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CHINA WATCHChina Conducts Military Drills Around Taiwan as “Punishment” for New Leader
China kicked off a two-day large-scale military exercise in the water and airspace around Taiwan on Thursday, emphasizing that it is “a strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence forces’” and “a stern warning” against provocation by external forces.
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CHINA WATCHCan Taiwan Defend Itself Against China?
Large-scale Chinese military drills near Taiwan are taking place just days after William Lai Ching-te, of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was sworn in as president of the island nation. Taiwan has expanded its asymmetric warfare capacity, which involves using smaller but highly effective weapons to make an invasion by a larger force prohibitively costly.
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EXTREMISMMilitia Extremists, Kicked Off Facebook Again, Are Regaining Comfort in Public View
When journalists sounded alarm bells in early May 2024 that more than 100 extremist militia groups had been organizing and communicating on Facebook, it wasn’t the first time militias had garnered attention for their online activities. As a scholar of militias, I’ve seen extremists get kicked off Facebook before.
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STEEL DILEMMAWhy Biden Wants to Block the Nippon-U.S. Steel Deal
A proposed Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel, a century-old icon of American industry, is facing domestic political pushback that could challenge the Biden administration’s foreign policy aims. Biden’s opposition to the deal risks undercutting his administration’s efforts to strengthen U.S. alliances and supply chains, experts say.
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WATER SECURITYPeak Water: Do We Have Enough Groundwater to Meet Future Need?
Though vast stores of groundwater persist below Earth’s surface, the climbing cost of accessing it is on track to significantly reshape the geography of trade and drive users toward alternative water sources.
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MANAGED RETREATThe Government Wants to Buy Their Flood-Prone Homes. But These Texans Aren’t Moving.
The recent floods in Harris County, Texas, show why home buyout programs can be important. These programs involve the government buying, and demolishing, houses in flood-prone zones, that is, areas which typically flood first and worse. The Harris County flood control district wants to buy properties along the San Jacinto River that have flooded repeatedly. Some residents aren’t leaving.
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OUR PICKSVictims of U.S. Nuclear Testing Deserve More Than This | Emerging Threats to the U.S. Financial System | Inside the Reluctant Fight to Ban Deepfake Ads, and more
· The Victims of U.S. Nuclear Testing Deserve More Than This
More than 100 nuclear devices were exploded in aboveground tests in New Mexico and Nevada from 1945 to 1962· Long Before Key Bridge Collapse, Baltimore Mariners Warned of ‘Ship Strikes’
Members of a Baltimore harbor safety committee repeatedly raised the possibility that an out-of-control vessel could imperil the bridge, records show· Biden Takes Another Step to Fast-Track Asylum Process for Border Crossers
A new expedited docket for people who have recently crossed the border, which could allow officials to more quickly reject and deport some people· Emerging Threats to the U.S. Financial System
Experts warn that the greatest danger to U.S. financial system is not a single, sudden attack, a financial 9/11. It’s the constant assault on reality—the deepfake videos and manipulated AI· The U.S. Has Spent $5bn on Electronic Warfare in 2024 Alone
China, Russia and India are projected to eat into the US’ outsized share of global electronic warfare spending in the coming years· Teslas Can Still Be Stolen with a Cheap Radio Hack—Despite New Keyless Tech
Ultra-wideband radio has been heralded as the solution for “relay attacks” that are used to steal cars in seconds. But researchers found Teslas equipped with it are as vulnerable as ever· Inside the Reluctant Fight to Ban Deepfake Ads
Without new rules, campaigns could hoodwink voters with AI-generated ads. And no one really seems to be taking the threat seriously -
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WORLD ROUNDUPRussia Launched Research Spacecraft for Antisatellite Nuclear Weapon | EU Wants Spies on University Campuses to Fight Chinese Tech Espionage | Democracy Needs an Economic NATO, and more
· Western Europe Is Starting to Send a Vital Warning to Israel
