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ELECTION INTEGRITYTrumps DOJ Wants States to Turn Over Voter Lists, Election Info
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the voter registration lists of several states —representing data on millions of Americans —and other election information ahead of the 2026 midterm. The sweeping requests raise fears about how the Trump administration plans to use the information.
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Common-Sense Notes // By Idris B. OdunewuFragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. Thisnew era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
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AIHow Artificial General Intelligence Could Affect the Rise and Fall of Nations
Visions for potential AGI futures: A new report from RAND aims to stimulate thinking among policymakers about possible impacts of the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) on geopolitics and the world order.
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SEARCH & RESCUEWhy Drones and AI Can’t Quickly Find Missing Flood Victims, Yet
For search and rescue, AI is not more accurate than humans, but it is far faster.
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NUCLEAR WASTEModel Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.
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WATER SECURITY How Israel Used Innovation to Beat Its Water Crisis
Israel is a desert, and water resources are scarce, but today it produces 20% more water than it needs. What can the world learn from Israel’s experience?
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OUR PICKSNeo-Nazi “Fitness Clubs” Surge in U.S. | ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data | Uncovering the Foibles of the KGB and the CIA, and more
· Neo-Nazi “Fitness Clubs” Surge in U.S., Recruiting Teens via TikTok and Telegram
· Modernizing Department of Defense Civilian Human Resources
· Chinese Engagement with Africa
· UK Counter-Radicalization Scheme Prevent Must ”Up Its Game,” Review Concludes
· Tech Giants Warn Window to Monitor AI Reasoning Is Closing, Urge Action
· ICE Is Getting Unprecedented Access to Medicaid Data
· Uncovering the Foibles of the KGB and the CIA
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WORLD ROUNDUPHow Strong Is China’s Rare-Earth Card? | Israel and Iran Usher in New Era of Psychological Warfare | How Allies Have Responded to Limited U.S. Retrenchment, and more
· Security Experts Are “Losing Their Minds” Over an FAA Proposal
· Neo-Nazis and Black Extremists “Forming Antisemitic Alliances”
· Balancing Act —How Allies Have Responded to Limited U.S. Retrenchment
· Countering Russian Influence: Support for Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova in the ‘Waiting Room of the West’
· Israel and Iran Usher in New Era of Psychological Warfare
· Israel’s “Tribal” Approach in Gaza: A Short-Term Response to a Long-Term Challenge
· The Wheels Are Falling Off Netanyahu’s Government
· Hackers Are Finding New Ways to Hide Malware in DNS Records
· How Strong Is China’s Rare-Earth Card?
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IRAN’S NUKES Significance of the Targeted Nuclear Scientists in the 12-Day War
The June 2025 war between Israel and Iran, called the 12-Day War, saw the killing y the Israeli military of many Iranian nuclear scientists who participated in or are linked to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. the elimination of these nuclear scientists deprived Iran’s nuclear weapons program of its most capable and experienced personnel. This act weakened Iran’s base for building nuclear weapons, eliminating needed expertise and hard-to-get management experience.
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FLASHFLOOD WARNINGSWhy Flash Flood Warnings Will Continue to Go Unheeded
Experts say local education and community support are key to conveying risk.
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TEXAS FLOODSTexas Officials Say They Didn’t See the Flood Coming. Oral Histories Show Residents Have Long Warned of Risks.
After a tragedy, records from local archives can help us understand how a community understands itself. Here’s some of what we learned following the devastating July 4 flooding in Texas.
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UNDERSEA CABLES Undersea Cables Are Vulnerable to Sabotage – but This Takes Skill and Specialist Equipment
Countries have come to rely on a network of cables and pipes under the sea for their energy and communications. So it has been worrying to read headlines about communications cables being cut and, in one case, an undersea gas pipeline being blown up.
