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DEEPFAKESBeyond Watermarks: Content Integrity Through Tiered Defense
Watermarking is often discussed as a solution to the problems posed by AI-generated content. However, watermarking is inadequate without other methods of detecting and sorting out AI-generated content.
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GAZA WARIsrael’s Invasion of Rafah Will Not Eliminate Hamas or End the War. So, What Is Benjamin Netanyahu’s Plan?
The longer the war has dragged on, the more it has highlighted that Israel, which has been under Netanyahu’s almost continuous rule since 2009, has no long-term strategy for living side-by-side with its Palestinian neighbors. Even if a ceasefire could be agreed to, Netanyahu’s government hasn’t articulated a plan for the “day after”. Already, this lack of a plan is creating a dangerous power vacuum in northern Gaza that has been filled by gangs, clans and criminals.
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GEOENGINEERINGSolar Geoengineering to Cool the Planet: Is It Worth the Risks?
There is no international, national or state framework that currently governs geoengineering. As a result, one worrisome future scenario is that climate impacts in a particularly vulnerable country will be so severe that it resorts to deploying stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI, also called solar radiation management or SRM) on its own before the world is ready for it. This could cause political instability or provoke retribution from other countries that suffer its effects.
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EXTREMISMBipartisan Members of Congress, Jewish Professors Oppose Antisemitism Bill
A coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, nearly 700 Jewish professors, and others oppose an antisemitism bill sent to the U.S. Senate arguing it’s unconstitutional and doesn’t adequately address antisemitism. Opponents argue it would criminalize Christian beliefs about Jesus.
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CHINA WATCHU.S.-China Trade War: Why Joe Biden Has Raised the Stakes
In a move to safeguard domestic industries and address unfair trade practices, the US president has quadrupled tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and raised levies on other green tech.
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CHINA WATCHChinese Nationalist Groups Are Launching Cyber-Attacks – Often Against the Wishes of the Government
China is often presented as a monolithic entity, entirely at the whim of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, the reality is more complex. Many Chinese cyber-attacks and other kinds of digital interference are conducted by Chinese nationalist groups.
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GUNSEven When a Cop Is Killed with an Illegally Purchased Weapon, the Gun Store’s Name Is Kept Secret
A 2003 law pushed by the gun industry limits the information shared by federal agents and shields gun shops from public scrutiny, but ProPublica was able to identify the store that sold the gun used in the shooting of a Chicago police officer.
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MANAGED RETREATTexas Flooding Brings New Urgency to Houston Home Buyout Program
The San Jacinto River is a national hotspot for ‘managed retreat,’ but recent floods show how far local officials still have to go.
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WATER SECURITYAddressing the Colorado River Crisis
Sustaining the American Southwest is the Colorado River. But demand, damming, diversion, and drought are draining this vital water resource at alarming rates. The future of water in the Southwest was top of mind for participants and attendees at the 10th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference.
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OUR PICKSMexico Is Pushing Migrants Back South | The United States Has a Keen Demographic Edge | The Real ID Deadline Will Never Arrive, and more
· Biden Will Raise Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles, Chips and Other Goods
The president is set to announce increased taxes on Chinese imports in strategic industries, building on former President Donald J. Trump’s tariff· How Biden’s Trade War with China Differs From Trump’s
The president is trying a targeted approach, with allies, to beat Beijing in the race to own the clean energy future. Those weren’t his predecessor’s goals· The Other Busing Program: Mexico Is Pushing Migrants Back South
In response to pressure from the Biden administration to curb migration flows, Mexico has quietly bused thousands of migrants away from the U.S. border to sites deep in the country’s south· Americans Must Prepare for Another Round of Election Denial
We know it’s coming. Here’s how to rebut it· The Real ID Deadline Will Never Arrive
The enhanced-license requirement survives despite—or maybe because of—its lack of urgency· The United States Has a Keen Demographic Edge
Competitors of the United States face plunging birthrates and social gloom· Internal Emails Reveal How a Controversial Gun-Detection AI System Found Its Way to NYC
NYC mayor Eric Adams wants to test Evolv’s gun-detection tech in subway stations—despite the company saying it’s not designed for that environment. Emails obtained by WIRED show how the company still found an in -
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WORLD ROUNDUPThe Day After Iran Gets the Bomb | Putin is Plotting “Physical Attacks” on the West | Could Ghana Be Jihadists’ Next Target?, and more
· The Day After Iran Gets the Bomb
Scholars and policymakers are still trying to understand what would happen after Tehran acquires a nuclear weapon· U.S. Threats Led to Rupture of Vital Military Ties, Nigerien Leader Says
In an exclusive interview, Prime Minister Zeine blamed the U.S. for the breakdown in bilateral relations, culminating with the planned ouster of American troop· Putin is Plotting “Physical Attacks” on the West, Says GCHQ Chief
British intelligence ‘increasingly concerned’ over growing links between Russia and cyber hacks
· Secret Papers Reveal Hamas Plan to Set Up Base in Turkey
Israel claims that a document proposing to ‘establish a security branch abroad’ was discovered at the home of the chief of staff to Hamas’s leader in Gaza· Could Ghana Be Jihadists’ Next Target?
