OUR PICKSBeijing’s Ukrainian Battle Lab | When to Trust Hardware and Software? | Is That an Outlaw Lawn?, and more

Mayorkas: Controversial Board Intended to Protect Speech While Addressing Disinformation’s ‘Connectivity to Violence’  (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
Homeland Security secretary defends Jankowicz as “eminently qualified” to lead Disinformation Governance Board and said she is “absolutely” neutral.

Is That an Outlaw Lawn? Las Vegas Has a New Approach to Saving Water.  (Henry Fountain, New York Times)
With drought and growth taking a toll on the Colorado River, the source of 90 percent of the region’s water, a new law mandates the removal of turf.

Body in Barrel Exposed as Level of Nevada’s Lake Mead Drops  (Associated Press / VOA News)
A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest U.S. reservoirs. Officials say the discovery could be the first of more grim finds.
“There is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on Monday.
The lake’s level has dropped so much that the uppermost water intake at drought-stricken Lake Mead became visible last week. The reservoir on the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam has become so depleted that Las Vegas is now pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead, which also stretches into Arizona.
Personal items found inside the barrel indicated the person died more than 40 years ago in the 1980s, Spencer said.

How Can One Know When to Trust Hardware and Software?  (Paul Rosenzweig and Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare)
The Lawfare Institute convened a working group of experts to answer that question. The group’s report, titled “Creating a Framework for Supply Chain Trust in Hardware and Software” is available now.

Beijing’s Ukrainian Battle Lab  (David Finkelstein, War on the Rocks)
Among those observing the Russian military’s ongoing operations in Ukraine, few will be watching and assessing its performance more intensely than those in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Analyzing the wars of other countries continues to play an important role in Beijing’s decision-making about military modernization, along with the PLA’s own field experiments and its increasing use of big data, AI, and simulations. In the first phase of the Ukraine conflict, PLA analysts — who have traditionally held the Russian military in high regard — will undoubtedly find Russian operations wanting.
The People’s Republic of China views the military element of national power, and natural resources, as Moscow’s strong suits in its post-Soviet incarnation. Consequently, the success or failure of this operation will certainly color Beijing’s views about the “comprehensive national power” of the Russian Federation in general and the state of the Russian armed forces in particular.

How Would AI – and Wouldn’t – Factor Into a U.S.-Chinese War  (Alex Stephenson and Ryan Fadasiuk, War on the Rocks)
In March, a largely overlooked, 90-page Government Accountability Office study revealed something interesting: This summer, the Pentagon is getting a new AI Strategy.
Between shaping ethical norms for AI and establishing a new Chief Data and AI Officer, it’s clear top brass have big plans for the technology, though the report is light on the details. Released in 2018, the last AI Strategy laid the scaffolding for the U.S. military’s high-tech competition with China. But over the past four years one thing has become apparent: The United States needs a balanced approach to AI investment — one that doesn’t simply guard against threats, but also imposes costs on a Chinese force that sees AI as the key to victory.

Trump Election Probe Special Grand Jury Selected in Atlanta  (Associated Press / VOA News)
A special grand jury was selected Monday for the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.
The investigation has been underway since early last year, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took this unusual step of requesting the special grand jury to help it along. She noted in a letter to the chief judge that the special grand jury would be able to issue subpoenas to people who have refused to cooperate otherwise.

Colorado River Reservoirs Are So Low, Government Is Delaying Releases  (Henry Fountain, New York Times)
The anticipated decision will keep more water in Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead. Both reservoirs are at their lowest points.