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BALTIMORE BRIDGE ACCIDENTI’ve Captained Ships into Tight Ports Like Baltimore, and This Is How Captains Like Me Work with Harbor Pilots to Avoid Deadly Collisions
The accident which caused the collapse of the bridge in Baltimore is the third such accident in as many months, with big ships hitting, and causing the collapse, of bridges in China and Argentina. These incidents have highlighted what engineering experts say is the urgent need to improve or protect old bridges to accommodate larger modern vessels – and what maritime experts say is the growing difficulty ship pilots face when helping navigate big ships through tight places.
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BRIDGE SAFETYMajor Bridge Accidents Caused by Ships and Barges
Experts say there is much to be done in improving bridges which were built for smaller vessels in a different era, even with modern regulations and design codes in place. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021, which includes $110 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects, was a step in the right direction, but that it is far from the $4.5 trillion that studies have suggested are needed to upgrade American infrastructure to the target level of safety and efficiency.
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TERRORISMMoscow Attack Shows Troubling, Lethal Reach of ISIS
The mass casualty theater attack in Moscow was a reminder that affiliates of the Islamic State have reorganized and infiltrated even powerful states. ISIS has staged over half-a-dozen attacks in Russia since 2016. The movement has long deemed Russia as much of an enemy of the Muslim people as the United States.
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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.
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INTELLIGENCE SHARINGMoscow Attack: Why Intelligence Agencies Share Information
Intelligence agencies are secretive, gathering information to bolster national security or help their governments make political decisions. But at times they share information with the intelligence services of an adversary, and when it comes to fighting terrorism, intelligence agencies are surprisingly generous about sharing information. The U.S. said it warned Russia of a potential attack like the one that took place in Moscow on March 22.
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MINERALSU.S. to Tap Domestic Lithium Supply Without Chinese Products
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a record conditional loan of $2.26 billion to tap the largest known lithium reserves in North America. The loan is an important step in an effort by the U.S. government to reduce reliance on China for the metal used to make batteries.
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NUCLEAR POWERSmall Nuclear Reactors May Be Coming to Texas, Boosted by Interest from Gov. Abbott
A nuclear power plant hasn’t been built in Texas in decades because of cost and public fears of a major accident. Now the governor wants to find out if smaller reactors could meet the state’s growing need for on-demand power.
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OUR PICKSGigantic Ships Are a Danger—and a Lifeline | Online Conspiracies About the Baltimore Bridge Collapse Are Out of Control | The Case Against TikTok Is Thin at Best, and more
· Online Conspiracies About the Baltimore Bridge Collapse Are Out of Control
Conspiracy theorists are calling the Baltimore bridge collapse a “black swan event” and are blaming everything from Israel to DEI to Covid vaccines.· The Case Against TikTok Is Thin at Best
There are real issues—but they go far beyond one app.· Gigantic Ships Are a Danger—and a Lifeline
The vessel that hit Baltimore’s Key Bridge is more than three times as large as its biggest counterparts 50 years ago.· Appeals Court Keeps Texas’ Migrant Arrest Law on Hold
The order prevents Texas from arresting and deporting migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the case challenging the law is under consideration.· The Supreme Court Is Shaming Itself
No good legal reason exists to delay Donald Trump’s January 6 trial any further. -
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WORLD ROUNDUPBenjamin Netanyahu Is Israel’s Worst Prime Minister Ever | Orban Takes His Soros Smear Campaign on the Road | America’s African Balancing Act, and more
· Orban Takes His Soros Smear Campaign on the Road
Europe had better be prepared.· America’s African Balancing Act
Washington must find a way to remain competitive and engaged in the continent without contributing to political unrest and dependence.· Can Biden Save Israel from Itself?
Moderate Israelis must understand that the U.S. cannot force Israel to accept a two-state solution.· Benjamin Netanyahu Is Israel’s Worst Prime Minister Ever
One man’s ambition has undermined Israel’s security and consumed its politics.· Israel Deploys Expansive Facial Recognition Program in Gaza
The experimental effort, which has not been disclosed, is being used to conduct mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza, according to military officials and others. -
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CHINA WATCHUS Bolstering Philippines Amid Increasing Assertiveness by China
The U.S. and Philippines will for the first time venture outside Manila’s territorial waters when they begin joint annual combat drills in April. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea as its own, putting it in conflict with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all of which border the sea. An international tribunal at The Hague has rejected China’s claim.
