OUR PICKSTikTok’s Security Threats Go Beyond the Scope of House Legislation | The ‘Emergency Powers’ Risk of a Second Trump Presidency | Terrorist Threat to US Has Reached ‘Whole Other Level,’ FBI’s Wray Warns, and more
· Terrorist Threat to US Has Reached ‘Whole Other Level,’ FBI’s Wray Warns
“This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance given the risk,” Wray said.
· A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals
A boom in data centers and factories is straining electric grids and propping up fossil fuels.
· TikTok’s Security Threats Go Beyond the Scope of House Legislation
The risks have less to do with who owns the app than who writes the code and algorithms that make TikTok tick.
· The ‘Emergency Powers’ Risk of a Second Trump Presidency
Every US president has the ability to invoke “emergency powers” that could give an authoritarian leader the ability to censor the internet, restrict travel, and more.
· US Lawmaker Cited NYC Protests in a Defense of Warrantless Spying
A closed-door presentation for House lawmakers late last year portrayed American anti-war protesters as having possible ties to Hamas in an effort to kill privacy reforms to a major US spy program.
Terrorist Threat to US Has Reached ‘Whole Other Level,’ FBI’s Wray Warns (Bloomberg)
Terrorist threats toward the US have reached a “whole other level” from the already heightened situation before the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and its response, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday. “You’ve seen a veritable rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for terrorist attacks against us in a way that we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigations told the House Intelligence Committee in an annual presentation on the biggest “worldwide threats” facing the US. Wray, speaking alongside other top US intelligence officials, said the FBI is also concerned about the risk of violent attacks by lone actors inspired by calls for violence from the Middle East. “This is a time not for panic, but for heightened vigilance given the risk,” Wray said. The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks were the deadliest in Israel’s history, sparking a war between Israel and the group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Israel’s response in Gaza has resulted in more than 30,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. President Joe Biden has backed Israel, although warning increasingly that its response has been “over the top.
A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals (rad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, New York Times)
Something unusual is happening in America. Demand for electricity, which has stayed largely flat for two decades, has begun to surge.
Over the past year, electric utilities have nearly doubled their forecasts of how much additional power they’ll need by 2028 as they confront an unexpected explosion in the number of data centers, an abrupt resurgence in manufacturing driven by new federal laws, and millions of electric vehicles being plugged in.
Many power companies were already struggling to keep the lights on, especially during extreme weather, and say the strain on grids will only increase. Peak demand in the summer is projected to grow by 38,000 megawatts nationwide in the next five years, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Grid Strategies, which is like adding another California to the grid. (Cont.)