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NUCLEAR POWERDespite Bipartisan Backing, Nuclear’s Future Is Uncertain Under Trump
As President Trump seeks to cut clean energy funding across the country, nuclear energy emerges as a rare area of bipartisan alignment and a priority for the administration. Yet inconsistent and conflicting federal policies threaten to impede efforts to promote nuclear energy production.
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NUCLEAR POWER Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
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OUR PICKSDisaster at FEMA | Toward an Abundance National Security Agenda | DHS Tells Police That Common Protest Activities Are “Violent Tactics,” and more
· For Trump, Domestic Adversaries Are Not Just Wrong, They Are “Evil”
· Disaster at FEMA
· The Trump Administration Is Violating the First Rule of Disasters
· DHS Tells Police That Common Protest Activities Are “Violent Tactics”
· The Conversations Doctors Are Having About Vaccination Now
· Europeans Threaten to Reimpose Tough U.N. Nuclear Sanctions on Iran
· Toward an Abundance National Security Agenda
· Many Texas Communities Are Dangerously Unprepared for Floods − Lack of Funding Plays a Big Role
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WORLD ROUNDUPChina and Europe’s Savage Squabble | China’s Insertion into India-Pakistan Waters Dispute | After Iran, the Houthis Should Be Enemy No. 1, and more
· Japan Upper House Election: Is Country About to Lurch to the Right?
· The Enshittification of American Power
· How Putin Humiliated Trump
· China and Europe’s Savage Squabble
· Britain Has a Rare Opportunity to Lure American Talent
· China’s Insertion into India-Pakistan Waters Dispute Adds a Further Ripple in South Asia
· After Iran, the Houthis Should Be Enemy No. 1
· Energy and the Global Center of Gravity
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DEPORTATIONS & BUSINESSTrump’s Deportations Could Cost 6M Jobs: Report
President Donald Trump’s deportation plans could cost nearly 6 million jobs, according to a new analysis. The analysis warns that jobs held by both immigrants and US-born workers are at risk.
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DEPORTATIONS & BUSINESSTexas Lawmaker Proposes Beefing Up Temporary Worker Program to Ease Farm Labor Shortages
The South Texas Republican’s “Bracero 2.0” legislation —named after a 1940s temporary labor program —would raise wages for migrant farmers and simplify applications for employers, amid other changes.
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CYBERSECURITYA Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Chinese Hackers
Microsoft is using engineers in China to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems —with minimal supervision by U.S. personnel. Digital escorts often lack the technical expertise to police foreign engineers with far more advanced skills, leaving highly sensitive data vulnerable to hacking. Microsoft has been warned that the arrangement is inherently risky, but the company launched and expanded it anyway.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONRussian Imperial Movement: How a Far-Right Group Outlawed by the U.K. Is Spreading Terror Across Europe
The decision by the British government to proscribe the RIM indicates concern that the far-right group is increasing its operational capacity both in Ukraine and throughout Europe. With its extensive network, the movement will become an increasing threat to security if it is allowed to continue acting as a proxy for Putin’s foreign policy objectives.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONCountering Russia’s Cognitive Warfare Against the United States
China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly use cognitive warfare against the United States in order to shape U.S. decision-making.
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OUR PICKSPentagon Snaps Up Ownership Stake in America's Only Rare Earths Mine | Tinker Tailor Soldier MAGA | Animal Liberation Front Hits Again, and more
· Tinker Tailor Soldier MAGA
· When the Threat Is Inside the White House
· Anti-Government Militia Targets Weather Radars: What to Know
· Pentagon Snaps Up Ownership Stake in America’s Only Rare Earths Mine
· Datacenters Feeling the Heat as Climate Risk Boils Over
· Bibliography: Counter-terrorism Cooperation
· AI-powered Translation: How AI Tools Could Shape a New Frontier of IS Propaganda Dissemination
· Elon Musk Updated Grok. Guess What It Said?
