DHS Jan. 6 Failure | Biden’s Border Plan Isn’t Working | There's an Earthquake Coming!, and more

Climate Change Is Already Disrupting the Military. It Will Get Worse, Officials Say  (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
Even as wildfires drain National Guard resources, the Pentagon is racing to develop computer models that can better guide decisions about sustainability efforts.

Facebook Bans Russian Disinformation Network That Claimed Coronavirus Vaccines Turn People into Chimpanzees  (Rachel Pannett, Washington Post)
Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts it said were part of a disinformation campaign largely run out of Russia that also used social media influencers to peddle fake claims about coronavirus vaccines, including that some shots could turn people into chimpanzees.
Investigators said they traced the origins of the campaign to Fazze, a subsidiary of a U.K.-registered marketing firm whose operations were primarily conducted from Russia. The operation “targeted audiences primarily in India, Latin America and, to a much lesser extent, the United States,” according to a report published Tuesday by the social media company.

Biden’s Border Plan Isn’t Working (Dispatch)
By now, there’s no denying that the U.S. is in the midst of a historic surge of illegal immigration. More than 188,000 migrants were intercepted trying to cross the border in June, the highest monthly number in more than 20 years. Preliminary estimates show July to have topped even that, with 210,000 migrant apprehensions.
These numbers are even more striking when you factor in seasonal trends. Illegal border crossings typically plummet during the summer, when the heat makes the long, arduous journey up through Central America and Mexico even more unbearable. More people are attempting to get into the country illegally than have been in a long, long time.
Such a surge makes one thing clear: Eight months into Joe Biden’s presidency, at least one plank of his immigration policy has failed.

House Republicans Urge DHS to Reveal How Many Migrants Are on Terror Watchlist  (Adam Shaw, Fox News)
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to reveal how many migrants apprehended at the border have been identified within a terror watch list — arguing that Americans should be informed of the number. “Although most of the information on this topic is rightfully classified, the number of known or suspected terrorists attempting to illegally cross into the United States is not kept secret in the interest of national security and the American people deserve to be informed of this number,” the letter from Reps. John Katko, R-NY, August Pfluger, R-Texas and Clay Higgins, R-La., to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. The concern about who is trying to enter the U.S. has grown as an increasing number of migrants, including from countries across the globe, try to enter the U.S. There were more than 188,000 migrant encounters in June, and that number is expected to rise to more than 210,000 for July. In March, Fox News reported that at least four migrants whose names match those on the terror watch list had been picked up by U.S. Border Patrol since the beginning of the fiscal year. The congressmen said that in a recent trip to El Paso, “it was brought to our attention that recently apprehended individuals had been registered on the terrorist watchlist.

Are Federal Sting Operations in U.S. Counterterrorism Cases Legal?  (Paula Moura, PBS)
Sting operations — in which law enforcement either creates or exploits a targeted likely offender’s opportunity to commit a crime — have been used by U.S. agencies for decades. And they’ve been the subject of debate for nearly as long. Experts say federal stings increased after 9/11, in cases such as the one examined by the new FRONTLINE documentary In the Shadow of 9/11, directed by Dan Reed (Leaving Neverland). The film explores how an FBI sting led to the prosecution of the so-called Liberty City Seven, a group of Miami men charged in a 2006 Al Qaeda plot, despite having no connection to the terror group. Some critics say that, as the FBI’s role evolved in the wake of the September 11 attacks, so too did the nature of counterterrorism stings, with the line between investigator and instigator sometimes becoming blurred. Are stings legal? And who’s most affected by them, post-9/11? Here’s a look at the legality of sting operations and how they’ve been used in the 20 years since 2001. Stings are not governed by laws passed by Congress but by guidelines first mapped out by the U.S. Attorney General in 1976. Since then, those guidelines have been revised multiple times, with additional guidance added that can be updated further without notice.

Headline Saying Apple Plans to Scan U.S. iPhones for Extremist Content and Firearms Is Digitally Altered  (Reuters)
Users are sharing a fabricated screenshot claiming that Apple will scan U.S. iPhones for extremist content, far-right propaganda, and firearm ownership. The screenshot has been digitally altered and Apple denied the assertions. Examples can be seen here and here. The description in one post reads: “Oh-oh. That’s great! Guess they will have fun with my pictures! Anyone know how to bypass this? Asking for myself and other iPhone users.” The text in the screenshot reads: “Apple plans to scan US iPhones for extremist content and firearms. Security researchers fear neuralMatch system could be misused to spy on citizens. Apple will scan photo libraries stored on IPhones in the US for known far-right propaganda as well as firearm ownership, the company says, drawing praise from the ADL and mothers demand action. The company will also extend examination of end-to-end encrypted messages.” The article contains editing mistakes and odd font variation. It lists “Alex Hern and agencies” as the author of the article. The original article, published by The Guardian on Aug. 6, 2021, can be seen here and actually features the headline, “Apple plans to scan US iPhones for child sexual abuse images.” The headline and first paragraph have been altered.