OUR PICKSInsider Threat to Civilian Infrastructure and Aviation | Washington May Regret Overextended AI Chip Controls | Quantum Randomness Could Create a Spoof-Proof Internet, and more

We Have ‘No Proof’ Kilmar Abrego Garcia Is a Gangster, El Salvador Minister Admits  (Susie Coen, The Telegraph)
Mistakenly deported illegal immigrant is being held in low security prison where no MS-13 members are jailed.

Behind Trump’s Deal to Deport Venezuelans to El Salvador’s Most Feared Prison  (

New details deepen questions about the deportations, showing that El Salvador’s president pressed for assurances that the migrants were really members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Nuclear Power Is Back. And This Time, AI Can Help Manage the Reactors. (Belle Lin, Wall Street Journal)
Argonne National Lab has an AI-based tool that can help design and operate nuclear reactors—at a time when AI itself is feeding a power frenzy.

Quantum Randomness Could Create a Spoof-Proof Internet  (Gayoung Lee and Lee Billings, Scientific American)
Quantinuum’s 56-bit trapped-ion computer has succeeded in demonstrating randomness in quantum circuits to establish secure, private connections.

Insider Threat to Civilian Infrastructure and Aviation  (John Halinski, HSToday)
On 16 April 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, from 2017 to 2024, Rahmati provided sensitive information to the Iranian government concerning the FAA, U.S. airports, airport air traffic control systems, and solar energy infrastructure. It was later discovered that Rahmati had previously served as an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was passing sensitive information to Iran through his brother. 
Rahmati is a classic example not only of covert human intelligence operations against the U.S., but also of the growing concern surrounding Insider Threats—an issue that spans beyond military systems and into areas like civil infrastructure. The exposure of this information poses a serious threat to both the transportation and energy sectors. 

Senior Pentagon Official Says Cyber Warfare Poses Significant Threat to Joint Force  (Matthew Olay, DOD News)
The dangers posed by cyber conflict are significant and require preparation by the joint force to counter such threats, according to a senior Defense Department expert on the topic during the Space Force’s Space Systems Command Cyber Expo 2025.

AI Code Hallucinations Increase the Risk of ‘Package Confusion’ Attacks  (Dan Goodin, Ars Technica / Wired)
A new study found that code generated by AI is more likely to contain made-up information that can be used to trick software into interacting with malicious code.

Washington May Regret Overextended AI Chip Controls  (Ray Wang, Foreign Policy)
Ever-tightening restrictions are boosting Chinese firms.

FBI Reassigns Agents Who Knelt During 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests  (Ellen Nakashima and Perry Stein, Washington Post)
Conservatives have pointed to the photo, taken during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, as proof that the FBI harbors a liberal agenda.

Kristi Noem Calls to Rein in CISA and Reset DHS Cyber Strategy  (SCMedia)
The changes outlined by Noem mark a stark departure from the Biden administration’s cyber policy, which expanded CISA’s role and treated disinformation as a cybersecurity threat. Under former President Joe Biden, CISA became a central coordinating body for critical infrastructure defense, ransomware response, and digital trust-building efforts.
Noem’s keynote signals a different approach — one that leans on state and private-sector leadership, seeks to curb federal intervention, and views prior CISA activities as ideological overreach.