• CHINA WATCHChina’s Lead in Advanced Sensors Is Overwhelming

    By Jenny Wong-Leung and Dannielle Pilgrim

    China’s research in several advanced sensor technologies vital to military navigation and targeting is overwhelmingly ahead of the three AUKUS partners, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Even if the three team up with likeminded Indo-Pacific countries Japan and South Korea, they do not match the Chinese output in high-impact research.

  • BORDER SECURITYBavaria Promotes Its Border Police as Model for Germany

    By William Noah Glucroft

    With state elections coming up and migration on the rise, State Premier Markus Söder is stumping for border security. His revamped border police are five years old — supporters and critics disagree on their necessity.

  • EXTREMISMExtremists Have Turned Texas into a Hotbed for Hate: Report

    By Robert Downen

    Texas continues to be a hotbed for extremism and antisemitism, driven by the heavy presence of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-LGBTQ+ groups that are headquartered or active in the state.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE ROTECTIONHarmonization of Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Entities

    DHS outlined a series of actionable recommendations on how the federal government can streamline and harmonize the reporting of cyber incidents to better protect the nation’s critical infrastructure.

  • POWER GRIDDOE Invests $39 Million to Support a 21st Century Electric Grid

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $39 million for projects across DOE’s National Laboratories to help modernize the electricity grid. The investments will support the development and deployment of concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future while incorporating equity and the best available climate science.

  • WATER SECURITYWith Automated Treatment, Affordable Water from Nontraditional Sources Can Flow to Underserved Communities

    Researchers are developing advanced automation techniques for desalination and water treatment plants, enabling them to save while providing affordable drinking water to small, parched communities without high-quality water supplies.

  • OUR PICKSAre Smart Phones at the Border Protected by the Fourth Amendment | The American Face of Authoritarian Propaganda | Fighting ‘Terrorism’ on Streets with AI Spycraft, and more

    ·  Homeland Security and the Shutdown Threat: Planning for an Unnecessary Contingency
    Government shutdown will cause an increased risk to the nation’s homeland security

    ·  The American Face of Authoritarian Propaganda
    For Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin, Tucker Carlson fulfills a need

    ·  The FTC, 1Health.io, and Genetic Data Privacy and Security
    A genetic testing company publicly stored consumers’ genetic data with no encryption. The FTC stepped in.

    ·  Smart Phones at the Border: What Does the Fourth Amendment Protect?
    The circuit courts’ split grows more pressing after a district court decision requires warrants for cell phone searches at the border

    ·  One Day on the Border: 8,900 Migrants Arrested, and More on the Way
    Driven by desperation, families and individuals are pushing across the southern border

    ·  The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases
    Hank Asher was a drug smuggler with a head for numbers — until he figured out how to turn Americans’ private information into a big business

    ·  Misinformation Research Is Buckling Under GOP Legal Attacks  (
    An escalating campaign, led by Rep. Jim Jordan and other Republicans, has cast a pall over programs that study political disinformation and the quality of medical information online

    ·  American White Nationalists Are Fleeing US Sites for Russian Platforms. Here’s Why
    The Russian government doesn’t need to do anything to encourage the spread of extremism ‘because it’s already cooking’

    ·  New Orleans DA Fights ‘Terrorism’ on Streets with AI Spycraft
    Prosecutors work with former intelligence officers and artificial-intelligence tools to gather and analyze evidence

    ·  Far-Right Violence a Growing Threat and Law Enforcement’s Top Domestic Terrorism Concern
    ·  Hammerskins: German Branch of US-Based Neo-Nazi Group Banned  (DW)
    The Hammerskins Germany is an offshoot of the Hammerskins Nation founded in the United States in 1988

  • WORLD ROUNDUPThe Road to Critical Mineral Security | Chinese Spies Are Targeting Access, Not Race | Rift With Canada Puts Spotlight on India’s Security Services, and more

    ·  The Road to Critical Mineral Security Leads through Australia
    Washington and Canberra can partner to ensure safer and more reliable critical and rare earth mineral supply chains

    ·  Where the Wargames Weren’t: Assessing 10 Years of U.S.-Chinese Military Assessments
    Two major schools of prescriptive thought have evolved on how to respond in case of Chinese aggression in the Western Pacific

    ·  Will the Russia-Ukraine War lead to World War III?
    So far, the conflict has remained within manageable bounds for the international community, but the prospect of further conflagration is not far off

