Our picksU.S. biodefence strategy; science behind home disaster preparedness; NSA curbs spying, and more

Revamped U.S. biodefence strategy adds natural disasters and lab accidents (Nature)
White House also says it will support program to boost outbreak detection and response in developing countries.

Applying America’s superpowers: How the U.S. should respond to China’s informatization strategy (Charles Rybeck, Lanny Cornwell, and Philip Sagan, Just Security)
Centuries ago, China led the world in technology innovation. It invented papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder. Yet China failed to exploit its innovations — instead, the West did. Over time, the West subjugated China and achieved global dominance.
Today, the tables are turning. China is attempting to overtake the West as a global leader in technology innovation, just as the West did to China centuries ago. Chinese leaders are exploiting converged data, communications, machines, and humans at a global scale. With little awareness or understanding by the United States, China is uniting its government, military, and society at large behind a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to enter what President Xi Jinping sees as a game-changing “new era.” Chinese leaders call this informatization.

Hurricane Maria: 4 ways the storm changed Puerto Rico — and the rest of America (Eliza Barclay, Alexia Fernández Campbell, and Umair Irfan, Vox)
The worst disaster of the Trump administration (so far).

U.S. to prioritize attacks against foreign adversaries under new cyber strategy (Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill)
The Trump administration on Thursday announced that the U.S. will now officially act to deter and respond to cyberattacks with offensive actions against foreign adversaries. The U.S.’s new cyber strategy, signed by President Trump and now in effect, marks the federal government officially taking a more aggressive approach to cyber threats presented from across the globe.

The science behind home disaster preparedness kits is a disaster (Adam Rogers, Wired)
Helicopters got to Wilmington, North Carolina, after a day of isolation; Hurricane Florence made landfall there, and the city, with one foot in the Atlantic and the other in the Cape Fear River, soon became an island. Its main roads underwater, Wilmington went without help until boats and choppers reached it with medical supplies, water, and food.
But it only took a day. According to the federal government, that’s actually pretty fast. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001—or at least since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005—the government has urged all of us, every individual, to be ready to go without help for at least three days in the wake of a disaster. You’re supposed to have kits in your cars and at home … maybe not the shopping cart from The Road, but just, like, be ready, OK? And now with Florence a waning threat but with fires and storms an apparently permanent part of Earth’s changed climate (and earthquakes, volcanoes, and terror always possible), the rules seem to be shifting a bit again. The new message: Be ready for 14 days on your own. Two weeks.

Fight looms over national privacy law (Harper Neidig, The Hill)
The tech industry and consumer groups are gearing up for a fight as lawmakers begin considering whether to draft a national privacy law. The push to get Congress to enact federal privacy standards is gaining new urgency after California passed what is seen as the nation’s toughest privacy law this June. The measure forces businesses to be more transparent about what they do with consumer data and gives users unprecedented control over their personal information. But the California law has sparked worries within the tech industry, which fears having to comply with a patchwork of varying state regulations.

Finding homes for immigrant kids is hard. Trump’s making it harder — by arresting their relatives. (Dara Lind, Vox)
The federal government has a record 12,800 immigrant kids in custody — but ICE has started arresting parents who step up to take them.

It’s getting harder for international STEM students to find work after graduation (Amy Merrick, The Atlantic)
Schools are competing to bring international STEM students to the U.S., but shifting policies mean that many students are prevented from taking open jobs that could allow them to stay in the country.

NSA curbs spying after security breach (Josh Gerstein, Politico)
Feds ask for eight-year sentence for ex-NSA computer engineer who worked in unit targeting foreign computers.