Long seen as an island of stability, the country shares many of the same vulnerabilities that militants have exploited across the Sahel region -
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GAZA WARUN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza
Between May 6 and May 8, the UN cut in half its estimates of the number of women and children killed in Gaza. The estimates were based on Hamas numbers and are a reminder that all fatality estimates coming from that source are unreliable.
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CYBERSECURITYThe Future of Cybersecurity
An expert in cybersecurity surveys a rapidly evolving world where technology is racing ahead of our ability to manage it, posing risks to our national security. With TikTok in the hands of 170 million Americans, cybersecurity expert Amy Zegart says it’s time to talk about consequences. Foreign access to all that data on so many Americans is a national security threat, she asserts.
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TRUTH DECAYCan Wikipedia-like Citations on YouTube Curb Misinformation?
Videos can be dense with information: text, audio, and image after image. Yet each of these layers presents a potential source of error or deceit. And when people search for videos directly on a site like YouTube, sussing out which videos are credible sources can be tricky.
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TRUTH DECAYUsers Seek Out Echo Chambers on Social Media
Users are inclined to favor popular opinion; lack of exposure to dissent contributes to polarization.
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BATTERIESMaking Batteries Takes Lots of Lithium: Almost Half of It Could Come from Pennsylvania Wastewater
Most batteries used in technology like smartwatches and electric cars are made with lithium that travels across the world before even getting to manufacturers. But what if nearly half of the lithium used in the U.S. could come from Pennsylvania wastewater?
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WATER SECURITYTexas Delegation Urges Congress to Withhold Aid to Mexico Over Water Treaty Dispute
A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers are demanding appropriators withhold funds for the country until Mexico lives up to its end of a 1944 water treaty that requires it to send 1.75 million acre-feet to the U.S. every five years.
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OUR PICKSWelcome to the Laser Wars | British-Built “Unhackable” Navigational System | Asteroids Could Fuel the Clean-Energy Transition, and more
· Trump Calls Hannibal Lecter “A Wonderful Man” in Rant Against “Insane” Migrants
Former president tells 100,000 supporters people from mental institutions are being let into U.S.· U.S. Vows to Stay Ahead of China, Using AI for Fighter Jets, Navigation
Two Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. One was flown by a pilot. The other wasn’t· British-Built “Unhackable” Navigational System Flown in World First
Breakthrough comes as countries race to protect themselves from GPS vulnerabilities· Putin’s Choice of New Defense Minister Shows He’s Preparing for Confrontation with the West
Andrei Belousov is more at home with columns of data than of tanks, but he could be key to Moscow’s war effort and a conflict with NATO· Asteroids Could Fuel the Clean-Energy Transition
If companies can figure out how to mine them· Welcome to the Laser Wars
Amid a rising tide of adversary drones and missile attacks, laser weapons are finally poised to enter the battlefield· ‘TunnelVision’ Attack Leaves Nearly All VPNs Vulnerable to Spying
TunnelVision is an attack developed by researchers that can expose VPN traffic to snooping or tampering· Addressing The Multifaceted Challenges Posed by Increased Migrant Encounters
As the frontline defenders of our borders, agents often face physical and emotional challenges in managing encounters with migrants -
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WORLD ROUNDUPChina and the U.S. Are Numb to the Real Risk of War | Russia Recruiting Far-Right Extremists to Launch Attacks in the West | The Awfulness of War Can’t Be Avoided, and more
· Russia Recruiting Far-Right Extremists to Launch Attacks in the West
Kremlin intelligence service finds agents to target infrastructure facilities, it is claimed· British Spies and the IRA
Blair, Clinton, Ahern et al were credited with putting together the Northern Ireland peace deal, but 800 British agents also played their part· Elon Musk Wins Court Battle to Show Sydney Church Stabbing on X
The government had won an injunction to stop footage of the attack in a Sydney church being shared on social media platforms but a judge has overturned the decision· The Awfulness of War Can’t Be Avoided
Western leaders do themselves no good when they avoid confronting hard necessities· Islamic State’s Global Financial Networks
Cryptocurrency and European bank transfers fund detained IS women and fighters in Syria, furthering militant objectives· North Korea Might Ignore Donald Trump If He Takes Back the White House
