Hawaii’s missile scare; AI vs. terrorism; American leader rises in ISIS, and more

Hawaii’s false alarm revealed the stunning flaws in our emergency alert system (Alex Ward, Vox)
An expert explains just how convoluted the system that tells us if we’re in danger really is.

As America’s nukes and sensors get more connected, the risk of cyberattack is growing (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
Future nuclear weapons will be more sophisticated and better integrated with other equipment. That has benefits and drawbacks.

American democracy is an easy target (Henry Farrell, Foreign Policy)
Americans have become paranoid about foreign cyberattacks on their political system, but they have nobody but themselves to blame.

Russian cyber meddling extends well beyond elections (Mark Rockwell, FCW)
A wave of fake email comments similar to the one that flooded the Federal Communications Commission’s servers this past summer, tagged to Russian IP addresses, might also swamp the servers of other federal agencies in the future, as bad actors move to subvert and undermine U.S. democratic processes, a social media expert told a Senate hearing.

FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump (Peter Stone And Greg Gordon, McClatchy)
The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy. FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.

Terrorists stalk Dark Web for deadlier weaponry (Levi Maxey, Cipher Brief)
Terrorists are turning to the dark web’s crypto-bazaars, social media channels and e-commerce sites to buy more coveted military equipment than the usual rocket launchers and AK-47s in the traditional black market. These digital black markets are also allowing terrorist organizations from Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, as well as self-radicalized individuals in the West, to access a larger assortment of arms, explosives material and expertise from the comfort and anonymity of their home computers.

Five Myths about Boko Haram (Alex Thurston, Lawfare)
Recent years have brought a spate of publications about the Nigerian-born jihadist movement Boko Haram. Many of these publications are works of serious scholarship and journalism, and there are innovative new works in the pipeline. Nevertheless, key misconceptions about Boko Haram persist, particularly in non-scholarly publications, journalistic treatments of the group, and policymaking. With my own book on the group recently released, I want to dispel some of these myths.

The U.S. military is fighting terrorism in 76 countries around the world — here’s where (Daniel Brown, Business Insider)
Between October 2015 and October 2017, the U.S. fought terror in 76 countries, or 39 percent of the total number of countries in the world, according to recently published data.

New ways to detect nuclear misbehavior (Katlyn Turner, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
If we had the technology to detect nuclear materials remotely it could help deter smuggling and make it easier to monitor international nuclear agreements. Several recent breakthroughs, if followed up with continued research and funding, could deliver on this promise. They include technological advances in x-ray and neutron radiography; a method that measures how plasma breaks down when exposed to a radioactive source; and developments in antineutrino detection. While all require more development and testing, they are important steps as the global need for ways to detect nuclear materials grows.

How terrorists and provocateurs are using social media against western democracies (Peter Pomerantsev, New Statesman)
On the digital front line are guilt-ridden Russian trolls, young women lured by Isis and Facebook Sherlocks in suburbia.

Germany doesn’t have a playbook for a Nazi-sympathizing opposition (Paul Hockenos, Foreign Policy)
A far-right party has entered German parliament, with uncertain consequences for the country’s democracy.

What to do in case of a nuclear attack (Todd C. Frankel, Washington Post)
The U.S. government has a wealth of suggestions for staying safe — or at least safer — in a nuclear attack.

Hawaii false alarm: How would U.K. handle missile threat? (Ed Davey, BBC)
Residents of Hawaii are reeling from the shock of a false ballistic missile alarm, after a government employee “pushed the wrong button”. But how would UK citizens be made aware of an incoming strike?

China’s total information awareness: Second-order challenges (Ashley Deeks, Lawfare)
The U.S. needs to start thinking about how to respond to domestic surveillance in other countries.

Can pricey immunotherapy drugs help fight infectious disease in developing countries? (Brendan P. Foht, Weekly Standard)
Bill Gates is trying to find out.

The KKK’s attempt to define America (Eric Herschthal, New Republic)
Two new books explain how the Klan gained so much power in the 1920s.

Here’s how immigrants from countries Trump slammed really do in the U.S. (Lyman Stone, Vox)
The United States today, as it always has, receives a lot of immigrants from some very poor and destitute places. And yet today, as always, we succeed in integrating the vast majority of them; they become productive members of society. There are always hiccups of course, and some groups perform better than others, but on the whole, the immigrants we get from the very worst of places often end up being some of our best. African countries, and even disaster-struck countries benefiting from TPS, are no exception.

What the hell happened in Hawaii? (Ankit Panda, Defense One)
False alarms aren’t just terrifying—they’re dangerous.

Want to strike North Korea? It’s not going to go the way you think. (Van Jackson, Politico)
Trust me: I was a nuclear strategist for the Pentagon.

Waiting for the bomb to drop (Eliot A. Cohen, Defense One)
There are sounds, for those who can hear them, of the preliminary and muffled drumbeats of war.

5 ways nuclear Armageddon was almost unleashed (or World War III) (Tom Nichols, National Interest)
During the Cold War, “crisis” had a special connotation, because each moment of political conflict raised the possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Every confrontation carried the potential not only for war, but for the extermination of human civilization. While we look back on these periods now as something like curios in a museum, they were moments of existential fear for both American and Soviet leaders.

A new American leader rises in ISIS (Seamus Hughes, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, and Bennett Clifford, The Atlantic)
A two-year investigation identifies one of the very few Americans in the Islamic State’s upper ranks—and sheds light on the dynamics of radicalization.

Managing the risk of the ISIS’ diaspora in the Caribbean (Serena Joseph-Harris, Cipher Brief)
With the winding down of the war against ISIS in Syria, many Caribbean governments worry about the possible impact that returning fighters could have on domestic and regional security.

The revolution of obfuscation for cybersecurity and threat intelligence (Tom Badders, FCW)
Without the proper protections, threat intelligence can do more harm than good.

The state of Israel’s cybersecurity market (Ofer Schreiber, Iren Reznikov, Techcrunch)
Second only to the U.S., in terms of cybersecurity investment 2017 was another excellent year for Israeli cybersecurity startups, with dozens of companies being formed, breaking fundraising records and producing solid exits. The 2017 data also suggest that the Israeli cybersecurity industry is maturing, as we see a shift in funding towards later stage companies.

How dirt could save humanity from an infectious apocalypse (Peter Andrey Smith, New Yorker)
Scientists believe that the world’s topsoils contain incredible, practically inexhaustible reservoirs of undiscovered antibiotics, the chemical weapons bacteria use to fend off other microorganisms.

The real news we ignore at our peril (Andrew J. Bacevich, The American Conservative)
This is the threat to our democracy, not Fake News. And Exhibit A is our failed war in Afghanistan.