Our picksMisjudging heat waves; California’s sea-level rise threat; hacking Navy admirals, and more

The U.S.-Russia relationship on cybercrime is about to get even more strained (Josephine Wolff, Slate)
A secretive treason trial suggests we should be worried.

Why it’s so hard to restart Venezuela’s power grid (Lily Hay Newman, Wired)
Venezuela’s massive, nationwide power outages, which began on Thursday, have so far resulted in at least 20 deaths, looting, and loss of access to food, water, fuel, and cash for many of the country’s 31 million residents. Late Monday, the United States said its diplomats would leave the US embassy in Caracas, citing deteriorating conditions. As the societal impacts intensify and Venezuela’s internal power struggle continues, the country is clearly struggling to restart its grid and meaningfully restore power—a problem exacerbated by its aging infrastructure.
Reenergizing a dead grid, a process known as a black start, is challenging any under circumstances. But statements from Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, opposition leader Juan Guaido, and other officials have largely failed to explain details of what caused the country’s outage or a plan for restoration. Government statements and reports indicate that the blackout stems from a problem at the enormous Guri dam hydropower plant in eastern Venezuela, which generates 80 percent of the country’s electricity. And the already arduous process of restoring power seems hobbled by years of system neglect. It’s also unclear whether Venezuela has the specialists, workforce, and spare equipment available on the ground to triage the situation quickly.

Americans in cool states misjudge threat from rising heat waves (VOA)
Americans most at risk from more frequent and intense heat waves tend to misjudge the deadly dangers hot spells can pose to their health, scientists said on Tuesday.

Top Navy admiral warns of cyber attacks against brass (Matthew Weisnerger, Defense One)
CNO says that’s why the service stopped publishing promotion lists in October.

Kremlin interference in EU vote is likely, says Estonian spy agency (Sean Lyngaas, Cyberscoop)
Estonia’s foreign intelligence agency says it is “very likely” that the Russian government will try to interfere in the European Union parliamentary elections in May.

Destruction from sea level rise in California could exceed worst wildfires and earthquakes (Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times)
A team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists concluded that even a modest amount of sea level rise — often dismissed as a creeping, slow-moving disaster — could overwhelm communities when a storm hits at the same time.

Oroville Dam: Trump administration denies California repair funds (Paul Rogers, The Mercury News)
FEMA has approved paying $205 million, but denied an additional $306 million for reconstruction of the dam’s spillways, saying that those funds don’t meet federal eligibility rules.

Zuckerberg wants Facebook to build a mind-reading machine (Noam Cohen, Wired)
For those of us who worry that Facebook may have serious boundary issues when it comes to the personal information of its users, Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments at Harvard should get the heart racing.