Are Assassination Attempts on the Rise? | Migrants with Potential Terror Links | Man Plotted Electrical Substation Attack to Advance White Supremacist Views, and more

as “electronic communication service providers,” or ECSPs. The intelligence community has sought for years to expand the definition of the term in order to enlist the aid of new companies, and succeeded in doing so after a heated congressional fight this spring over the FISA wiretap program known as Section 702.

Stackable Certificates Could Be a Lifeline for Governments Facing an IT Talent Crisis  (Nelson Lim, Route Fifty)
Local and state governments are grappling with a severe shortage of skilled IT workers, particularly in critical areas such as cybersecurity, data analysis, and artificial intelligence. With their higher salaries and more attractive work environments, the private sector and the federal government are poaching talent from local and state governments. 
Compounding this workforce shortage is a retention crisis. The “Great Resignation” significantly impacted the public sector, with many employees leaving their jobs for retirement, better pay, benefits, or due to burnout. A 2022 survey revealed that more than half of state and local government workers were considering leaving their jobs.
So, how can the public sector bridge this widening talent gap and improve retention? The answer may lie in upskilling current employees through stackable certificate programs.
Stackable certification is an education and training program designed to be approachable and flexible for working adults. Classes are designed to be cumulative, with each credential building upon the skills and knowledge of the previous one, offering a flexible, incremental approach to earning higher-level degrees or certifications. 
Stackable certificates are often developed in close partnership with employers to meet specific skill needs. In this context, the collaborative efforts between local and state governments, community colleges and universities can be tailored to close the tech gap facing the public sector. 

House Republicans Demand Info from Biden Administration on Migrants with Potential Terror Links  (Julia Ainsley, NBC News)
The Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee is subpoenaing the Department of Homeland Security to demand that it release more information about immigrants with potential terrorism links who have crossed the southern border into the U.S.
The subpoena follows NBC News reporting on an Afghan migrant on the terrorist watchlist who was released inside the U.S. by Border Patrol, an Uzbek man who crossed the border and was arrested in Baltimore by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for potential links to the Islamic State terrorist group and over 400 migrants brought into the U.S. by an ISIS-linked human smuggling organization.
Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said the new reports — as well as news that eight Tajik men with alleged ties to ISIS-K were arrested in the U.S. — led the committee to ask for more information.

Man Plotted Electrical Substation Attack to Advance White Supremacist Views, Prosecutors Say  (AP / Politico)
A New Jersey man who authorities say was on his way to Ukraine to join a volunteer fighting unit has been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a U.S. electrical substation to advance his white supremacist views, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Andrew Takhistov, 18, was arrested Wednesday at the Newark Liberty International Airport, where he was headed to Paris before going to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, a pro-Ukrainian group fighting Russian forces, officials said.
Authorities say Takhistov began talking in January with the person he did not realize was an undercover agent, and he began discussing a plan to attack an electrical substation. They drove together to two electrical substations in North Brunswick and New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Takhistov provided information on how to construct Molotov cocktails, the type of clothing to wear and where to park to avoid detection, authorities said.
He also discussed various “strategies for terrorist attacks, including rocket and explosives attacks against synagogues,” and expressed a desire to bring back illegal supplies from Ukraine in order to carry out attacks that would threaten the U.S. government, a law enforcement official wrote in court papers.