Our picks this weekShrugging toward Doomsday; disinformation becoming unstoppable; Terror report: DHS bypassed, and more
· In case of nuclear attack, this city says it’s ready. Here’s why
· Shrugging toward Doomsday
· Hacking: Another weapon in the asymmetrical arsenal
· Getting to grips with military robotics
· Cops, first responders gather to consider worst case scenario
· Machine learning: The next step in combating federal insider threats
· A prominent member of Germany’s far-right anti-Islam party just converted to Islam
· What Donald Trump needs to do to fix America’s infrastructure
· ICE is about to start tracking license plates across the U.S.
· Fuzzy thinking about drones
· Leaked memo: Trump admin to boost use of private prisons while slashing federal staff
· How to limit presidential authority to order the use of nuclear weapons
· Left-of-launch missile defense: ‘You don’t want to have just one solution to the threat’
· Anything new under the sun? Nuclear responses to cyberattacks.
· The U.S. government commissioned fiction about a nuclear Holocaust
· Disinformation is becoming unstoppable
· Wave of confusion follows tsunami alert
· Could Hawaii’s missile alert error happen in Florida? Remember the bogus boiled water notice…
· The Pentagon should adjust standards for cyber soldiers — as it has always done
· Inside Facebook’s year of reckoning
· Riddles of Armageddon: Legal enigmas of a nuke launch order
· Cyber takes on new prominence in shutdown government
· It’s time for the Justice Department to hold Hezbollah accountable
· New smart-gun company says it’s making a pistol gun owners might actually want
· CIA boss gives latest indication Trump may consider preemptive strike on North Korea
· Washington State legislators revive debate over nuclear evacuation plans
· Team Trump bypassed DHS analysts to produce bogus terror report
· The new way your computer can be attacked
· Limited strikes on North Korea would be an unlimited disaster
· If we start deliberately cooling the Earth, we may not be able to stop
· Diminished at home, durable Boko Haram may go global
· Facebook’s fake war on fake news
· What (if anything) do Facebook’s News Feed changes mean for fake news?
· This hacking gang just updated the malware it uses against U.K. targets
· Facebook admits what we all know: that social media can be bad for democracy
· Cellular agriculture: The coming revolution in food production
· Flu season worst since 2009 swine flu pandemic
· What a nuclear missile attack on Hawaii would look like
· Silicon Valley and the threat to democracy
· Nations seek the elusive cure for cyberattacks
· Security fears spark crackdown on Chinese tech
· We don’t need a bigger nuclear button
· Pentagon says confronting Iran now tops terrorism concerns
· Twitter and Facebook have very different ideas about “fake news.” One of them is terribly wrong.
· Why are American prisons so afraid of this book?
· Jared Kushner is China’s Trump card
In case of nuclear attack, this city says it’s ready. Here’s why (Donald Bradley, Kansas City Star)
Among the reasons for concern: Terrorism, unstable regimes, unstable leaders, rogue groups and the possibility of stray nukes.
Shrugging toward Doomsday (Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic)
Experts warn that the world is now as dangerous as it was at the height of the Cold War. Many Americans already know it.
Hacking: Another weapon in the asymmetrical arsenal (Scott Stewart, Stratfor)
Hacking will not replace terrorism as an asymmetrical weapon. Terrorism is not going anywhere, and it remains a popular tool for state and non-state actors alike, as a glance at the battlefields in Syria, Afghanistan and Libya will attest. Instead, cyberattacks are a supplement to terrorism — just another wrench in the toolbox of Machiavellian statecraft. Many of the features that make terrorism attractive as a conduit for state power also apply to cyberattacks.
Getting to grips with military robotics (The Economist)
Autonomous robots and swarms will change the nature of warfare
Cops, first responders gather to consider worst case scenario (Larry Hobbs, Brunswick News)
Police, sheriffs, all the way up to the FBI gathered to hash out the challenges of a hypothetical worst-case scenario.
Machine learning: The next step in combating federal insider threats (MeriTalk)
Russian hackers might get all the attention these days, but the Department of Defense (DoD) hasn’t forgotten about WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden.
A prominent member of Germany’s far-right anti-Islam party just converted to Islam (Jennifer Williams, Vox)
Actually spending time with Muslim immigrants seems to have changed Arthur Wagner’s view of Islam.
Are cyber arms control agreements imminent or impossible? (Joseph Marks, NextGov)
Broad cyber agreements are both notoriously thorny and highly necessary in some areas.
What Donald Trump needs to do to fix America’s infrastructure (Jen Kirby, Vox)
“The thing you need, first and foremost, is money.”
ICE is about to start tracking license plates across the U.S. (Garret Beard, Vice)
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians.