Our picksU.S. Cybersecurity Agency Has Global Ambitions | Mass Testing & Pandemic Scale | Migrants & Pandemic, and more

Countering Domestic Terrorism Requires More than a Counterterrorist Strategy  (Paul R. Pillar, National Interest)
No matter how much counterterrorist work is done through interagency task forces, information sharing, and some of the other measures the new strategy document mentions, the problem of domestic terrorism will remain as long as this larger underlying problem of political attitudes and loyalties remains.

U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Has Global Ambitions  (Aaron Schaffer, Washington Post)
The premier U.S. civilian cybersecurity agency wants to expand internationally and be a counterbalance to China’s global influence.

No-Go Negotiations: Iran May Not Be in a Rush to Get Nuclear Weapons  (Mayumi Fukushima, National Interest)
There are reasons why rational nuclear latent states often want to stay non-nuclear.

Russia, Colonial Pipeline, and Whether the Attack Is an Alarming Omen  (Aden Magee, HSToday)
The May 7, 2021, ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline by a cyber-threat actor known to have been operating out of Russia is believed to have been at least tacitly authorized by the Russian government. The implications of the attack were immediately intriguing, but the analysis provided in this article was held pending a more definitive degree of attribution, which has yet to materialize.
The most compelling evidence that the Russian government is at least allowing cyber-crime actors to operate with relative safe haven is the fact that Russia would be among the last countries an organization would choose to operate from if it were concerned with government detection and retribution. Whether Russia is using malign actors such as DarkSide as GRU front organizations or cyberspace mercenaries – or simply turning a blind eye as long as they only target countries other than Russia and its allies – it is now among the top information operations with which the U.S. Intelligence Community is contending. Dating back to the early 1900s, however, the Russian ability to protect state secrets, disinform the West, and obfuscate their true intentions has remained consistently effective.

Biden Officials Consider Phasing Out Rule That Blocked Migrants During Pandemic  (Eileen Sullivan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, New York Times)
Among the plans under consideration is whether to give migrant families a chance to apply for protections, and to possibly lifting the public health rule for single adults this summer.

How Mass Testing Provides a Skewed Picture of the Pandemic’s Scale  (Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph)
Community prevalence now far lower than when country had similar Covid case numbers in December, Telegraph analysis shows