• PUBLIC HEALTHCOVID May Have Eroded Doctors' Belief That They Are Obligated to Treat Infectious Patients

    By Mary Van Beusekom

    Broadly disseminated misinformation about the disease — e.g., how the virus spreads, effective treatments, vaccine efficacy and safety, and more – contributed to the erosion of doctors’ commitment to treat infectious disease patients because of doctors’ fear that they would contract the disease.

  • RUSSIAN DISINFORMATIONRussia Accuses Ukrainian Energy Company Linked to Hunter Biden of Financing Terror

    Russia’s top investigative body said it had opened a probe into a Ukrainian company that formerly had ties to the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, in what likely is an effort to spread disinformation in the midst of the heated U.S. presidential election campaign.

  • ARGUMENT: RUSSIAN DISINFORMATIONDon’t Buy Moscow’s Shameless Campaign Tying Biden to Its Terrorist Attack

    Russia has offered many different explanations to the ISIS-K’s 22 March 2024 terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, but the most recent explanation offered by Russia is the most audacious yet: Russia now charges that the Ukrainian energy company Burisma financed the attack. Burisma is at the center of an effort by a congressional committee to impeach President Biden, but the case has all but collapsed. Hunter Stoll writes that Russia’s disinformation and propaganda apparatus appears to be searching for ways to keep Burisma in the news ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

  • CYBERSECURITYCybersecurity Researchers Spotlight a New Ransomware Threat – Be Careful Where You Upload Files

    By Selcuk Uluagac

    Today’s web browsers are much more powerful than earlier generations of browsers. Unfortunately, these capabilities also mean that hackers can find clever ways to abuse the browsers to trick you into letting ransomware lock up your files when you think that you’re simply doing your usual tasks online.

  • UNDERSEA WARFAREWhy the U.S. Will Stay Dominant in Undersea Warfare

    By Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith

    The United States has been so far ahead in submarine technology and secure underwater operations over the past 50-plus years that its submarines are virtually undetectable by either China or Russia.

  • IMMIGRATIONWhite House Says Plans to Address Causes of Migration Show Results

    By Aline Barros

    The White House’s strategy for curbing migration to the United States from Central America zeroes in on job creation, economic investment and support for human rights. Biden administration officials say is showing results, but analysts caution against unrealistic expectations.

  • MILITARY TECHNOLOGYIran’s Neutralized Counterstrike: Israel’s Air Defense Operation Was Effective—Just Not Necessarily Replicable

    By Peter Mitchell

    The immediate outcome of the thwarted Iranian missile attack on Israel is the clear evidence it provides that integrated air and ground air defense systems can provide adequate coverage against saturation attacks—at least under certain conditions. The point is, few other countries will be able to recreate Israel’s air defense successes.

  • MILITARY TECHNOLOGYAssessment of Israeli Strike on Iran near Esfahan

    By David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, Victoria Cheng, Spencer Faragasso, and Mohammadreza Giveh

    The Israeli attack on the S-300 missile defense system deployed around Iran’s nuclear facility in Esfahan demonstrated the capability of Israeli stand-off weapons to target deep inside Iran, evading detection and air defenses, leaving Iran’s nuclear and military facilities more vulnerable to attack.

  • ESPIONGAEIs the EU Ready to Ward Off Spies and Foreign-Influence Peddlers?

    By Ella Joyner

    After a spate of foreign influence scandals at the European Parliament and in national capitals, EU officials are scrambling to get a handle on suspected Russian and Chinese espionage ahead of the June elections.

  • TIKTOKBanning TikTok Won’t Solve Social Media’s Foreign Influence, Teen Harm and Data Privacy Problems

    By Sarah Florini

    Concerns about TikTok are not unfounded, but they are also not unique. Each threat posed by TikTok has also been posed by U.S.-based social media for over a decade. Lawmakers should take action to address harms caused by U.S. companies seeking profit as well as by foreign companies perpetrating espionage. Protecting Americans cannot be accomplished by banning a single app. To truly protect their constituents, lawmakers would need to enact broad, far-reaching regulation.

