OUR PICKSAt Least Now We Know the Truth | Recent Virus Research Should Raise Alarm | Artificial Intelligence Can Be America’s Strategic Advantage, and more

At Least Now We Know the Truth(David Frum, The Atlantic)
At least the Oval Office meeting held by President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was held in front of the cameras. False friendliness in public by Trump and Vance, followed by behind-the-scenes treachery, would have been much more dangerous to the Ukrainian cause.
Instead, Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular. The truth is ugly, but it’s necessary to face it.
Both the president and vice president showed the U.S.-led alliance system something it needed urgently to know: The national-security system of the West is led by two men who cannot be trusted to defend America’s allies—and who deeply sympathize with the world’s most aggressive dictator.

U.S. digital disarmament gives Russia free rein in cyberspace. Bad idea.  (Colin Ahern and Mark Montgomery, Washington Post)
In cyberspace, as in other domains, peace comes through strength.

Trump, Taiwanese Chipmaker Announce New $100 Billion Plan to Build Five New US Factories  Reuters / VOA News)
Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced on Monday plans to make an additional $100 billion investment in the United States and build five additional chips factories in the coming years.
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei announced the plan in a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump.
“We must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here,” Trump said. “It’s a matter of national security for us.”
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a leading supplier to major U.S. hardware manufacturers.

A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine  (Marc Santora, Lara Jakes, Andrew E. Kramer, Marco Hernandez and Liubov Sholudko, New York Times)
Drones have changed the war in Ukraine, with soldiers adapting off-the-shelf models and swarming the front lines.

Recent Virus Research Should Raise Alarm  (. Ian Lipkin and Ralph Baric, New York Times)
There’s a central question that many scientists face: How can scientific discoveries drive humanity’s progress without posing a dire risk to it? As virus experts, we’re committed to research that uncovers pandemic threats and helps protect people from them. But we are concerned about how some scientists are experimenting with viruses in ways that could put all of us in harm’s way.

Trump’s Armed Forces Won’t Look Like Biden’s  (Economist)
America is set to spend more—and differently.

Strategic Imperatives in the U.S.-China Technology Race: Power, Hardware, and Engineering Expertise  (Ismael Arciniegas Rueda, National Interest)
The escalating technology competition between the United States and China is reshaping global dynamics. As artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a critical frontier of this competition, the U.S. must strategically enhance its infrastructure to maintain technological leadership. Three interconnected policy areas—power grid enhancement, hardware innovation, and infrastructure expertise—are key components of a comprehensive plan to secure strategic advantage for the United States. 

Revitalizing the U.S. power grid is critical to unlocking sustainable support for energy-intensive technologies. To do this, the U.S. will need to improve its access to needed hardware and develop the kind of infrastructure expertise China has been amassing in recent years. 

Artificial Intelligence Can Be America’s Strategic Advantage  (Manisha Singh, National Interest)
The world is shifting from great power competition to global strategic advantage, and artificial intelligence can be America’s great strategic advantage. Like every other significant innovation in the last century, AI was created in the U.S. Both allies and adversaries are racing to surpass our economic and security capabilities. America must accelerate in the race to mobilize AI for great strategic advantage.