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Insidious Insights: Implications of Viral Vector Engineering for Pathogen Enhancement  (Jonas B. Sandbrink et al.)
Optimizing viral vectors and their properties will be important for improving the effectiveness and safety of clinical gene therapy. However, such research may generate dual-use insights relevant to the enhancement of pandemic pathogens. In particular, reliable and generalizable methods of immune evasion could increase viral fitness sufficient to cause a new pandemic. High potential for misuse is associated with (1) the development of universal genetic elements for immune modulation, (2) specific insights on capsid engineering for antibody evasion applicable to viruses with pandemic potential, and (3) the development of computational methods to inform capsid engineering. These risks may be mitigated by prioritizing non-viral delivery systems, pharmacological immune modulation methods, non-genetic vector surface modifications, and engineering methods specific to AAV and other viruses incapable of unassisted human-to-human transmission. We recommend that computational vector engineering and the publication of associated code and data be limited to AAV until a technical solution for preventing malicious access to viral engineering tools has been established.

Disease Outbreak and National Security: Drawing Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis to Improve Emergency Response  (Balaji L. Narain. Texas National Security Review)
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have invoked statutory authorities to obtain medical equipment and stem the spread of the virus. Their actions provide an opportunity to reflect on how the current disaster response statutory framework treats healthcare crises and disaster response more generally. Indeed, under the existing federal statutory framework, disaster preparation is ingrained as a core priority for national security, whereas disaster response is not. Presidents Barack Obama, Trump, and Biden all invoked statutory authorities to address healthcare challenges and disease outbreaks that occurred under their watch. The different combination of authorities invoked by each reveals the extent to which the architects of the disaster response framework considered healthcare crises a threat to national security. I propose a new statute that would cement an understanding of disease outbreak as a national security threat and recognize that disaster response is as critical to national security as preparedness.

CISA, FBI, and DOE Publish Advisory with Historical Cyber Activity Used By Indicted Russian State-Sponsor Actors  (CISA)
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Energy (DOE) published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory today with information on multiple intrusion campaigns targeting U.S. and international energy sector organizations conducted by indicted Russian state-sponsored cyber actors from 2011 to 2018. In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed indictments today, this advisory provides the technical details of a global energy sector intrusion campaign using Havex malware, and the compromise of a Middle East-based energy sector organization using TRITON malware.  

FBI: 649 Ransomware Attacks Reported on Critical Infrastructure Organizations in 2021  (Ionut Arghire, Security Week)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says it received 649 complaints of ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure organizations in 2021.
Ransomware attacks hit 14 out of 16 critical infrastructure sectors last year, with healthcare and public health impacted the most, the IC3 notes in its 2021 Internet Crime Report (PDF).

Russian Forces Halt Kyiv Advance as Kremlin Says Donbass Was Only Goal All Along  (Tara Copp, Defense One)
Pentagon official rebuts Moscow’s claims about war aims, casualties; adds that Russian precision munitions are failing at high rates.

The U.S. Will Increase Natural Gas Exports to Europe to Replace Russian Fuel  (Sara Schonhardt, Scott Waldman)
Biden administration officials are also promising to accelerate the build-out of hydrogen and carbon capture