Our picksI Made Bombs for al-Qaida | Cyberwarfare Defense | Rising Seas Threaten Bay Area, and more

Trump Targets Major Weapons Projects to Fund Wall (Kate Bo Williams, Defense One) The funds will be drawn mainly from procurement for major programs like the F-35 fighter jet. $1.3 billion will come from the National Guard alone.

A Bid to Avert Rising Seas Disaster in California’s Bay Area (Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times)

Last week, state lawmakers grappled with threats California must confront as the ocean pushes farther inland. Homes are flooding and critical infrastructure is feet from toppling into the sea.

Up to 70,000 Broward County Homeowners May Be Forced to Buy Flood Insurance (Mario Ariza, South Florida Sun Sentinel)
If a property owner discovers that their home has been mapped into a flood plain, or that their home has been moved to a higher-risk area with a higher premium, FEMA officials urge them to buy a “Preferred Risk Policy.”

Cyber-Warfare May Be Imminent, but Defender Power Is on the Rise(Tom Kellermann, ITPro)
Businesses appear to be adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of sustained cyberattacks.

Democrats Criticize FCC for Not Taking Action Against DC Station Broadcasting Russian Disinformation (Maggie Miller, The Hill)
A group of House Democrats criticized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday for not taking action to curb Russian propaganda aired on U.S. radio stations, and urged the agency to take steps to remedy this ahead of the 2020 elections.

Hamas-Linked Hackers Exploit Current Events to Spy on Rival Palestinian Officials, Researchers Say(Sean Lyngaas, Cyberscoop)
Hackers associated with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, are combining new malware with a timeless trick in an espionage campaign against Palestinian officials, private-sector researchers said Thursday.

No Nukes for You: In 2007 Israel Bombed Syria’s Nuclear Reactors(Robert Farley, National Interest)
Israel isn’t known for taking chances with their survival. Once they saw America wasn’t going to act, they ordered the destruction of Assad’s nascent nuclear weapons program.

Experience: I Made Bombs for al-Qaida(Aimen Dean, Guardian)
In 1998, two US embassies were bombed, killing 200 Africans. I no longer wanted to be part of it

U.S. Readied Sanctions on Russian Oligarch’s Associates—Then Mysteriously Backed Off (Betsy Swan, Daily Beast)
“Somebody overruled [Treasury], essentially,” one sanctions expert said. “That’s the most likely scenario.”