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A New Age of Bioterror: Anticipating Exploitation of Tunable Viral Agents  (Stephen Hummel et al., CTC Sentinel)
Advances in technology, particularly biotechnology, over the past decade have dramatically changed the world. Scientists are employing gene editing tools to cure genetic diseases, reduce the effects of climate change, and generate sustainable food sources. These same tools, however, can be used to modify pathogens to develop and deploy novel biological weapons. The nature of these tools and our understanding of specific viral genomes makes this process tunable. Components of a disease such as transmissibility, lethality, and the infectious window can potentially be modified for desired tactical, operational, or strategic effects. While this capability is currently beyond the skills and knowledge of the biology enthusiast, a trained individual would possess such skills and knowledge, though they may lack the necessary material and infrastructure support. Hence, it is necessary to develop and maintain capabilities that can respond to a variety of pathogens and possible effects.

Islamic State ‘Beatle’ Sentenced to Life for Murdering US Hostages  (Reuters / VOA News)
A U.S. judge on Friday imposed a lifetime prison sentence on a member of an Islamic State militant group nicknamed “The Beatles” that beheaded American hostages, at a hearing where one victim’s mother told the defendant, “I will not hate you.”
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally charged sentencing hearing for London-born Alexanda Kotey, 38, who pleaded guilty to murdering U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

Feds Seek Nearly $3M from Manafort Over Undisclosed Accounts  (Associated Press, VOA News)
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort — who was convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and later pardoned — seeking to recover nearly $3 million from undeclared foreign bank accounts.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in West Palm Beach, asks a judge to force Manafort to pay fines, penalties and interest after prosecutors say he failed to disclose more than 20 offshore bank accounts he ordered opened in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (Cont.)