Strategic Chip Autonomy | Mass Surveillance on a Budget | The Most Dangerous Pathogens, and more
Israeli General Readies to Lead the Charge Against Hezbollah (Josef Federman, AP)
In his just-completed role as head of the Israeli military’s Home Front command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin was in charge of bolstering a network of early-warning systems and shelters in case of rocket attacks. It may have been the ideal preparation for his new assignment. Gordin is set to soon take over the Northern Command — putting him at the forefront of Israel’s efforts to contain Hezbollah. At a time of heightened tensions, the Lebanese militant group is believed to possess tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel, dwarfing any threat posed by the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza that have battled Israel in recent years. To Gordin, the connection is clear: His new role will be to keep Hezbollah far away from his old one and ensure that any future fighting “not reach the civilian front.” In an interview with The Associated Press, Gordin said there is “no doubt” that Israel remains the more powerful side. But he said the Hezbollah is nonetheless a potent enemy. (
Social Media Firms to Testify at U.S. Senate Homeland Security Hearing (David Shepardson, Reuters)
The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday with Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O), Alphabet’s YouTube (GOOGL.O), Twitter (TWTR.N) and short video app TikTok on social media’s impact on homeland security. The panel led by Democratic Senator Gary Peters will also hear from a panel of former executives including from Twitter and Facebook. The committee said the hearing will be an opportunity “to understand the extent to which social media companies’ business models, through algorithms, targeted advertising, and other operations and practices, contribute to the amplification of harmful content and other threats to homeland security.
Europe’s Approach to Strategic Chip Autonomy (Paul Timmers, Brookings)
Amid heightened geopolitical tensions and growing challenges posed by disruptive innovation, European policymakers are seeking ways to strengthen the continent’s strategic autonomy—particularly with respect to technology. A key part of this effort is the EU Chips Act, which provides billions in financial support to set up factories for advanced chip production and step up semiconductor research in the EU. The EU Chips Act represents a leading example of initiatives to improve Europe’s strategic autonomy on a range of technologies. The act joins up political, industrial, technological, and financial support in a key technological area; presents a clear plan for industrial and technological capability- and capacity-building; and takes a realistic approach to partnering with like-minded countries to enhance strategic control of the semiconductor industrial ecosystem.
OIG: DHS Screening and Vetting Deficiencies Allowed Admittance of Afghans Who May Have Posed Security Risk (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
DHS said the OIG conclusion that two individuals were paroled into the U.S. despite negative information in their records “is incorrect.”
Tech Tool Offers Police Mass Surveillance on a Budget (Garance Burke and Jason Dearen, AP)
Local law enforcement agencies from suburban Southern California to rural North Carolina have been using an obscure cellphone tracking tool, at times without search warrants, that gives them the power to follow people’s movements months back in time, according to public records and internal emails obtained by The Associated Press.
Police have used “Fog Reveal” to search hundreds of billions of records from 250 million mobile devices, and harnessed the data to create location analyses known among law enforcement as “patterns of life,” according to thousands of pages of records about the company.