  • CRIME DETECTIONDeep Learning Model Helps in Crime Detection and Crime Hot Spot Prediction

    By David Bradley

    New research has turned to emotional data alongside machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques to develop technology that might one day help us better understand the criminal mind and perhaps even predict criminal activity so that it might be prevented.

  • OUR PICKSBreakthrough in Screenings for Explosives and Narcotics | Anti-democratic Warning Signs Are Blinking in Current Polling | The Campus-Left Occupation That Broke Higher Education, and more

    ·  Arizona Indicts Nearly 20 in Case Over 2020 Election in Arizona, Including Giuliani and Meadows
    The indictment released Wednesday names 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election

    ·  New Security Breakthrough in Screenings for Explosives and Narcotics
    The surge in airport security technology over the last two decades has ushered in a new era in ensuring safe passage for travelers

    ·  Anti-democratic Warning Signs Are Blinking in Current Polling
    2024 is different from 2020 in that Trump is no longer president, but there is nothing preventing Trump from once again alleging impropriety or illegality in an effort to undermine any potential loss

    ·  Parents Outraged by Law to Let Tennessee Teachers Carry Guns
    Thousands opposed a Republican plan to prevent school shootings such as the one at the Covenant School, Nashville, that killed six people last year

    ·  The Campus-Left Occupation That Broke Higher Education
    Elite colleges are now reaping the consequences of promoting a pedagogy that trashed the postwar ideal of the liberal university

  • WORLD ROUNDUPBritain Considers Israel-Style ‘Iron Dome’ for Missile Defense | North Korea’s Military Might Means Tough Choices for South Korea | Congress Helps Steer Taiwan Toward the ‘Porcupine Strategy’, and more

    ·  Britain Considers Israel-Style ‘Iron Dome’ for Missile Defense
    Chief of the defense staff reveals ‘live conversations’ on how Britain can shield itself from growing threats

    ·  China’s Spy Satellites Pose Threat to Taiwan, warn Space Chiefs
    World’s second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its space program to catch up with the US and Russia

    ·  U.S. Fixation on Nuclear Deal Let Iran Loose on the Middle East
    Washington’s shortsighted policies enabled Tehran and its proxies to destabilize the region

    ·  Congress Helps Steer Taiwan Toward the ‘Porcupine Strategy’
    The national security bill gives Biden more leverage to tell Taiwan what weapons to buy

    ·  Stronger Alliance or Nuclear Weapons? North Korea’s Military Might Means Tough Choices for South Korea
    North Korea’s recent escalation in rhetoric, declaring South Korea as its “principal enemy,” may not signal an imminent military threat. Still, it does indicate a strategic shift with significant implications for regional stability

  • CHINA WATCHAfD's EU Election Ticket Unchanged Despite China’s Spying Scandal

    Maximilian Krah, the candidate of the far-right, populist AfD in June’s European elections, will stay on as candidate even though, on Tuesday, his senior aide was charged with spying for China. As is the case with other European far-right populist parties, the AfD is critical of NATO and the EU, and supports many of the policies of Russia and China.

  • IMMIGRATIONMore Than 1.7 Million Illegal Entries in First Six Months of Fiscal 2024

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    More than 1.7 million foreign nationals have illegally entered the U.S. in the first six months of fiscal 2024, the greatest number for this time period in U.S. history. The 1,733,496 who illegally entered in the first six months of the fiscal year outnumber the 1,547,866 who illegally entered in the first six months of fiscal 2023 by more than 185,000.

  • IMMIGRATIONThe Right’s Bogus Claims about Noncitizen Voting Fraud

    By Walter Olson

    Bogus claims of widespread voter fraud, even when they do not stoke hatred and fear of the foreign‐born, are grossly irresponsible. They exacerbate polarization and malign honest election administrators. Most of all, they undermine public confidence in our election system. The more people believe elections are rigged, the more they are likely to turn their discontents in a direction other than electoral politics. Some will go the passive route of resignation, withdrawing from civic involvements, making themselves the perfect subjects for strongman rule. Others will turn to militia activity or outright violence. Either way, the consequences for the American experiment in liberal democratic self‐rule will be unfortunate.

