OUR PICKSFEMA Is Not Prepared | The Lines Are Blurring Between Criminal and Terror Enterprises | Shutting Down Chemical Safety Agency, and more

Acting FEMA Chief Told Staff He Didn’t Know About U.S. Hurricane Season  (Christopher Flavelle and Lisa Friedman, New York Times)
In a meeting with FEMA staff, David Richardson said he was unaware the United States had a hurricane season. Two staff members said it was unclear if he was serious, but the agency said he was joking.

The Importance of Our “Information Advantage” Against Weaponized Narratives  (Ajit Maan, HSToday)
Most attempts to address cognitive security have focused on disinformation. And then the question becomes one of censorship, often of the lethal variety when dealing with foreign terror groups. But there are at least three immediate problems with decapitating the snake:

1. Many terror groups are more like starfish than snakes – they are set up to take losses, even welcome them, and will replace a downed propagandist very quickly. Worse, our lethal hits have, on a few occasions, resulted in the proliferation of violent extremism by feeding directly into the narratives that support it.

2. You can’t kill an idea. Ideas can outlive people. A powerful idea will outlive all of us alive at this moment. Whether an idea is good or bad idea, a stabilizing idea or a lethal idea, the factors that make it last and cause it to spread are the same.

3. What if the disinformation is coming from a domestic source?

My work looks beyond information toward the psychological assault on the target audience that affects the way they process incoming information. Our military can have the most information, the most recent information, the most accurate vetted information, but if our adversaries can manipulate how an audience processes our information, then that renders our “Information Advantage” impotent.  

The Lines Are Blurring Between Criminal and Terror Enterprises – Here’s How to Adapt  (Omer Frenkel, HSToday)
Crime, conflict and terror are evolving, crossing borders and bypassing traditional cyber defenses. Technology advancements in the hands of bad actors are driving this shift, and it’s reshaping our understanding of how these threats operate, scale and adapt.   
Measured in economic terms, the impact of crime has reached a staggering $19.1 trillion – that’s 13.5% of global GDP. The dangerous conflicts fueled amid the blurred lines between criminal and terror enterprises are illustrated in recent headlines. In Syria, we’ve learned how the Captagon drug trade played a major role in funding Bashar Assad’s power apparatus, netting as much as $10 billion annually. A recent investigation into international drug trafficking and money laundering in Italy exposed shadow banking systems operated by Chinese nationals and utilized by criminal networks spanning from Albania to Latin America.  

As Trump Says He’s Stamping Out Antisemitism, He Advances Similar Tropes  (Peter Baker, New York Times)
President Trump’s effort to punish Harvard over antisemitism is complicated by his own extensive history of amplifying white supremacist figures and symbols.

Family of Boulder Suspect Taken into ICE Custody for Expedited Removal, U.S. Says  (Marianne LeVine and María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post)
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on X that Mohamed Sabry Soliman’s family was being detained following Sunday’s attack against a Jewish group in Boulder.

White House Proposes Shutting Down Chemical Safety Agency  (Maxine Joselow, Washington Post)
Since 1998, the Chemical Safety Board has played a key role in probing the causes of major chemical accidents.

FEMA Is Not Prepared  (David A. Graham, The Atlantic)
Citizens could be on their own this hurricane season.