Algorithmic Warfare | Future of WMD Verification | Terrorists as Preachers, and more

Radicalized Muslims Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and wounded 22 others during a San Bernardino County Division of Environmental Health holiday party and training meeting at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2, 2015. Gregory Clayborn, Vanessa Nguyen and Jacob and James Thalasinos sued on behalf of Sierra Clayborn, Tin Nguyen and Nicholas Thalasinos, who all died in the attack. “For years, Defendants have knowingly and recklessly provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts to use its social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds, and attracting new recruits,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants are information content providers because they create unique content by combining ISIS postings with advertisements in a way that is specifically targeted at the viewer. Defendants share revenue with ISIS for its content and profit from ISIS postings through advertising revenue.

California Synagogue Shooter Pleads Guilty in Deadly Attack, Will Spend Life in Prison  (Phil Helsel, NBC News)
A California man who opened fire at a synagogue two years ago, killing one person and wounding other people in an anti-Jewish attack, will spend the rest of his life in prison. The man, John T. Earnest, now 22, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in the April 27, 2019, attack at Chabad of Poway, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said. Earnest walked into the synagogue in the city north of San Diego with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle and opened fire, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, and wounding the rabbi, an 8-year-old girl and her uncle. He fled and called 911, saying that he was the shooter and that the Jewish people were “destroying the white race,” officials have said. With the plea in state court Tuesday, Earnest avoids a possible death sentence. But he is also charged federally, and a decision has not been made whether to seek the death penalty in that case, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego said. Earnest agreed to a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, as well as additional sentences of 121 years to life and 16 years in prison, the district attorney’s office said. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 30.

Man Linked to Oath Keepers Admits Joining U.S. Capitol Attack  (Mark Hosenball, Reuters)
A fourth person linked to the Oath Keepers militia group pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two criminal charges related to his participation in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters. Caleb Berry, 20, who prosecutors said was in communication with a Florida-based Oath Keepers group, is the fourth person affiliated with the militia to plead guilty to riot charges and the 19th to plead guilty to federal riot-related charges. More than 535 people have been charged with taking part in the violence, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.Trump falsely claims he lost the election because of widespread electoral fraud. Berry pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding at a hearing in federal court in Washington. Prosecutors said in court papers that Berry was cooperating with investigators. Other defendants linked to the Oath Keepers who entered guilty pleas to riot-related charges also are cooperating with investigators, records showed. On Jan. 6, prosecutors said, Berry and others donned protective vests, helmets and goggles, as well as clothing and patches with the Oath Keepers logo.

Canadian Right-Wing Extremism Increased Online During the Pandemic  (Elizabeth Thompson, CBC)
Online activity by right-wing extremists in Canada rose last year during the pandemic, despite efforts by governments and social media companies to curb extremism and hate speech, according to a new report. The report also found that right-wing extremists in Canada are being influenced by their increasingly violent counterparts in the U.S.“This raises the concern that an emboldened and increasingly violent extreme right in the U.S. could help to inspire similar activity in Canada, as Canadian right-wing extremists look to their U.S. counterparts for inspiration,” wrote the authors of the new report from the U.K.-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, set to be made public later this week. That extremism could rise as lockdown restrictions are eased, the report warns. “Given the possibility that the pandemic has introduced new audiences to extreme right-wing ideology,” says the report, “it is possible that when lockdowns are lifted, this may correlate to rates of extreme right activity that are higher than the pre-lockdown level.” The report charted an increase in extreme right-wing activity in 2020 compared to what the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found when it first looked at the problem in 2019.

Pegasus: Human Rights-Compliant Laws Needed to Regulate Spyware  (Modern Diplomacy)
The UN human rights chief on Monday said the apparent widespread use of Pegasus spy software to illegally undermine the rights of those under surveillance, including journalists and politicians, was “extremely alarming” and confirmed “some of the worst fears” surrounding the potential misuse of such technology.

UNSCOM and the Future of WMD Verification  (Henrietta Wilson and Filippa Lentzos, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Many people will remember Colin Powell’s historic speech to the UN Security Council describing Iraq’s mobile production facilities for making biological weapons. Many will also remember that shortly after this, in March 2003, George W. Bush and Tony Blair went to war against Iraq on the basis of these “biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails” and Iraq’s illicit nuclear and chemical weapons—only to later find that these claims were incorrect, that the intelligence had been misrepresented, and that, in fact, Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This revelation—that there were no WMD despite intelligence findings to the contrary—has come to dominate collective consciousness. Yet, it overlooks the long and complicated history of Iraq’s acquisition and use of outlawed weapons and overshadows the work of international inspectors who successfully uncovered and destroyed these weapons in the decade leading up to 2003.