• CHINA WATCHChinese Government Poses 'Bold and Unrelenting' Threat to U.S. Critical Infrastructure: FBI

    FBI Director Christopher Wray on 18 April warned that risks the government of China poses to U.S. national and economic security are “upon us now”—and that U.S. critical infrastructure is a prime target. He said that partnerships, joint operations, and private sector vigilance can help us fight back.

  • COASTAL CHALLENGESSinking Land Increases Risk for Thousands of Coastal Residents

    By Travis Williams

    One in 50 people living in two dozen coastal cities in the United States could experience significant flooding by 2050, according to new research. The study projects that in the next three decades as many as 500,000 people could be affected as well as a potential 1 in 35 privately owned properties damaged by flooding.

  • FLOODSFEMA Is Making an Example of This Florida Boomtown. Locals call it “Revenge Politics.”

    By Jake Bittle

    When U.S. homeowners buy subsidized flood insurance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they make a commitment to build back better after flood disasters, even if it costs them. The Biden administration is trying to punish Lee County for rebuilding flood-prone homes. The state’s Republican politicians are fighting back.

  • CLIMATE MIGRATIONThe Flooding Will Come “No Matter What”

    By Abrahm Lustgarten

    Another great American migration is now underway, this time forced by the warming that is altering how and where people can live. For now, it’s just a trickle. But in the corners of the country’s most vulnerable landscapes —on the shores of its sinking bayous and on the eroding bluffs of its coastal defenses —populations are already in disarray. The complex, contradictory, and heartbreaking process of American climate migration is underway.

  • AI & CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREArtificial Intelligence and Critical Infrastructure

    What is the technology availability for AI applications in critical infrastructure in the next ten years? What risks and scenarios (consisting of threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences) is AI likely to present for critical infrastructure applications in the next ten years?

  • EARTHQUAKESHow Prepared Is Taiwan for Earthquakes?

    Taiwan sits on a boundary of tectonic plates, and its long history of catastrophic quakes has forced the island to improve its building construction and design-related technologies. Newly constructed buildings in Taiwan have become “increasingly earthquake-resistant.”

  • EARTHQUAKESBalancing Act: Can Precariously Perched Boulders Signal New York’s Earthquake Risk?

    By Kevin Krajick

    The trouble with big earthquakes is that their subterranean root systems can lurk for centuries or millennia before building enough energy to explode. Among many places, this is true of the New York City area, where scientists believe big quakes are possible—but probably so rare, it is hard to say exactly how often they come, or how big they could be.

  • CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREEngineers Fortifying Critical Infrastructure

    In a bid to protect the nation’s energy sector against cyber attacks, engineers are creating a digital twin to help weed out threats and fix software and firmware vulnerabilities. If left unchecked, these weaknesses could allow ransomware attacks that could cause severe havoc to critical U.S. energy systems.

  • WATER SECURITYWhere Did All the Water Go? New Study Explores Water Use in the Colorado River Basin.

    By Kyle Dunphey

    The final 100 miles of the Colorado River is a shell of its former self — nearly 10 miles wide at the turn of the century, farmers had more water than they knew what to do with. Now, a weave of concrete canals brings water to sprawling industrial farms situated in the Mexicali Valley, with much of the natural riverbed dry and the wildlife sparse. Where did all the water go?

  • PROTECTING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREPlan B: Keeping Nuclear Power Plants Cool in a Warmer, Drier Climate

    By Kristen Mally Dean

    Waterways — tried and true cooling sources for nuclear power plants — could get warmer due to global climate change. Climate scientists and nuclear science and engineering experts are joining forces to develop a plan B for nuclear power.

  • CHINA WATCHWhat Is Volt Typhoon? A Cybersecurity Expert Explains the Chinese Hackers Targeting U.S. Critical Infrastructure

    By Richard Forno

    Volt Typhoon is a Chinese state-sponsored hacker group. The United States government and its primary global intelligence partners, known as the Five Eyes, issued a warning on March 19, 2024, about the group’s activity targeting critical infrastructure. The warning echoes analyses by the cybersecurity community about Chinese state-sponsored hacking in recent years.

  • COASTAL CHALLENGESArtificial Reef Could Protect Marine life, Reduce Storm Damage

    By Jennifer Chu

    MIT engineers designed a sustainable and cost-saving structure which aims to dissipate more than 95 percent of incoming wave energy using a small fraction of the material normally needed.

  • BALTIMORE BRIDGE ACCIDENTI’ve Captained Ships into Tight Ports Like Baltimore, and This Is How Captains Like Me Work with Harbor Pilots to Avoid Deadly Collisions

    By Allan Post

    The accident which caused the collapse of the bridge in Baltimore is the third such accident in as many months, with big ships hitting, and causing the collapse, of bridges in China and Argentina. These incidents have highlighted what engineering experts say is the urgent need to improve or protect old bridges to accommodate larger modern vessels – and what maritime experts say is the growing difficulty ship pilots face when helping navigate big ships through tight places.

  • BRIDGE SAFETYMajor Bridge Accidents Caused by Ships and Barges

    Experts say there is much to be done in improving bridges which were built for smaller vessels in a different era, even with modern regulations and design codes in place. The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021, which includes $110 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects, was a step in the right direction, but that it is far from the $4.5 trillion that studies have suggested are needed to upgrade American infrastructure to the target level of safety and efficiency.

  • CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREChinese, Iranian Cyberattacks Target U.S. Water Systems

    Nation-states are increasingly targeting the U.S. water systems with cyberattacks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Security Council (NSC). The EPA and the NSC are urging states to significantly bolster their IT security measures to guard against attacks on critical infrastructure.