OUR PICKSWho Learned What from the China’s Balloon? | The “Incel” Moral Crisis | ChatGPT as a Cyberattacks, and more

China’s Balloon May Have Taught the US More Than Beijing Learned from It, General Says  (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
The recently-downed Chinese spy balloon may have sent more useful information to the Pentagon than to Beijing, U.S. military officials said Monday.
The weather balloon presented “a potential opportunity for us to collect intel where we had gaps on prior balloons,” and that could help NORAD more quickly detect future spy attempts, NORAD and NORTHCOM head Gen. Glen David VanHerck told reporters at the Pentagon. 

The “Incel” Moral Crisis  (Guy Dampier, The Critic)
The Incels are on the rise. That’s what you might think if you saw the latest government stats on their counter-terrorist Prevent program. In just one year the number of incels referred to Prevent has risen from 3 to 77. Labour MP Luke Pollard has warned that “we don’t have a strategy for Incels in the UK” and that “the more I look into it the darker the world of Incels is”. A study at the University of Exeter claimed that degrading or violent references to women had risen eightfold in eight years, whilst the Centre for Countering Digital Hate claimed the biggest Incel forum mentions rape every 29 minutes, largely positively. An anonymous counter-terrorism official said Incels represent an “emerging threat”. But do they really?

The Real Obstacle to Nuclear Power  (Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic)
Nuclear power is in a strange position today. Those who worry about climate change have come to see that it is essential. The warming clock is ticking—another sort of countdown—and replacing fossil fuels is much easier with nuclear power in the equation. And yet the industry, in many respects, looks unready to step into a major role. It has consistently flopped as a commercial proposition. Decade after decade, it has broken its promises to deliver new plants on budget and on time, and, despite an enviable safety record, it has failed to put to rest the public’s fear of catastrophic accidents. Many of the industry’s best minds know they need a new approach, and soon. For inspiration, some have turned toward SpaceX, Tesla, and Apple.

ISIS Vows to ‘Soon Take Revenge’ for Quran Burning While Urging ‘Strategic’ Use of ‘Blood, Corpses, and Killings’  (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
Terror group acknowledges “comparatively long interval between two successive slashes of this sword” while encouraging emulation of major ISIS attacks between 2015 and 2017.

ChatGPT May Already Be Used in Nation State Cyberattacks  (Blackberry)
51% of IT decision makers believe there will be a successful cyberattack credited to ChatGPT within the year. 95% believe governments have a responsibility to regulate advanced technologies, such as ChatGPT.

House GOP Warns of Taliban, Terror Groups Purchasing Verified Blue Checks on Twitter  (Mica Soellner, Washington Times)
House Republicans are warning Twitter CEO Elon Musk of terror organizations finding loopholes to amplify propaganda on the social media site. Reps. Pat Fallon, Keith Self and Ronny Jackson, all of Texas, and James Moylan of Guam, sent a letter to Mr. Musk demanding answers on how Twitter can prevent the misuse of its site by bad actors and how its verification process vets users’ identities. “Recent reports of Taliban officials purchasing blue checkmarks on Twitter have raised concerns that they may be using the algorithms associated with the program to spread hate, radical idealism, and terrorist propaganda,” the letter reads. “It is important to note that the United States does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.” Mr. Fallon added that other groups, like ISIS, have sought to use new methods to expand outreach efforts online.