• 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.

  • OUR PICKSThe Conspiracies Swarming Campus Protests | Uncle Sam Wants You to Join the Mining Industry | Who Really Has Brain Worms?, and more

    ·  A Russian Influence Campaign Is Exploiting College Campus Protests
    A Kremlin-aligned network called Doppelganger has used faked versions of real news sites to push both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel disinformation

    ·  Who Really Has Brain Worms?
    A scientific inquiry

    ·  Drone Dilemma and the U.S. Air Force
    The problem with the argument about the Air Force’s supposed irrelevance is that it is missing the context of how control of the air is accomplished

    ·  Bird Flu Detected in Colorado Dairy Cattle − a Vet Explains the Risks of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus
    Bird flu is not new to Colorado, but this is the first time the disease has made cattle in Colorado sick

    ·  Uncle Sam Wants You to Join the Mining Industry
    A major talent squeeze is complicating Washington’s critical mineral ambitions

    ·  The Conspiracies Swarming Campus Protests
    Disinformation and conspiracies spun out of control last week when police departments raided college campuses across the country during pro-Palestinian protests

    ·  A (Strange) Interview with the Russian-Military-Linked Hackers Targeting US Water Utilities
    Despite Cyber Army of Russia’s claims of swaying US “minds and hearts,” experts say the cyber sabotage group appears to be hyping its hacking for a domestic audience

  • WORLD ROUNDUPGerman Atomwaffen and the Superweapon Trap | Taiwan Wants Suicide Drones to Deter China | Cold War Is Breaking Out Over Milei’s Lithium ‘Gold Rush’

    ·  Why a Cold War Is Breaking Out Over Milei’s Lithium ‘Gold Rush’
    Argentina’s Lithium Triangle in the Andes threatens China’s dominance of critical minerals

    ·  Blinken Says Israeli Units Accused of Serious Violations Have Done Enough to Avoid Sanctions. Experts and Insiders Disagree.

    Blinken told Congress that Israel had adequately punished a soldier who got community service for killing an unarmed Palestinian. Government officials call it a “mockery” and inconsistent with the law

    ·  German Atomwaffen and the Superweapon Trap
    Can nuclear weapons fix Germany’s or Europe’s complex security problems?The answer is “No,” and Berlin should not fall for the bait

    ·  The East and South China Seas: One Sea, Near Seas, Whose Seas?
    For all the attention they receive as contested Indo-Pacific maritime regions, the strategic differences between East and South China Seas do not always get their due

    ·  Sudan’s Descent into Chaos Sets Stage for al-Qaida to Make a Return to Historic Stronghold
    A year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive

    ·  Biden Administration Won’t Conclude Israel Violated U.S. Weapons Deals, AP Sources Say
    A soon-to-be-released Biden administration review of Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in its war in Gaza does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for their use

    ·  Israel’s PR-War Pandemonium
    The chaotic rise and fall of the anti-Bibi protester who became Israel’s spokesperson

    ·  Taiwan Wants Suicide Drones to Deter China
    Taipei is seeking U.S.-made loitering munitions to help deter or ward off a potential Chinese invasion

  • IMMIGRATIONTrump Promises to Deport All Undocumented Immigrants, Resurrecting a 1950s Strategy − but It Didn’t Work Then and Is Less Likely to Do So Now

    By Katrina Burgess

    Donald Trump said he would follow “the Eisenhower model”  but on a much larger scale — referring to the 1954 “Operation Wetback” which aimed to deport hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. As an immigration scholar, I find Trump’s proposal to be both disturbing and misleading. Besides playing to unfounded and dehumanizing fears of an immigrant invasion, it misrepresents the context and impact of Eisenhower’s policy while ignoring the vastly changed landscape of U.S. immigration today.

  • FACIAL RECOGNITIONSeeing Behind the Mask

    There is a need for face recognition to be able to “see behind the mask” for security and safety. Researchers discusses the potential of new software which will allow facial recognition to work despite the mask you use.

  • CYBERSECURITYKnocking Cloud Security Off Its Game

    By Daniel Meierhans

    Public cloud services employ special security technologies. Computer scientists at ETH Zurich have now discovered a gap in the latest security mechanisms used by AMD and Intel chips. This affects major cloud providers.

  • IMMIGRATIONThe Manufactured Crisis of Migrant Terrorists at the Border

    By Alex Nowrasteh

    Politicians and pundits have given rise to a flood of rhetoric about terrorists exploiting border chaos to harm Americans. But exaggerated threats of terrorists crossing the southern border lead to costly, disproportionate policy decisions.

  • CHINA WATCHChina Seeks to Harvest User Data from Global Apps to Boost Propaganda Efforts

    By Fergus Ryan

    In the global discussion around data privacy and security, much attention has been rightfully placed on the Chinese-owned platform TikTok, with concerns that the user data it collects is accessible to Chinese authorities. But the issue of data collection on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and its integration into propaganda efforts, extends far beyond a single app.

  • TRUTH DECAYMore Feelings of Misinformation, More News Avoidance

    As people have more difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction in the United States, they are more likely to feel news fatigue and avoid news altogether, according to a new study. More than an unintentional avoidance because of lack of media exposure, the researchers say people actively avoid news.