• GAZA WARUN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza

    By Elliott Abrams

    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.

  • CYBERSECURITYThe Future of Cybersecurity

    By Stanford Engineering Staff

    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.

  • TRUTH DECAYCan Wikipedia-like Citations on YouTube Curb Misinformation?

    By Stefan Milne

    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.

  • TRUTH DECAYUsers Seek Out Echo Chambers on Social Media

    Users are inclined to favor popular opinion; lack of exposure to dissent contributes to polarization.

  • BATTERIESMaking Batteries Takes Lots of Lithium: Almost Half of It Could Come from Pennsylvania Wastewater

    By Brandie Jefferson

    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?

  • WATER SECURITYTexas Delegation Urges Congress to Withhold Aid to Mexico Over Water Treaty Dispute

    By Matthew Choi

    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.

  • 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

  • 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

  • BORDER SECURITYTerrorist Watch List Apprehensions at Northern Border Continue to Break Records

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    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.

  • IMMIGRATIONChina Resumes Cooperating with U.S. on Illegal Migration

    By Wenhao Ma, Adrianna Zhang, and Mo Yu

    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.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONInvestigation: How Russia's Warplanes Get Their 'Brain Power' From the West, Despite Sanctions

    By Kyrylo Ovsyaniy

    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.

  • TECH DIPLOMACYTech Diplomacy: What It Is, and Why It’s Important

    By Bronte Munro

    We need to get used to a new concept in international security: tech diplomacy. It means technological collaboration across sectors and between countries, but the simplicity of the idea shouldn’t disguise its importance.

  • CYBERSECURITY EDUCATIONCybersecurity Education Varies Widely in U.S.

    By Tina Hilding

    Cybersecurity programs vary dramatically across the country, a review has found. The authors argue that program leaders should work with professional societies to make sure graduates are well trained to meet industry needs in a fast-changing field.

  • OUR PICKSTightening Oversight of “Gain of Function” Research | Bioshield: Twenty Years of Preparedness | The Wrong Way to Fight Anti-Semitism on Campus, and more

    ·  US Pledges $200 Million to Help Track, Contain Bird Flu on Dairy Farms
    The new funds include $101 million to continue work to prevent, test, track and treat animals and humans potentially affected by the virus

    ·  US Funders to Tighten Oversight of Controversial “Gain of Function” Research
    New policy on high-risk biology studies aims to address criticism that previous rules were too vague

    ·  Twenty Years of Preparedness
    Reflecting on the Legacy of The Project BioShield Act of 2004

    ·  It Should Not Be Easy to Buy Synthetic DNA Fragments to Recreate the 1918 Flu Virus
    It should be exceedingly hard to obtain,without authorization, the synthetic DNA needed to recreate the virus that caused the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic. But it is surprisingly easy

    ·  The Wrong Way to Fight Anti-Semitism on Campus
    A well-intentioned bill making its way through Congress could chill speech at colleges across the country

  • WORLD ROUNDUPDid China's Xi Jinping Expose Disunity in Europe? | Going to the Extreme: Inside Germany’s Far Right | US Needs Counterterrorism Partners in Central Asia, and more

    ·  China’s Xi Courts European Allies, Seeks to Exploit Western Divisions, Analysts Say
    The European Union accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing the industry and undercutting its own carmakers

    ·  Did China’s Xi Jinping Expose Disunity in Europe?
    The Chinese president’s visit to Europe yielded little breakthrough on issues like trade and Ukraine. But it did show that Beijing prefers to work one-on-one to avoid collective opposition to its interests

    ·  Congressman: US Needs Counterterrorism Partners in Central Asia
    Washington wants to enhance security cooperation while backing political and economic reforms

    ·  British Government Tries to Head Off the Type of Unrest Seen on American Campuses
    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak summoned university leaders to his Downing Street offices in an effort to head off the kind of student unrest

    ·  Going to the Extreme: Inside Germany’s Far Right
    It is a spring evening in Germany’s eastern city of Cottbus, and dozens of people have crowded into a small venue to hear a man who once dubbed himself the “friendly face” of National Socialism (Nazism)

  • BRAIN WORMSDid a Worm Really Eat Part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Brain?

    By Adam Taylor

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was found to have a pork tapeworm larva lodged in his brain. Cases in the US are reported to be in the hundreds per year. It is also an incredibly rare infection to encounter in Europe. Humans are the main host of mature tapeworms, but they need help from other intermediaries to spread.

  • GAZA WARIt Is “Reasonable to Assess” that Israel’s Gaza Campaign Has Violated International Law: State Department

    The State Department told Congress Friday that the administration has concluded it is “reasonable to assess” that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has violated international law, but that the department has not found specific instances which would justify the withholding of military aid.

  • CHINA WATCHTruth and Reality with Chinese Characteristics

    The Chinese Communist Party seeks to maintain total control over the information environment within China, while simultaneously working to extend its influence abroad to reshape the global information ecosystem. That includes not only controlling media and communications platforms outside China, but also ensuring that Chinese technologies and companies become the foundational layer for the future of information and data exchange worldwide.

  • COLLEGE UNRESTFeds Should Leave Campus Unrest to Others

    By Neal McCluskey

    The federal government should not inject itself into debates largely occurring in civil—free—society. It is not the proper federal role, and it threatens to reduce rather than promote harmony. Some of the things said during the pro-Palestine protests might well be horrible, inaccurate things to say. Those who say them might have antisemitic motives. But it is extremely dangerous to put such speech off limits.

  • EXTREMISMU.S. Department of Education Opens Investigation into Anti-Semitism at Berkeley K-12 Public Schools

    The U.S. Department of Education has opened a formal investigation into a complaint that the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) failed to address non-stop “severe and persistent” bullying and harassment of Jewish students in classrooms, hallways, schools yards, and walkouts since October 7, 2023.

  • EXTREMISMWhat Do Anti-Jewish Hate, Anti-Muslim Hate Have in Common?

    By Christy DeSmith

    Researchers scrutinize various facets of these types of bias, and note sometimes they both reside within the same person.

  • ALIENSAI May e to Blame for Our Failure to Make Contact with Alien Civilizations

    By Michael Garrett

    Could AI be the universe’s “great filter” – a threshold so hard to overcome that it prevents most life from evolving into space-faring civilizations? The great filter hypothesis is ultimately a proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox: why, in a universe vast and ancient enough to host billions of potentially habitable planets, we have not detected any signs of alien civilizations. The hypothesis suggests there are insurmountable hurdles in the evolutionary timeline of civilizations that prevent them from developing into space-faring entities.