Our picksWhy Los Angeles is burning; quantum computing risks; killer robots, and more

The firestorm this time: Why Los Angeles is burning (Adam Rogers, Wired)
Southern California’s transverse ranges—the mostly east-west mountains that slice up and define the greater Los Angeles region—were fire-prone long before there was a Los Angeles.

Did climate change worsen the Southern California fires? (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic)
Seven of the state’s 10 largest modern wildfires have occurred in the last 14 years.

Appeals court considers legality of latest Trump travel ban (Josh Gerstein, Politico)
9th Circuit panel wrestles with president’s restrictions aimed largely at majority-Muslim countries

Border agents in training (Abe Streep and Sarah Blesener, Reveal)
Border Patrol work is a complicated affair for Mexican American families, bringing with it questions of allegiance and identity.

Quantum computing is the next big security risk (Will Hurd, Wired)
The 20th century gave birth to the Nuclear Age as the power of the atom was harnessed and unleashed. Today, we are on the cusp of an equally momentous and irrevocable breakthrough: the advent of computers that draw their computational capability from quantum mechanics.

DHS needs to better protect employees’ sensitive info, IG says (Jack Corrigan, NextGov)
Homeland Security Department employees’ medical records and sensitive personal data is at risk if the agency doesn’t strengthen its privacy policies, according to an agency watchdog report.

White House watch: Get ready for infrastructure year (Michael Warren, Weekly Standard)
The administration hopes to provide Congress with a set of priorities in January.

“As much death as you want”: UC Berkeley’s Stuart Russell on “Slaughterbots” (Lucien Crowder, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Not many films advocating arms control will get hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. But not every film advocating arms control comes with a title such as “Slaughterbots.”