OUR PICKSHavana Syndrome in D.C. | Helping Fire-Prone California | U.S. Power Grid Increasingly Unreliable, and more

Havana Syndrome: High-Level National Security Officials Stricken with Unexplained Illness on White House Grounds  (Scott Pelley, CBS News)
Since 2016, U.S. government officials overseas and their families have reported sudden, unexplained, brain injuries with symptoms of vertigo, confusion and memory loss. The CIA, FBI and State Department are investigating a theory that some of these officials were injured by an unseen weapon. Who might be targeting Americans and why are unknown. Incidents have been reported in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, but our reporting has found senior national security officials who say they were stricken in Washington and on the grounds of the White House. The former officials you are about to meet are revealing their experiences for the first time. They were responsible for helping to manage threats to national security.

Why Insurance Companies Don’t Want to Pay Out for Cyberattacks  (Tarah Wheeler, Foreign Policy)
A recent legal decision distinguished between cyberwar and “real” war—in a way that could reshape the industry.

Nonprofits Sound Alarm on DOJ Foreign Agent Rule  (Lachlan Markay, Axios)
Some of the nation’s most prominent nonprofit and advocacy groups tell the Justice Department they could be branded “foreign agents” unless DOJ changes its approach to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The big picture: When the Koch network’s Americans for Prosperity goes in on a joint statement with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Civil Liberties Union it’s probably a five-alarm fire.

Here’s a Roadmap to Help Parts of Fire-Prone California  (Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times)
With the fire season growing longer and wildfires increasing in intensity, Californians living in fire-prone areas are having a harder time finding affordable insurance.

It’s Not Just Climate: Are We Ignoring Other Causes of Disasters?  (Fred Pearce, Grist)
A growing number of scientists are cautioning that blaming disasters solely on climate overlooks the poor policy and planning decisions that make these events much worse.

America’s Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable  (Katherine Blunt, Wall Street Journal)
Behind a rising number of outages are new stresses on the system caused by aging power lines, a changing climate and a power-plant fleet rapidly going green

The Sandy Hook Settlement with Remington and the Road Ahead on Gun Violence  (Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker)
Gun manufacturers had considered themselves all but immune, thanks to a 2005 law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

How the Occupation Fuels Tel Aviv’s Booming AI Sector  (By Sophia Goodfriend, Foreign Policy)
Israel hones invasive surveillance technology on Palestinians before it is exported abroad.

California Unveils Plan to Become First State to Treat Coronavirus as “Endemic” Risk(Washington Post)

“This pandemic won’t have a defined end. There’s no finish line,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) told reporters.

ISIS Supporters in the United States Urged to Join ‘ISIS North America’  (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
Wording in the recruitment video suggests that the group intends to target Muslims seen as turning their back on ISIS’ interpretation of Islam.

Understanding Attitudes to Extremism in Gaming Communities  (Sam Andrews and Joshua Skoczylis, GNET)
In our previous GNET Insight we looked at how quantitative measures can help us understand the prevalence of extreme language in videogaming forums, using a dataset of Reddit.com posts from videogaming subreddits. Contrary to current speculation, we found that extreme language is not something which haunts mainstream gaming spaces. However, some gaming spaces did contain a high count of extreme language. These spaces were unique compared to other gaming spaces. The subreddit /r/KotakuInAction, for instance, contains a high amount of extreme language and is uniquely extreme when compared to the more mainstream subreddit /r/VideoGames and the subreddit for the videogame Hearts of Iron IV, /r/HOI4.

U.S. Biothreat Monitoring Improved but Needs Technological Upgrades  (Alexandra Kelley, Nextgov)
The improvements hinge on better data and enhanced technology, according to testimony given before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.