  • ELECTION SECURITYCash-Strapped Election Offices Have Fewer Resources After Bans on Private Grants

    Pushed by conservative activists over the last four years, 28 states have banned outside funding in elections over the past four years. These activists based their campaign on claims, rejected by the courts and federal regulators, that such private grants – for example, by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan — during the 2020 presidential election benefitted democratic voters.

  • DATA SECURITYThis Tiny Chip Can Safeguard User Data While Enabling Efficient Computing on a Smartphone

    By Adam Zewe

    Researchers have developed a security solution for power-hungry AI models that offers protection against two common attacks.

  • NUCLEAR WORKFORCEThe U.S. Navy Has a Nuclear Workforce Problem

    By John P. Barrientos

    The U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet has been central to the country’s ability to project power globally for decades. But this world-class nuclear navy—including all current U.S. aircraft carriers and submarines—is under threat amid a steady exodus of highly trained officers and enlisted personnel.

  • OUR PICKSNuclear Friend-Shoring? | ShotSpotter Keeps Listening for Gunfire After Contracts Expire | Cisco Firewalls Hacked to Access Government Networks, and more

    ·  Nuclear Friend-Shoring? Issues With Uranium Enrichment Cooperation
    The U.S. could cooperate with foreign partners on uranium enrichment to wean nuclear power plants off Russian fuel. But should it?

    ·  How States Are Investigating and Prosecuting the Trump Fake Electors
    The current status of nationwide efforts to hold accountable the people behind the 2020 fake electors plot

    ·  The Unreality of Columbia’s ‘Liberated Zone’
    What happens when genuine sympathy for civilian suffering mixes with a fervor that borders on the oppressive?

    ·  Congressional Push for Oil Sanctions Puts Biden in a Bind
    New measures to punish Iran, Venezuela, and Russia could raise crude prices and hurt Biden in an election year

    ·  ShotSpotter Keeps Listening for Gunfire After Contracts Expire
    Internal emails suggest that the company continued to provide gunshot data to police in cities where its contracts had been canceled

    ·  ‘ArcaneDoor’ Cyberspies Hacked Cisco Firewalls to Access Government Networks
    Sources suspect China is behind the targeted exploitation of two zero-day vulnerabilities in Cisco’s security appliances

  • WORLD ROUNDUPWill Fearless and Tireless Robots Lead to More Terrifying Wars? | Reopening the Pegasus Spying Scandal | India Delivers Supersonic Cruise Missiles to Philippines, and more

    ·  Will Fearless and Tireless Robots Lead to More Terrifying Wars?
    The proliferation of autonomous weapons will affect the future conduct of warfare. But we do not know how.

    ·  Anti-Piracy Lessons from the Seychelles
    The success of the Seychelles Coast Guard shows how regional states, however tiny, can play an outsized role not only in countering piracy but also in maritime security in general

    ·  Amid China Tensions, India Delivers Supersonic Cruise Missiles to Philippines
    India and Philippines have ramped up defense cooperation as concerns over an increasingly assertive China deepen in both countries

    ·  Seven Teenagers Arrested in Australia Anti-Terrorism Probe
    The suspects, who are between 15 to 17 years old, were associates of the 16-year-old boy charged in the April 15 attack on Assyrian Bishop

    ·  Spain: Court Reopens Investigation in Pegasus Spying Scandal
    Spain and France will share information from their separate investigations into the use of Pegasus software to spy on their politicians

    ·  Is Iran’s Strategic Patience at an End?
    While this round of conflict appears to be over, more escalatory situations are likely to occur, and the likelihood of an extensive war between Iran and Israel has indeed risen

  • MISSILE DEFENSE15 Things You Don’t Know About Israel’s Air Defense Systems

    By John Jeffay

    Israel has sustained attacks from enemies throughout its history and has invested heavily in high tech defense technologies that are the envy of the world’s military.