Our picksRiddles of Armageddon; smart guns; nuclear evacuation plans, and more

Inside Facebook’s year of reckoning (Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post) Mark Zuckerberg’s crusade to fix Facebook this year is beginning with a startling retreat. The social network, its chief executive said, would step back from its role in choosing the news that 2 billion users see on its site every month. The company is too “uncomfortable” to make such decisions in a world that has become so divided, Zuckerberg explained recently.

Riddles of Armageddon: Legal enigmas of a nuke launch order (Robert Eatinger, Cipher Brief)
The recent discussion of whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un or President Donald Trump has the bigger “nuclear button” raises the question again of procedures, policies and circumstances surrounding the use of nuclear weapons. U.S. military officers who would be in a position to receive an order for a nuclear strike might particularly lose sleep over their role in such a scenario.

Cyber takes on new prominence in shutdown government (Derek B. Johnson, FCW)
Congress has until Feb. 8 to strike a funding deal before the continuing resolution currently funding the government runs out. During the brief a just-concluded shutdown, agencies got a sneak preview from the Office of Management and Budget about how to prioritize resources and staff, and what has changed since the 2013 government shutdown. Cybersecurity is more prominent in 2018. The Jan. 19 OMB memo providing guidance to agencies classified cybersecurity functions as necessary to avoid imminent threat to federal property, even during a shutdown.

It’s time for the Justice Department to hold Hezbollah accountable (Derek Maltz, Emanuele Ottolenghi, Foreign Policy)
The U.S. government must answer tough questions about its efforts to stop the group’s drug trafficking activities.

New smart-gun company says it’s making a pistol gun owners might actually want (Alex Yablon, The Trace)
The market for smart guns has been plagued by years of false starts, but a new company believes it can crack the code to getting Americans to accept personalized firearms.

CIA boss gives latest indication Trump may consider preemptive strike on North Korea (Spencer Ackerman, Daily Beast)
The spy agency is briefing the president about military options on North Korea, which *outside* analysts warn could escalate to nuclear war.

Washington State legislators revive debate over nuclear evacuation plans (Jim Camden, Spokesman-Review)
Critics argue, however, that lifting the Reagan-era prohibition would only help bolster an “illusion” that nuclear war is winnable.