OUR PICKSThe Challenge in the Arctic | Old Tactics vs. New Extremists | Cybersecurity and Drones, and more

Venezuelan Migrants Being Sent to Colombia under Biden’s New Border Plan  (Nick Miroff, Washington Post)
An emergency provision allows authorities to bypass immigration proceedings without affording asylum seekers a chance to seek protection under U.S. law.

How Big Is Russia’s Military Bild-Up around Ukraine?  (Economist)
It is the biggest concentration of firepower in Europe since the cold war.

The One Ukraine Option That the Public Won’t Abide  (Russell Berman, The Atlantic)
Vladimir Putin’s potential invasion has exposed a rare point of agreement between Democrats and Republicans.
What’s striking is that after years of deep political divisions over foreign policy and the United States’ role in the world, hardly anyone with power in Washington has suggested that the United States should go to war over Ukraine. Putin’s potential invasion of Ukraine has instead exposed a rare point of consensus between Democrats and Republicans: The U.S. isn’t going to war to stop him.

Second Draft Order by Trump Advisers Sought to ask DHS to Seize Voting Machines: Report  (Joseph Choi, The Hill)
Advisers to former President Trump drafted another version of an executive order that would have directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seize voting machines, CNN reported on Monday, citing multiple sources.
Earlier this month, Politico obtained a draft order from the Trump administration that would have instructed the Department of Defense to seize voting machines.
Now, according to multiple sources who spoke with CNN, the Trump administration also drafted another version of that executive order that had the intention of ordering DHS to seize voting machines. CNN reported there were now two versions of the same document.
The idea was spearheaded by retired Col. Phil Waldron and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, CNN’s sources said, with one source saying Flynn was committed to the idea of seizing election equipment and personally reached out to a senior defense official for help with the plan.
In December 2020, Flynn suggested in an interview on Newsmax that Trump could deploy the military to “rerun” the 2020 election. During the interview, he also publicly floated the idea of Trump seizing all voting machines in the country and then deploying the military to swing states in which he lost.

Old Tactics Are Being Used to Find New Extremists  (Alisa Chang, NPR)
In the last 20 years, the U.S. counterterrorism community has seen two opposite trends. On the one hand, the government has succeeded in preventing another attack on the scale of 9/11. But on the other hand, the threat of homegrown violent extremism has been steadily on the rise.

The U.S. Is Unprepared to Face the Challenge in the Arctic. Here’s What It Should Done.  (Mir Sadat, Atlantic Council)
The melting Arctic is opening a new front in strategic competition, raising US security concerns in the once-uncontested frontier in a way that echoes the mid-twentieth century Space Race. But unlike the Soviet Union’s Sputnik surprise, which jolted U.S. politics and society, there has been no moment shocking enough to awaken Americans to the threats in, from, and over the Arctic region.

Unpatched Vulnerabilities Remain Primary Ransomware Attack Vector  (Jill McKeon, HealthITSecurity)
Cybercriminals continually look to unpatched vulnerabilities such as Log4j and others as primary ransomware attack vectors.

Scammers Are Registering Fake COVID Related Government Websites  (Jeff Stone and Bloomberg, Fortune)
As a new government website went live in January to offer free COVID-19 test kits, a rash of new domain names were registered. Some had remarkably similar URLs, or were nearly the same but slightly misspelled.
Cybersecurity experts said the goal was likely the same for all of them: bogus domain names that can be used for phishing attacks and other scams.

Cybersecurity and Drones: How to Address the Security Threats  (Anastasios Arampatzis, Tripwire)
The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) industry has become a massive technological playground worldwide. Their extensive applications make UAS very popular for the public and the private sector. Armed forces, agricultural industry, law enforcement, meteorological agencies, medical services, environmental companies, and oil refineries are but a few out of the excessive list of UAS users. UAS manufacturers spend a significant amount of money to research and develop high-tech and smart systems from aircraft-size military UAS to hand-size mini drones.
The use in almost every aspect of human activity adds value to the need of UAS evolution, but it also increases security risks. Imagine what can happen when smart and cheap drones that anyone can easily purchase from a local hobby store become weapons at the hands of adversaries and cyber criminals.
From that perspective, are drones a major threat when it comes to cybersecurity? And if so, what measures should be taken to counter them?