· Disinformation 2.0: Deepfakes Hit the Frontlines of Global Influence Ops
· Animal Liberation Front Claims Responsibility for Releasing Mink from Farm in Stark County
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More headlines
The long view
ARGUMENT: AI-DESIGNED BIOWEAPONS LOOMAre We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
THREATS TO U.S. S&T LEADERSHIPA Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
THREATS TO U.S. S&T LEADERSHIPBookshelf: Preserving the U.S. Technological Republic
The United States since its founding has always been a technological republic, one whose place in the world has been made possible and advanced by its capacity for innovation. But our present advantage cannot be taken for granted.
EXTREMISM“The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States
As President Donald Trump guts the main federal office dedicated to preventing terrorism, states say they’re left to take the lead in spotlighting threats. Some state efforts are robust, others are fledgling, and yet other states are still formalizing strategies for addressing extremism. With the federal government largely retreating from focusing on extremist dangers, prevention advocates say the threat of violent extremism is likely to increase.
IMMIGRATIONThe “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
ARGUMENT: A KILLER, NOT A TERRORISTLuigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
ARGUMENT: AUTONOMOUS-WEAPONS MYTHSAutonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
DRONE WARFAREUkraine Drone Strikes on Russian Airbase Reveal Any Country Is Vulnerable to the Same Kind of Attack
Air defense systems are built on the assumption that threats come from above and from beyond national borders. But Ukraine’s coordinated drone strike on 1 June on five airbases deep inside Russian territory exposed what happens when states are attacked from below and from within. In low-level airspace, visibility drops, responsibility fragments, and detection tools lose their edge. Drones arrive unannounced, response times lag, coordination breaks.
GOLDEN DOMEShots to the Dome—Why We Can’t Model US Missile Defense on Israel’s “Iron Dome”
Starting an arms race where the costs are stacked against you at a time when debt-to-GDP is approaching an all-time high seems reckless. All in all, the idea behind Golden Dome is still quite undercooked.
ARGUMENT: REINING IN DHS I&A How DHS Laid the Groundwork for More Intelligence Abuse
I&A, the lead intelligence unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) —long plagued by politicized targeting, permissive rules, and a toxic culture —has undergone a transformation over the last two years. Spencer Reynolds writes that this effort falls short. “Ultimately, Congress must rein in I&A,” he adds.
DEMOCRACY WATCHAutocrats Don’t Act Like Hitler or Stalin Anymore − Instead of Governing with Violence, They Use Manipulation
Modern autocrats don’t always resemble their 20th-century predecessors. Instead, they project a polished image, avoid overt violence and speak the language of democracy. They wear suits, hold elections and talk about the will of the people. Rather than terrorizing citizens, many use media control and messaging to shape public opinion and promote nationalist narratives. Many gain power not through military coups but at the ballot box.
QUANTUM REALITIESOur Online World Relies on Encryption. What Happens If It Fails?
Quantum computers will make traditional data encryption techniques obsolete; BU researchers have turned to physics to come up with better defenses.
NUCLEAR POWERVirtual Models Paving the Way for Advanced Nuclear Reactors
Computer models predict how reactors will behave, helping operators make decisions in real time. The digital twin technology using graph-neural networks may boost nuclear reactor efficiency and reliability.
CRITICAL MINERALSCritical Minerals Don’t Belong in Landfills – Microwave Tech Offers a Cleaner Way to Reclaim Them from E-waste
E-waste recycling focuses on retrieving steel, copper, aluminum, but ignores tiny specks of critical materials. Once technology becomes available to recover these tiny but valuable specks of critical materials quickly and affordably, the U.S. can transform domestic recycling and take a big step toward solving its shortage of critical materials.
ARGUMENT: VACCINE POLICY BY PROCLAMATIONVaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
CRITICAL MINERALSMicrobes That Extract Rare Earth Elements Also Can Capture Carbon
A small but mighty microbe can safely extract the rare earth and other critical elements for building everything from satellites to solar panels – and it has another superpower: capturing carbon dioxide.