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FOR WHOM THE TOK TIKSLawmakers: Ban TikTok to Stop Election Misinformation! Same Lawmakers: Restrict How Government Addresses Election Misinformation!
Forty-five Washington lawmakers have argued before the Supreme Court that government communications with social media sites about possible election interference misinformation are illegal. The lawmakers insisted that government agencies can’t even pass on information about websites that state election officials have identified as disinformation, even if the agencies don’t request that any action be taken. Yet just last week the vast majority of those same lawmakers said the government’s interest in removing election interference misinformation from social media justifies banning a site used by 150 million Americans.
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FOR WHOM THE TOK TIKSU.S. Election: Turning Off TikTok Is a Big Risk for the Democrats
Popular social media platform TikTok stands accused of holding US data in China, fostering censorship, and spreading disinformation. Its popularity poses a dilemma for US politicians, but especially Democrats who have heavily relied on the app to reach its core base of young voters.
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MIGRATIONWhat Headlines Don’t Tell You About Global Migration, and What Researchers Can
More people than ever live outside the country of their birth—281,000,000 migrants. To put it in perspective, if migrants formed their own country, it would be the fourth most populous country in the world, after China, India, and the United States. But why did they leave their home? Where are they going? Do they plan to return? Can they? Where would they be most likely to thrive? Researchers are filling critical migration data gaps and studying how people are on the move in new and different ways.
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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREChinese, Iranian Cyberattacks Target U.S. Water Systems
Nation-states are increasingly targeting the U.S. water systems with cyberattacks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Security Council (NSC). The EPA and the NSC are urging states to significantly bolster their IT security measures to guard against attacks on critical infrastructure.
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OUR PICKSThe DOJ Puts Apple's iMessage Encryption in the Antitrust Crosshairs | How America Stopped Trusting the Experts | Senate Unveils “Compromise” FISA Reauthorization Bill, and more
· US Official in Guatemala for Talks, Says Texas Migrant Law Unconstitutional
DHS secretary Mayorkas was in Guatemala to work on the U.S.-led regional strategy toward immigration· Senate Unveils “Compromise” FISA Reauthorization Bill
The modified warrant requirement resembles but doesn’t fully embrace a compromise foreshadowed by PCLOB last year.· How Trump Valet’s Testimony Supports DOJ’s January 6th Case
For more than a year, Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and his team have desperately searched for a way to undermine the credibility of the January 6th Committee, which disbanded in January 2023. Those efforts have failed.· How America Stopped Trusting the Experts
A conversation with Tom Nichols about American narcissism, the pandemic, and declining trust· The DOJ Puts Apple’s iMessage Encryption in the Antitrust Crosshairs
Privacy and security are an Apple selling point. But the DOJ’s new antitrust lawsuit argues that Apple selectively embraces privacy and security features in ways that hurt competition—and users. -
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WORLD ROUNDUPIsrael-Hamas Conflict Is Also a War Over Water | Mine Warfare in Taiwan’s Porcupine Defense | Disrupting South Korea’s Two-Party System, and more
· Breakaway Parties Threaten to Disrupt South Korea’s Two-Party System – Can They Also End Parliamentary Gridlock?
South Korea’s two dominant parties are grappling with internal struggles and political controversies that are fueling the prospect of new, breakaway parties making gains· Israel-Hamas Conflict Is Also a War Over Water
In Gaza, Palestinians are suffering from a lack of food and water. Problems around water supply in Palestinian territories are hardly new in this conflict, but the current Israel-Hamas war is making the issues worse.· Expanding Surveillance Powers? Israel’s Draft Bill to Revise Shin Bet Law
The bill provides the government with certain novel surveillance and remote interference authorities.· Learning from the War on Terror
Israeli should review operations in Gaza and revise military strategy and doctrine using the lessons learned in two decades of the Global War on Terror.· Delay, Disrupt, Degrade: Mine Warfare in Taiwan’s Porcupine Defense
To exploit mine warfare, Taiwan would need to make it an investment priority, expanding the size and diversity of its mine stockpile and minelaying capabilities and improving its readiness to execute such a campaign. -
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IMMIGRATIONEnforcing Texas’ New Immigration Law May Be Challenging, Even for Authorities That Support It
A new law allowing local authorities to deport migrants remains tied up in court. Even if it goes back into effect, logistical challenges could complicate enforcement. S.B. 4 remains temporarily blocked while a federal appeals court weighs a challenge from Texas to a lower court’s ruling that struck the law down. The lower court found that the law “threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice.”
