DOJ to Investigate Gunshot Detector Purchases | Washington’s Bet on AI Warfare | Blimps Are Coming Back, and more

Although China might disagree with the existence of such a technological competition, the United States firmly believes in it. This was evident in a speech by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on August 28, 2023. Deputy Secretary Hicks’ speech was significant for several reasons, primarily because it gave valuable insight into the U.S. military’s strategic thinking about China, AI and autonomous systems, and technological innovation.
At the core of Deputy Secretary Hicks’ speech was that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) aimed to have a “data-driven and AI-empowered military.” Although AI has gained mainstream popularity within the past few years, great powers have been looking into the military applications of AI for decades now. From 2014 onwards, when the United States announced its Third Offset Strategy, it has been building the foundation for incorporating AI into its military. The 2021 report by the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) was perhaps the most telling. The report stated that the DOD was far from “AI-ready” and urged it to heavily increase investment by 2025 and “integrate AI-enabled technologies into every facet of war-fighting.” This same line of thought informed Deputy Secretary Hicks’ speech.

Jury Selection Opens in Terrorism Trial of Extended Family Members Dating to 2018 New Mexico Raid  (Morgan Lee, AP)
Jury selection began Monday in federal court as members of an extended family confronted kidnapping and terrorism charges stemming from the search for a missing 3-year-old boy by agents who raided a squalid New Mexico encampment in 2018. The boy’s badly decomposed remains were eventually found in an underground tunnel at the compound on the outskirts of Amalia near the Colorado line. Authorities allege the family engaged in firearms and tactical training in preparation for attacks against the government, tied to an apparent belief that the boy would be resurrected as Jesus Christ and provide instructions. An exact cause of death was never determined amid accusations that the boy, who was sickly, had been deprived of crucial medication linked to disabilities. Federal prosecutors opted for kidnapping charges. The two men and two women on trial have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to support planned attacks on U.S. law enforcement officers, military members and government employees. They also deny the kidnapping charges leveled against three of the defendants.

How White Supremacist Fight Clubs Are Building Covert Far-Right Militias  (Alex Woodward, Independent)
White supremacist groups using the guise of fitness and martial arts to attract and grow their numbers are effectively creating a new militia network, with dozens of chapters forming in the US, Canada and across Europe within just three years, according to a newly published report from extremism researchers.
At least 46 so-called “active clubs” – which publicly promote “brotherhood” and training in combat sports and fitness while covertly advancing fascist and neo-Nazi agendas and preparing for large-scale violence – have sprouted in 34 states between 2020 and 2023, according to the report from the Counter Extremism Project.

US Justice Department Urged to Investigate Gunshot Detector Purchases  (Dell Cameron and Ohruv Mehrotra, Wired)
A civil liberties group has asked the DOJ to investigate deployment of the ShotSpotter gunfire-detection system, which research shows is often installed in predominantly Black neighborhoods.