Our picksTSA Hiring Freeze | Tourists vs Spies | Cyberforce Targeting Terrorists, and more

Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections is Even Worse Than You Thought (Paul R. Pillar, National Interest)
One of the two major parties never fully or publicly accepted the reality of the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, which contributed to Donald Trump’s victory.

How Russia And Other Foreign Actors Sow Disinformation in Elections (NPR)
Russian disinformation is again a topic of conversation leading up to the presidential election. Nina Jankowicz of the Wilson Center tells NPR’s Audie Cornish more about foreign interference tactics.

Interpol Official Warns of Dramatic Rise in Extremist Right-Wing Violence (Souad Mekhennet, Washington Post)
The secretary general of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, spoke to The Washington Post about the dramatic rise in extremist right-wing violence and the use of social media as a “sort of incubator” for far-right ideas. The incidents, he said, should be treated in the same way as Islamist extremism.

New Jersey Declared White Supremacists a Major Threat. Here’s Why That’s Groundbreaking. (Anna Orso, Philadelphia Inquirer)
New Jersey says white supremacist extremism is one of the state’s greatest terrorism threats — higher than al-Qaeda and the Islamic State — and in doing so has positioned itself as a national leader in countering domestic terrorism inspired by racism, experts say.

Automatic Release in the U.K. of about 50 Terrorists to Be Stopped by New Law (Alan McGuinness, Sky News)
The bill will stop about 50 terrorists being automatically released halfway through their sentences.

How Many Mass Shootings Will It Take for Germany to Confront Its Far-Right Problem? (Can Dündar, Time Magazine)
What happened last week at the Midnight hookah bar – a modest lounge in the German town of Hanau, where a largely Turkish clientele often goes to relax in the evenings – should really be enough to change the debate in Germany. The debate about racism and intolerance, about violence, hate and terrorism, and about the ways that all these things have been fueled by the nation’s political climate.

Trump Freezes Hiring at Another DHS Agency (Eric Katz, Defense One)
TSA is the second Homeland Security component agency to suspend taking on new employees.

Were These Six Chinese Trespassers Confused Tourists or Spies? The FBI Wants to Know (Anna Schecter and Tom Winter, ABC News)
Were two recent incidents of Chinese nationals showing up at President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida isolated cases of tourists mistakenly taking photos in sensitive locations? Or could some or all of the individuals be part of a spy operation run out of Beijing?
Federal authorities are now working to answer those questions. FBI counterintelligence agents are investigating whether the spate of incidents might be part of a coordinated espionage effort, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter.

U.K. to Launch Specialist Cyber Force Able to Target Terror Groups (Dan Sabbagh, Guardian)
GCHQ and Ministry of Defence to roll out national task force of hackers after months of delay

ISIS Still Targeting Swedish City Despite Closure of Extremist School (Nicky Harley, The National)
Sweden’s security service SAPO says ISIS radicalization is still taking place