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DEMOCRACY WATCHPreventing Another 'Jan. 6' Starts by Changing How Elections Are Certified, Experts Say
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.
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TECH APOCALYPSEThe Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
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.
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ENERGY SECURITYAllowing More Juice to Flow Through Power Lines Could Hasten Clean Energy Projects
If the thousands of proposed solar, wind and battery energy projects got built, they would more than double the amount of electricity that is currently produced nationwide and get the U.S. much closer to its clean energy targets. But there’s one big problem: America’s power lines can’t carry that much juice. Grid-enhancing technologies can help existing lines carry more electricity.
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ENERGY SECURITYStrengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
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.
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BATTERIESA Battery Price War Is Kicking Off That Could Soon Make Electric Cars Cheaper
The main cost of an electric vehicle (EV) is its battery. The high cost of energy-dense batteries has meant EVs have long been more expensive than their fossil fuel equivalents. But this could change faster than we thought. Economies of scale and new supplies of lithium make it possible to sell batteries more cheaply. And energy-dense, all-but-fireproof solid-state batteries will make possible EVs with a range of more than 1,200km per charge. We are, in short, at the beginning of the battery revolution.
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The long view
IRAN’S NUKESHow Quickly Could Iran Make Nuclear Weapons Today?
By David Albright
For Iran, two of the three poles in the tent of building nuclear weapons – fissile material and delivery vehicles — are essentially complete. It will take them one week to enrich enough uranium to 90 percent for one bomb (and one month to enrich enough uranium for six bombs). Iran also has a variety of delivery systems, including nuclear-capable missiles: the delivery pole is ready. Weaponization is the pole that needs more work. The accelerated weaponization program can be accomplished in a matter of six months.
ATTACK ATTRIBUTIONFifty-Five Hours of Risk: The Dangerous Implications of Slow Attack Attribution
By J. D. Maddox
Assuming that its foreign adversaries’ recent violent threats are to be taken seriously, and that the likelihood of a direct attack against the United States is, if not on the rise, at least significant enough to warrant serious attention, the United States has an urgent mandate to prepare effective cognitive defenses. Foremost among these is the ability to quickly and accurately attribute attacks to their originators, and to deliver that information to the public through a trustworthy vehicle.
CRIMEWhat Can We Learn from the Nation’s Historic Decline in Murders?
By Champe Barton
The U.S. endured a spike in gun violence during the pandemic, but it’s subsiding in many places. A researcher puts the latest homicide statistics into context — and warns lawmakers not to become complacent.
TERRORISMIs Left-Wing Terrorism Making a Comeback in Germany? Analyzing the “Engel – Guntermann Network”
By Christian Jokinen
For Germany, the reemergence of more violence orientated left-wing extremist actors has diversified the threat posed by non-state actors even further. Violent left-wing extremism is also of growing concern across Europe. While left-wing violent extremism does not currently represent as acute a threat as currently manifested by jihadist and right-wing terrorist attacks, the recent concerning trend among German left-wing extremists is toward greater violence and transnationalism.
CRITICAL MATERIALSRevolutionizing Resource Renewal: Scaling Up Sustainable Recycling for Critical Materials
Permanent magnets, which retain magnetic properties even in the absence of an inducing field or current, are used extensively in clean energy and defense applications. Rare earths are challenging to access because they are scattered across Earth’s crust, yet they are key components in many modern technologies. Recycled rare earths can be used to make new permanent magnets, accelerate chemical reactions and improve the properties of metals when included as alloy components.