    ·  Taiwan Is Using Generative AI to Fight Chinese Disinfo
    But LLM models will enable new adversaries as well as allies, top intelligence official warns

    ·  US Denies ‘Wedge’ in Canada Ties After Refusing to Condemn Terrorist’s Killing
    Canada and its Five Eyes partners do not agree on who was behind Sikh killing in Canada

    ·  Rift With Canada Puts Spotlight on India’s Security Services
    Trudeau’s accusations suggest New Delhi’s intelligence operatives could lead it down a dark path

    ·  How Germany’s Extreme Right Seized on the Martial Arts Scene
    Festivals or tournament organizers market their events in a way that makes them hard to distinguish from normal combat sports tournaments

    ·  Chinese Spies Are Targeting Access, Not Race
    Implying China mostly uses ethnically Chinese assets is both wrong and dangerous

  • CYBERCRIMEIncrease in Chinese-Language Malware Could “Challenge” Russian Dominance of Cybercrime: Report

    By Masood Farivar

    For decades, Russian and eastern European hackers have dominated the cybercrime underworld. These days they may face a challenge from a new contender: China. Researchers have detected an increase in the spread of Chinese language malware through email campaigns since early 2023, signaling a surge in Chinese cybercrime activity and a new trend in the global threat landscape.

  • EXTREMISMHow Local Police Could Help Prevent Another January 6th-Style Insurrection

    By Matthew Valasik and Shannon Reid

    As scholars who study street gangs and far-right groups, we see that the larger law enforcement community continues to focus – we believe mistakenly – on the belief that, like terrorist groups, white supremacists are coordinated in ideology and intent. Evidence shows that perception actually diverts local police agencies’ attention from identifying and managing these groups. We believe that if police had treated Proud Boys as members of a street gang from the group’s inception in 2016, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, might have been avoided, or at least reduced in severity.

  • EXTREMISMHigh Rate of Mental Health Problems and Political Extremism Found in Those Who Bought Firearms During COVID Pandemic

    People who bought firearms during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have much higher rates of suicidal thoughts, self-harm behaviors and intimate partner violence, a study suggests, compared with other firearm owners and people who don’t own firearms. Pandemic firearm buyers were also much more likely than the other groups to hold extreme beliefs, ranging from anti-vaccination views to support for QAnon conspiracy theories.

  • MICROCHIPSU.S. Investment in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Building the Talent Pipeline

    By Sherry Van Sloun

    To reverse the three decade long decline in the United States’ share of semiconductor manufacturing, a concerted effort is required. Right now, the United States does not have the talent pool to support the ambitious goals of the August 2022 CHIPS Act.  

  • AIWalking the Artificial Intelligence and National Security Tightrope

    By Jack Goldsmith

    Artificial intelligence (AI) presents nations’ security as many challenges as it does opportunities. While it could create mass-produced malware, lethal autonomous weapons systems, or engineered pathogens, AI solutions could also prove the counter to these threats. Regulating AI to maximize national security capabilities and minimize the risks presented to them will require focus, caution and intent.

  • DAMSDeadly Dam Failures: Cause, Effect, and Prevention

    By Zulfikar Abbany

    No dam is flood-proof. Thousands are at alert level. But dam failure needn’t be deadly the way it was in Libya’s devastating floods. Here’s what you need to know.

  • FLOODSNew Flood Prediction Model Has Potentially Life-Saving Benefits

    A new simulation model that can predict flooding during an ongoing disaster more quickly and accurately than currently possible. The new model has major potential benefits for emergency responses, reducing flood forecasting time from hours and days to just seconds, and enabling flood behavior to be accurately predicted quickly as an emergency unfolds.

  • OUR PICKSChinese Spies Infected Dozens of Networks | Air Ports Inside Threats | Flesh-Eating Bacterium Is Creeping North, and more

    ·  U.S. Will Allow Nearly 500,000 Venezuelan Migrants to Work Legally
    472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31 will allow to work legally in the U.S. for 18 months

    ·  Biden Plan Seeks to Keep Migrants Away from the Border. Will It Work?
    By opening migration processing centers in three Latin American countries, the Biden administration is trying to coax people not to make a harrowing trek to the border

    ·  Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather
    The billionaire has described his grandfather as a risk-taking adventurer. A closer read of history reveals something much darker.

