – as he hadn’t at that point – either another Bonaparte would be selected or he could adopt an heir. The result of the vote looked convincing on paper (3.5 million for, 2500 against), but it had been massaged at all levels, such as automatically casting yes votes for everyone in the military. On December 2, 1804, the Pope was present as Napoleon was crowned: as agreed beforehand, he placed the crown on his own head. Over the next few years, the Senate and Napoleon’s Council of State dominated the government of France – which in effect meant just Napoleon – and the other bodies withered away. Although the constitution didn’t require Napoleon to have a son, he wanted one, and so divorced his first wife and married Marie-Louise of Austria. They swiftly had a son: Napoleon II, King of Rome. He would never rule France, as his father would be defeated in 1814 and 1815, and the monarchy would return but he would be forced to compromise.