Having been burned once or twice by Trump, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is not eager to try again. In truth, he has already gotten what he most wanted from Trump: international legitimacy· Europe’s Youth Are Fueling the Far Right
The continent’s radicals are increasingly attractive far beyond their traditional pool of voters· China and the U.S. Are Numb to the Real Risk of War
The pair are dangerously close to the edge of nuclear war over Taiwan—again -
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BORDER SECURITYTerrorist Watch List Apprehensions at Northern Border Continue to Break Records
The number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the southwest border.
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IMMIGRATIONChina Resumes Cooperating with U.S. on Illegal Migration
China has quietly resumed cooperation with the United States on the repatriation of Chinese migrants illegally stranded in the U.S. The U.S.-China repatriation cooperation resumes amid the influx of Chinese migrants across the southern border of the United States.
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONInvestigation: How Russia's Warplanes Get Their 'Brain Power' From the West, Despite Sanctions
The sanctions Western countries have imposed on Russia have many vulnerabilities –a recurring complaint for Kyiv as, handicapped by a deficit of weapons and ammunition, it watches Russian forces advance, hammering soldiers, civilians, and vital infrastructure.
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The long view
DEMOCRACY WATCHPreventing Another 'Jan. 6' Starts by Changing How Elections Are Certified, Experts Say
By Sara Savat
The 2024 presidential election may be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but preventing a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021 — when false claims of a stolen election promoted by Donald Trump and his allies led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol —will be top of mind this election year. Research finds broad support among public for nonpartisan certification commissions.
ELECTION SECURITYStates Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
By Zachary Roth
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
RANSOMWARERansomware Attacks: Death Threats, Endangered Patients and Millions of Dollars in Damages
By Dino Jahic
A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare, a company that processes 15 billion health care transactions annually and deals with 1 in 3 patient records in the United States, is continuing to cause massive disruptions nearly three weeks later. The incident, which started on February 21, has been called the “most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system” by the American Hospital Association. It is just the latest example of an increasing trend.
CHINA WATCHChinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLESAutonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
CYBERDETERRENCETantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
By Trina West
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
AIRPORT SECURITYPrototype Self-Service Screening System Unveiled
TSA and DHS S&T unveiled a prototype checkpoint technology, the self-service screening system, at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. The aim is to provide a near self-sufficient passenger screening process while enabling passengers to directly receive on-person alarm information and allow for the passenger self-resolution of those alarms.
SPACE DEBRISFalling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
By Zulfikar Abbany, Julia Vergin, and Katja Sterzik
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
WILDFIRESUsing Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
DRONESTesting Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
IMMIGRATIONSocial Acceptance of Immigrants Working as Politicians or Judges Is Low
Often, the dominant society develops negative attitudes towards immigrants and their descendants because their integration is too successful – and not because they are unwilling to integrate. A possible explanation for negative attitudes towards successful immigrants could be the dominant society’s fear of immigrants occupying influential and value-based occupations. This applies, for example, for immigrants working in local politics or law.
ENERGY SECURITYStrengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
By Michael Matz
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.
ARMS TRADEEuropean Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
ENERGY SECURITYLNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.
CLIMATE CHANGE & NATIONAL SECURITYHow Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
By Doug Irving
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
TECH APOCALYPSEThe Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
By Matthew Guariglia
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.