OUR PICKSHurricane Beryl Is the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted | DARPA Wants to Use AI to Find New Rare Minerals | The Crucial Role of Open Source Data In Combating Terrorism, and more
· Hurricane Beryl Isn’t a Freak Storm—It’s the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted
A hot ocean provides the energy hurricanes need to grow—and can limit the cooling that happens in their wake, making it likelier that the storms that follow will be powerful ones
· Infrastructure Security Special: Francis Scott Key Bridge and the Jones Act
Bolstering the Jones Act Merchant Marine Act of 1920 to protect critical U.S. bridges and enhance U.S. national security
· The Crucial Role of Open Source Data In Combating Terrorism: Unveiling GTTAC and GRID
Terrorism databases document between 7,000 to 10,000 attacks annually, resulting in over 20,000 fatalities
· DARPA Wants to Use AI to Find New Rare Minerals
With spectral analysis, it’s possible to “tell the difference [between] cocaine that came from one cartel’s area of Colombia versus another”
· A US Agency Focused on Foreign Disinformation Could Shut Down After the Election
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center recently opened an anti-Russian propaganda center in Poland, but needs Congressional action to continue operations
Hurricane Beryl Isn’t a Freak Storm—It’s the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted (Dennis Mersereau, Wired)
Hurricane Beryl’s record-shattering intensification into a scale-topping Category 5 storm has stunned even the most seasoned experts. This storm is the nightmare scenario that meteorologists were worried about heading into the 2024 hurricane season.
All the warning indicators were blinking red in the weeks and months leading up to Beryl’s formation. The ocean is a veritable sauna ready to support any tropical disturbance that can get its act together this year.
The storm slammed into the islands of Grenada and Carriacou as a high-end Category 4 on Monday, July 1, bounding into the Caribbean, where it quickly grew into a Category 5. Forecasters expect Beryl to hit Jamaica as a major hurricane on Wednesday, July 3, before trekking over Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula by July 4. The storm’s future is uncertain once it emerges into the Gulf of Mexico by this weekend.
Infrastructure Security Special: Francis Scott Key Bridge and the Jones Act (David A. Foley, Jr., HSToday)
The catastrophic loss of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, and the recent clearing of the bridge structure from the channel, exposed a significant vulnerability of our nation’s critical infrastructure that must be addressed. A great deal of press has focused on the apparent lack of adequate dolphins, or fenders, to protect the pier support structure of the bridge from impact by container ships and other objects. Ensuring such physical protection is installed on key infrastructure is vital as the loss of such infrastructure can cause significant long-term economic and national security impacts. The significant impact of the loss of one bridge is still unfolding in the aftermath of the incident in Baltimore. Unfortunately, the mere presence of physical protection measures, such as dolphins and fenders, is not guaranteed protection against strikes on bridges from large merchant vessels, as the Baltimore incident demonstrates. Accordingly, policy makers may need to look beyond mere physical protection systems and consider other alternatives for protecting key infrastructure. Although it is often ridiculed as an outdated protectionist economic measure and is a regular target of repeal efforts, the potential security protection provided by the Jones Act must not be overlooked. (Conrt.)
