FBI’s Controversial Spy Tool | CISA’s Grim Future Under Second Trump Term | ‘Societal Misalignments’ Could Make Artificial Intelligence Dangerous, and more

Texas A&M Potentially Compromised US Nuclear Security, Pulls Plug on Doha Campus  (Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post)
The Jerusalem Post reported on January 5 that the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) urged US officials to investigate the Texas A&M partnership with Qatar because of alleged threats to American security over Qatar’s access to sensitive atomic and weapons information.
ISGAP wrote Jennifer M. Granholm, US Secretary of the Department of Energy, about “alarming research findings exposing Qatar’s unreported and unregulated funding to Texas A&M University. Qatar’s substantial ownership of nuclear research and sensitive weapon development rights at the university, warning of a serious potential threat to US national security.”
According to ISGAP’s research, “Qatar has acquired full ownership of more than 500 research projects at Texas A&M, some of which are in highly sensitive fields such as nuclear science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotech robotics, and weapons development.”

OpenAI CEO Warns That ‘Societal Misalignments’ Could Make Artificial Intelligence Dangerous  (Jon Gamrel, AP)
The CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Tuesday that the dangers that keep him awake at night regarding artificial intelligence are the “very subtle societal misalignments” that could make the systems wreak havoc. Sam Altman, speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai via a video call, reiterated his call for a body like the International Atomic Energy Agency to be created to oversee AI that’s likely advancing faster than the world expects. “There’s some things in there that are easy to imagine where things really go wrong. And I’m not that interested in the killer robots walking on the street direction of things going wrong,” Altman said. “I’m much more interested in the very subtle societal misalignments where we just have these systems out in society and through no particular ill intention, things just go horribly wrong.” However, Altman stressed that the AI industry, like OpenAI, shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat when it comes to making regulations governing the industry.”

U.S. Alarm at Russian Plans to Put Nuclear Missile in Space  (Alistair Dawber, The Times)
Russia plans to put a nuclear missile into space, according to reports, leading to what leading members of Congress have described as a “serious national security threat”.
In an unusual move Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, asked the White House to declassify details of what he said was an undisclosed threat. It was later reported that Moscow had drawn up plans to launch a nuclear device into space.
According to ABC News two intelligence sources said that it was designed to target enemy satellites, rather than to be fired at locations on Earth.

Migrant Crossings at US-Mexico Border Fall by Half in January; What’s Next?  (AP / VOA News)
January’s decline in arrests for illegal crossings on the U.S. border with Mexico reflects how the numbers ebb and flow, and the reason usually goes beyond any single factor.
The number of people trying to make the journey often increases when the weather is warmer in the U.S. and decreases during the colder months, including January.
Since 2021, crossings on the southern border increase by an average of 40% from January to March, according to federal data from the last three years.
Another factor last year was the end of COVID-19 restrictions in May. The use of a public health policy known as Title 42 allowed the Trump and Biden administrations to turn asylum-seekers back to Mexico, even if they were not from that country.
Crossings fell dramatically for a month after Title 42 ended and the Biden administration enforced new rules.
Under Title 42, migrants were denied asylum more than 2.8 million times starting in March 2020 on the ground of preventing the spread of COVID-19. When it expired, the Biden administration launched a policy to deny asylum to people who travel through another country, like Mexico, to the U.S., with few exceptions.
However, the numbers eventually started climbing until reaching a record high in December.