RAIL SAFETYThe True Dangers of Long Trains
By Dan Schwartz and Topher Sanders, with additional reporting by Gabriel Sandoval and Danelle Morton
Trains are getting longer. Rail companies had recently adopted a moneymaking strategy to move cargo faster than ever, with fewer workers, on trains that are consistently longer than at any time in history. Railroads are getting richer, but these “monster trains” are jumping off of tracks across America and regulators are doing little to curb the risk.
EXTREMISMNew Report Card to Assess, Rank Campus Responses to Antisemitism
In the face of growing antisemitism across U.S. college campuses, ADL announced that it is developing a new tool to evaluate the climate of antisemitism on individual campuses. The ADL will create comparative evaluation of how leading colleges and universities are responding to the surge of antisemitism and protecting their Jewish students.
EMERGENCY RESPONSESaving Seconds, Saving Lives: NIST-Funded Challenge Crowns Winners in 3D Tracking Technology
NIST has awarded $1.9 million to six teams for innovative 3D tracking solutions in the final phase of a competition. The winning designs combine localization and biometric monitoring, using sensors affixed to first responders’ equipment. This competition is part of an $8 million NIST-funded initiative to address first responders’ need for improved tracking in emergency settings where GPS falls short.
COVIDHydroxychloroquine: COVID “Cure” Linked to 17,000 Deaths
By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan
Amidst the panic of the first wave of COVID-19, existing drugs were repurposed as a treatment. Some ideas were fatal, including one — hydroxychloroquine — briefly praised by then-President Donald Trump. Researchers have linked hydroxychloroquine to an increased mortality rate of up to 11 percent.
MANAGED RETREATProactively Planning for Community Relocation Before and After Climate Disasters
Between 1980 and mid-2023, 232 billion-dollar disasters occurred in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, with the number of disasters doubling annually since 2018. As the frequency, intensity, and destructiveness of climate change-driven disasters increase, accompanied by an increase in recovery costs, more experts are calling for a managed retreat of entire communities from disaster-prone areas to safer ground.
DISASTERSNumber of People Affected by Tropical Cyclones Has Increased Sharply Since 2002
The number of people affected by tropical cyclones has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2019, reaching nearly 800 million people in 2019, according to a new study. More people are affected by tropical cyclones in Asia than any other region, but every affected world region saw an increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, which are expected to become more intense and possibly more frequent as the climate warms.
COASTAL CHALLENGESCoastal Populations Set to Age Sharply in the Face of Climate Migration
By Mark Blackwell Thomas
As climate change fuels sea level rise, younger people will migrate inland, leaving aging coastal populations — and a host of consequences — in their wake. While destination cities will work to sustainably accommodate swelling populations, aging coastal communities will confront stark new challenges.
TRUTH DECAYTruth Decay and National Security
By Heather J. Williams and Caitlin McCulloch
The line between fact and opinion in public discourse has been eroding, and with it the public’s ability to have arguments and find common ground based in fact. Two core drivers of Truth Decay are political polarization and the spread of misinformation—and these are particularly intertwined in the national security arena. Exposure to misinformation leads to increased polarization, and increased polarization decreases the impact of factual information. Individuals, institutions, and the nation as a whole are vulnerable to this vicious cycle.
DISASTERSDamaging Thunderstorm Winds Increasing in Central U.S.
Destructive winds that flow out of thunderstorms in the central United States are becoming more widespread with warming temperatures. New research shows that the central U.S. experienced a fivefold increase in the geographic area affected by damaging thunderstorm straight line winds in the past 40 years.
WATER SECURITYUnlocking Energy-Efficient Solution to Global Water Crisis
Researchers achieved a major breakthrough in Redox Flow Desalination (RFD), an emerging electrochemical technique that can turn seawater into potable drinking water and also store affordable renewable energy. Researchers achieved a major breakthrough in Redox Flow Desalination (RFD), an emerging electrochemical technique that can turn seawater into potable drinking water and also store affordable renewable energy.
FIRST-RESPONDERS COMMUNICATIONFor First Responders, Communication with Their Teams is Essential
When a first responder enters a building during an emergency, they count on being able to communicate with their team at all times. Their safety and their ability to carry out the mission relies on knowing they can reach help and support anywhere that they need to go within a structure.