These kinds of diplomatic shocks could lead Israelis to finally escape from the gravitational pull of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and start calling for two states on terms Israel can live with· Bibi Blocks Israeli Intel Chiefs’ Meetings with U.S. Officials
A sign of Bibi’s growing suspicion about Israel’s intelligence, military and security establishment, which hold divergent views about how the prime minister is carrying out the war· Russia Launched Research Spacecraft for Antisatellite Nuclear Weapon Two Years Ago, U.S. Officials Say
Cosmos-2553 went into orbit in February 2022 just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine· Russia Mysteriously Deletes Threat to Redraw Baltic Sea Border
Defense ministry plan had sparked alarm among NATO allies· EU Wants Spies on University Campuses to Fight Chinese Tech Espionage
The bloc is urging researchers to take steps to secure their work against foreign interference· The Blood Equation: Hamas’ Strategy to Radicalize Youth Through Emotional Narratives
This approach leverages images of casualties from the October 7 conflict, particularly women and children, to create a powerful emotional impact aimed at radicalizing new groups on a transnational scale· US Removes Cuba from List of Countries Not Fully Cooperating on Counterterrorism Efforts
Cuba called for the U.S. to also remove the country from another list that designates it as a sponsor of terrorism· Democracy Needs an Economic NATO
Fighting Chinese coercion requires new alliances -
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STUDENT UNRESTStudent Anger Over the Vietnam War Erupted into Violence in the ’60s − a Terrorism Expert Explores Whether the Same Could Happen Today
I am a former senior U.S. government counterterrorism official and scholar of national security and terrorism. The wave of recent pro-Palestinian, student-led protests reminds me of another tense era in the U.S. that was also prompted by U.S. engagement in a foreign war – the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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EXTREMISMExtremist Communities Continue to Rely on YouTube for Hosting, but Most Videos Are Viewed Off-Site, Research Finds
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, YouTube was so criticized for radicalizing users by recommending increasingly extremist and fringe content that it changed its recommendation algorithm. Research four years later found that while extremist content remained on YouTube, subscriptions and external referrals drove disaffected users to extremist content rather than the recommendation algorithm.
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NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATIONNuclear Expertise Guides Global Nonproliferation Innovation
Researchers tackling national security challenges at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are upholding an 80-year legacy of leadership in all things nuclear. Today, they’re developing the next generation of technologies that will help reduce global nuclear risk and enable safe, secure, peaceful use of nuclear materials worldwide.
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ENHANCED SECURITY Focused and Fast
In response to an urgent DOD request, multidisciplinary teams across Sandia delivered in a big way for international security: Enhanced surety program meets urgent request.
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Critical Minerals Need Insulation from China’s Market Manipulation
Investors can handle lots of different risks. They can price risks in construction, interest rates, weather and, with hedging, price movements in product markets. But the one risk they can’t price is political risk, the chance of some government action ruining profits. You can’t hedge against it.
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NUCLEAR RISKSFacing a Potentially Warmer, Drier Washington State, Scientists Develops Plans to Be Sure Nuclear Power Plants Stay Cool
Waterways — tried and true cooling sources for nuclear power plants — could get warmer due to global climate change. Washington is planning ahead. Argonne scientists will use Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to work with Washington’s Energy Northwest on climate-ready nuclear reactor designs.
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ENERGY SECURITYSmall Hydroelectric Plants Could Provide Emergency Power During Outages
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is seeking a hydropower utility to collaborate on a case study, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), to understand how small hydroelectric plants operating at 10 megawatts or less can be upgraded to provide emergency power to critical loads (e.g., hospitals and emergency service providers) during outages.
