Our picksAmerica Needs a COVID-19 Reckoning | Solving the West’s Water Crisis | DHS Using Phone Location Data, and more

A Conversation with Former CISA Director Christopher Krebs (Washington Post)
Christopher Krebs headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security until he was fired by President Trump on Nov. 17. Days earlier, CISA had distributed a statement from a coalition of federal and state officials saying they found no evidence that votes were tampered with, and that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.” CISA had won bipartisan praise for its work to secure the election and combat misinformation.

America Needs a COVID-19 Reckoning (William Haseltine and John R. Allen, The Atlantic)
Both parties wanted answers after 9/11. The pandemic has killed nearly 100 times more Americans. 

The Scariest Thing about Global Warming (and Covid-19) (David Roberts, Vox)
“Shifting baselines syndrome” means we could quickly get used to climate chaos.

Covid Disinformation Sites Often Use Tools from Google, Facebook and Apple, Report Finds (Craig Timberg, Washington Post)
Companies that block fraud and disinformation on their platforms make computer code used by websites that push such content, Oxford researchers found

How to Judge Facebook’s New Judges (Jacob McHangama, Foreign Policy)
The social media company’s search for consistent rules has been long, winding, and entirely self-defeating.

Ex-Presidents Can Get Intel Briefings. Trump Shouldn’t. (Eleanor Clift, Daily Beast)
Whether ex-presidents get intel briefings is entirely up to the sitting president. None has ever said no. But Joe Biden should.

COVID-19 and International Law Series: Vaccine Theft, Disinformation, the Law Governing Cyber Operations (Oona Hathaway and Alasdair Phillips-Robins, Just Security)
This week cybersecurity researchers reported a suspected state-sponsored attempt to gain access to the accounts of executives and officials at companies and international organizations managing the logistics of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. According to IBM, the hackers were apparently seeking information about how the vaccines, some of which have to be kept at extremely low temperatures, will be stored and moved. The motive – whether to simply steal technology or to interfere with the distribution of the vaccine – is still unclear.
This is just the latest in a slew of cyber incidents related to COVID-19, which has proved a boon for hackers.

Homeland Security Watchdog to Probe Department’s Use of Phone Location Data (Byron Tau, Wall Street Journal)
Inspector general to investigate legality of tracking Americans without a warrant

DHS Blocks Cotton Imports from Major Chinese Firm over Forced Labor (Gavin Bade, Politico)
The prohibition on cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. falls short of a region-wide ban the agency and Congress are still considering

The Rancher Trying to Solve the West’s Water Crisis (Annie Snider, Politico)
The power politics of the Colorado River have long pitted families like Paul Bruchez’s against big cities. Under pressure from climate change, they might be finding a path out.