U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons | U.S. Mass Transit Vulnerability | Coastal Cities Are Already Sinking, and more

An example of this includes Islamic State’s Huroof app which sought to gamify the teaching of Arabic to young children with the use of and references to nasheed music, guns, bullets, rockets, cannons, or tanks, arguably in a bid to reinforce commitment to Islamic State ideologies, aims, and objectives. However, this research focussed on bottom-up gamification: an approach that, contrastingly to top-down gamification, “emerges organically in (online) communities or small groups of individuals.” In terms of bottom-up gamification, as mentioned, one of the more commonly spoken about examples is the Christchurch attack where it is widely accepted that the assailant, purposefully or otherwise, included a number of gamified elements within his assault.

Coastal Cities Are Already Sinking  (Michael Allen, Hakai Magazine)
New satellite data shows that in many coastal cities around the world, land is subsiding even faster than sea level is rising.

Governors Forming Task Force to Address Mass Shootings  (Associated Press / VOA News)
The leaders of the National Governors Association said Friday they’re forming a bipartisan working group to come up with recommendations to stop mass shootings following the Texas school massacre.
Reaching consensus could be a tall order given that the nation’s governors have been divided along partisan lines on how to approach issues of gun control and school safety.

What’s in, What’s out of the U.S. Senate’s Gun Safety Framework  (Reuters / VOA News)
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators said on Sunday they had reached an agreement on a framework for gun safety legislation, potentially the first significant new U.S. gun law in decades, following a string of recent high-profile mass shootings.
Here are some highlights of what is and what is not covered by the agreement

Updated Highlights of Comprehensive Survey of Iran’s Advanced Centrifuges - June 2022  (David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, and Spencer Faragasso, Institute for Science and International Security)

How Vulnerable to Attack Is U.S. Mass Transit and Passenger Rail?  (Anthony Citarella And Mitchell E. Simmons, HSToday)
Transit security measures emphasize managing the consequences of an attack while attempting to reduce the risks of an attack as much as possible.

Learning from Foes: How Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists Embrace and Mimic Islamic State’s Use of Emerging Technologies  (GNET Team)
This report concerns itself with terrorist technical innovation, particularly with regards to terrorists’ incorporation of emerging technologies into their practices. More specifically, it investigates, through the elaboration of a theoretical learning framework, how terrorist groups can adopt the practices of ideological enemies operating in different security, ideological and political environments. It does so through a study of three cases of emerging technology use by Islamic State (IS) and racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (REMVE), which shed light on why ideologically diverse groups might adopt practices from each other.
The theoretical framework described in this study highlights numerous elements that can help or hinder a terrorist group’s adoption of new techniques, tactics or procedures (TTPs). Technical characteristics, group factors and knowledge‑transfer factors are the three main kinds of elements that determine how extremist groups learn. These three types of characteristics help to explain why groups do or do not adopt practices associated with ideological adversaries. In addition to learning from patrons and allies and inventing new techniques, terrorist groups sometimes adopt practices associated with ideological foes; this report analyses such cases with particular regard to the transmission (and non‑transmission) of TTPs from IS to REMVE.
This report considers three emerging technologies and how their use (or non‑use) by REMVE was influenced by prior practices by IS. First, the use of cloud‑based messaging applications demonstrates direct adoption by REMVE of IS practices. Similar environmental restrictions, group dynamics and the presence of explicit knowledge transfer explain such adoption. Second, whereas IS established an advanced drone program, the use of drones by REMVE remains marginal and largely distinct from IS practices. REMVE found themselves in different environments, pursuing different objectives with varying resource levels; they preferred “tried and tested” techniques (such as mass shootings), which were less complex, less resource‑intensive and more compatible with prevailing techniques. Finally, whereas IS relied heavily on bot technology to thrive in a hostile online environment, leveraging a group structure constructed around highly centralized media production units and unaffiliated sympathizers, REMVE‑organized groups have so far refrained from widespread bot usage, given their different objectives and the more permissive online environment in which they operate.
Therefore, this report draws attention to the very broad environments in which violent groups operate beyond their immediate ideological, political and cultural domains. Thus, the broader innovation environments may shape how given groups develop. How groups distribute knowledge among themselves also contributes to ideologically opposed groups adopting each other’s practices; for instance, IS’s decision to publish materials in English, in order to reach its English‑speaking base of sympathizers, facilitated knowledge transfer to REMVE. However, the adoption of new TTPs is not automatic. Technical, group and knowledge‑transfer factors remain central to explaining the diffusion and adoption of new violent practices.

State of Cyber and IT: DHS CIO Stresses Importance of Mobile Solutions to Enhance Department’s Cybersecurity  (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
The department, along with other federal entities, has shifted from the perception “that you will have a perfect defense system if we just build our cyber walls high enough.”

U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons  (Jonathan Masters, CFR)
The United States is witnessing another year of record gun violence, raising domestic and international scrutiny of its comparatively loose gun laws and placing pressure on lawmakers to enact meaningful reforms.

Medical Device Security Offers Proving Ground for Cybersecurity Action  (Jim Dempsey, Lawfare)
Legislation approved on June 8 by the U.S. House of Representatives to address the cybersecurity of medical devices may offer a good model for a sector-by-sector approach to cybersecurity regulation. The bill illustrates the complexities and balancing act required of regulatory efforts in this space. In particular, the measure suggests a way to solve a conundrum at the center of cybersecurity policy: how to translate a general statutory or common law mandate to provide “reasonable” security into specific, technically sound controls. At the same time, it raises questions about how to ensure that such controls are prioritized, adaptable, and enforced.