    ·  A Flesh-Eating Bacterium Is Creeping North as Oceans Warm
    The Vibrio vulnificus pathogen thrives in hot coastal waters, and beachgoers can contract it via a small cut or scrape. It can also kill them in two days.

    ·  Chinese Spies Infected Dozens of Networks with Thumb Drive Malware
    Security researchers found USB-based Sogu espionage malware spreading within African operations of European and US firms

    ·  GAO Wants CBP to Address Cultural and Natural Resource Impacts from Barrier Construction
    From 2017 through January 2021, federal officials and stakeholders didn’t get enough information from DHS to offer meaningful input on the impact of the border wall

    ·  TSA Officers at Philadelphia International Airport Stop Flight Attendant with a Loaded Gun
    Flight attendant tried to board a plane with a loaded .380 caliber handgun

  • WORLD ROUNDUPThe Developing Trilateral Imperialist Partnership | U.S. and Central Asian Conflicts | growing Canada-India Tensions, and more

    ·  India Suspends Visas for Canadians, Escalating Clash Over Sikh’s Killing
    The move followed Canada’s claim of Indian government involvement in the assassination of a Canadian citizen who supported a separatist cause

    ·  Thailand: What Next for Reformist Pita After Failed PM Bid?
    After being suspended from parliament by the junta, Move Forward Party’s leader quits as party leader

    ·  Germany Has Reached ‘a Limit’ on Migration, Steinmeier Says
    German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for border controls and a “fair distribution” of migrants within the EU ahead of his visit to Italy

    ·  North Korea, Russia and China: The Developing Trilateral Imperialist Partnership
    China and North Korea have not launched major wars to achieve their aims — yet

    ·  The Strawman Defense Is Torching Taiwan’s Military
    Taiwan should invest in capabilities that are highly survivable

    ·  Made in the Himalayas: Building War Games for India and Its Partners
    India lags in wargaming and should develop a culture of strategic wargaming

    ·  Islamic State Khorasan Within Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan: Dynamics and Synergies with Allies and Enemies
    Although the ISIS “Caliphate” had been crippled, the ideology continues to perpetuate itself beyond its original geographic territory.

    ·  The United States Must Not Enflame Central Asian Conflicts
    The United States risks unnecessarily raising tensions with Beijing by contributing to Tajikistan’s security

  • MIGRATIONEritrea Stoking Conflicts Between Its Migrants Abroad

    By Mimi Mefo Takambou

    The repressive regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has forced many Eritreans to seek refuge abroad. Some commentators believe Afwerki is stoking conflict between Eritrean migrants and their host nations.

  • GRAND STRATEGYAmerican Grand Strategy, Realism, and the Russo-Ukraine War

    By Lawrence Freedman

    Choices in foreign policy are never simple and are always sub-optimal. The choice faced now is whether to continue to support Ukraine fighting a messy, tragic war, which it may take time to win, or to let it carry on alone, with the prospect of an even more tragic conclusion from which the Western Alliance, let alone Ukraine, might never recover. As Western countries are not actually doing the fighting and have the resources to sustain Ukraine in its struggle, in the end this is not that difficult a choice to make. No, Ukraine is not another Vietnam.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHThink Twice Before Saying “Cult”

    By Christina Pazzanese

    Some critics of Donald Trump liken the dynamic between the former president and his followers to a political cult, a claim rekindled by CBS/YouGov polling released last month. Survey shows intense support for ex-president despite indictments, but common claim against MAGA movement falls short of scientific rigor.

  • INFRASTRUCTURE ROTECTIONSovereignty in Space

    The EU wants to establish its own satellite network by 2027, with the aim of increasing the resilience of the European communications infrastructure and gaining technological sovereignty in space. Achieving this will require novel solutions.

  • ENERGY SECURITYHow Do We Dismantle Offshore Oil Structures Without Making the Public Pay?

    By Martin Lockman and Martin Dietrich Brauch

    More than 12,000 offshore oil and gas installations straddle the globe, and industry analysts anticipate annual offshore oil and gas investments to reach $173 billion by 2024. A number of oil companies are expected to significantly expand their offshore drilling activities in the coming years. At the same time, many jurisdictions face a growing need to dismantle offshore infrastructure, whether because it is aging, the resources are depleted, or mandated net-zero strategies require some installations to be decommissioned earlier than expected.