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OUR PICKSNew 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity | The Pentagon Isn’t Buying Enough Ammo | A.I. Chatbots Can Be Taught to Spew Disinformation, and more
· New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity
Two decades of U.S. policy appear to be rooted in a mistaken understanding of what happened that day· See How Easily A.I. Chatbots Can Be Taught to Spew Disinformation
Government officials and tech industry leaders have warned that chatbots and other artificial intelligence tools can be easily manipulated to sow disinformation online on a remarkable scale· Indian Voters Are Being Bombarded with Millions of Deepfakes. Political Candidates Approve
India’s elections are a glimpse of the AI-driven future of democracy. Politicians are using audio and video deepfakes of themselves to reach voters—who may have no idea they’ve been talking to a clone· The Real Meaning of Trump’s ‘Unified Reich’ Post
The video the former president reposted on Truth Social yesterday isn’t what people are making it out to be· The Pentagon Isn’t Buying Enough Ammo
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WORLD ROUNDUPWhen Will Washington Get Serious About Taiwan? | Who Would Benefit from Ebrahim Raisi’s Death? | Hundreds of India Election Rallies Targeting Muslims, and more
· Who Would Benefit from Ebrahim Raisi’s Death?
If the Iranian president turns out to have lost his life in a helicopter crash, it will set off a fierce scramble for power· Poland Announces £2bn Border Defense Project ‘to Keep out Russia’
The East Shield scheme will make the Polish border ‘impenetrable’ to potential enemies, according to Donald Tusk· When Will Washington Get Serious About Taiwan?
Its long-standing attitude toward the island is based on a set of military and political foundations that no longer exist· The Man Who Would Help Trump Upend the Global Economy
As a potential U.S. Treasury secretary, Robert Lighthizer has more than trade policy to revolutionize· Spain, Ireland Poised to Back Palestinian State
Spain and Ireland are set to push ahead with an initiative to recognize a Palestinian state. Other EU members and European countries may also provide their backing· US Watchdog Documents Hundreds of India Election Rallies Targeting Muslims
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party and other party leaders and candidates have been delivering incendiary speeches targeting India’s Muslims· China Accelerates Forced Relocation of Rural Tibetans to Urban Areas, Report Says
China has been accelerating the forced relocation of Tibetan villagers and herders in the name of “poverty alleviation” and environmental protection since 2016 -
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CHINA WATCHHistory Says Tariffs Rarely Work, but Biden’s 100% Tariffs on Chinese EVs Could Defy the Trend
Earlier this month, President Biden announced a hike in tariffs on a variety of Chinese imports, including a 100% tariff that would significantly increase the price of Chinese-made electric vehicles. Tariffs have a troubled history, but Biden’s move might defy historical precedent and succeed where other tariffs have failed. The Biden tariffs can succeed in giving the U.S. EV industry room to grow, and encourage similar protective actions elsewhere, reinforcing the global shift toward securing supply chains and promoting domestic manufacturing.
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CHINA WATCHChina's Growing Threat to U.S. National Security in the Crosshairs of Congress
While the Chinese Communist Party’s possibly imminent invasion of Taiwan could spark a war in the region, experts and lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the Taiwan issue is just one part of a broader Chinese strategy countering the U.S.
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CYERSECURITYUniversity Students Tackle Adventure in CyberForce — Conquer the Hill Competition
University of Central Florida’s Cameron Whitehead wins CyberForce Conquer the Hill: Adventure Competition 2024. Whitehead was one of 112 students from 71 accredited U.S. colleges and universities who competed virtually to complete work-based cybersecurity tasks and challenges during a full day of energy sector-related adventure.
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GUNSThe Supreme Court’s Ghost Gun Case Could Jeopardize Other Firearm Regulations
Legal experts say the ruling could expand Second Amendment protections to the gun industry, imperiling a host of laws governing the manufacture and sale of firearms.
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COVID VACCINEGround-Breaking Study Reveals How COVID-19 Vaccines Prevent Severe Disease
A landmark study by scientists at the University of Oxford, has unveiled crucial insights into the way that COVID-19 vaccines mitigate severe illness in those who have been vaccinated.
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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.