OUR PICKSMusk’s Starlink Is a Security Risk | Five Proud Boys Leaders Sue DOJ Over Jan. 6 Prosecutions | U.S. Funding Cuts Risk Jeopardizing Counter-Islamic State Operations, and more

Trump’s Ambition Collides with Law on Sending Migrants to Dangerous Countries  (Carol Rosenberg, New York Times)
Previous administrations usually considered whether a transfer would endanger the migrant or create risks for the United States and its allies.

Teenager’s Bombing and Mass Shooting Plot at a Mall Is Foiled, F.B.I. Says  (Adeel Hassan, New York Times)
The plot, described by one official as being “as serious as it gets,” involved a plan to shoot moviegoers at a Washington State mall as they fled an explosion.

White House Security Staff Warned Musk’s Starlink Is a Security Risk  (Joseph Menn, Washington Post)
Starlink satellite connections in the White House bypass controls meant to stop leaks and hacking.

Signal Inquiry Examines If Hegseth — or an Aide — Shared Attack Plans  (Dan Lamothe, Washington Post)
The Pentagon inspector general’s office, which is scrutinizing the episode, also has questioned potential witnesses about any orders to delete sensitive messages.

Five Proud Boys Leaders Sue Justice Department Over Jan. 6 Prosecutions  (Ellie Silverman, Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner, Washington Post)
Federal civil rights lawsuit seeks $100 million for men convicted in the Capitol attack, then pardoned by President Donald Trump.
“A settlement would suggest that the violence of January 6 was entirely justified,” said Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “It would say to the country that these Proud Boys who were convicted in a court of law, in a fair trial, were wrongfully prosecuted and victims. It just turns the entire day on its head.”
Allan J. Lichtman, a history professor at American University, said settling the lawsuit would send a “horrendous” message to all Americans. He compared it to white supremacists during the Jim Crow era recasting Confederates who fought in the Civil War as “noble.”
“It would send the message that violent insurrections in American democracy are legitimized, even encouraged. That no matter what the truth of your grievances are, you’re fully justified if you put it in the name of patriotism, saving America from the communists, the ‘socialists and the left wingers, it’s okay,” Lichtman said. “It would be a dramatic advance toward rewriting the past in order to control the future.”

How Threats and Vandalism Have Changed the Lives of Jewish Americans  (Josie Ensor, The Times)
The repeated persecution of Jews throughout history has meant antisemitism is often referred to as “the longest hatred”. But since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and sparking Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, it has reached unprecedented levels in America. In New York, which is home to the largest number of Jews outside Israel, the police department reported 1,045 confirmed hate crimes that year — the highest number in decades. Fifty-six per cent of them were antisemitic, far outpacing discrimination against any other group. Since October 7, more than one third of Jewish American college students and recent graduates say they have personally experienced antisemitism at least once on campus, according to a report from the American Jewish Committee released in February.

U.S. Funding Cuts Risk Jeopardizing Counter-Islamic State Operations  (Devorah Margolin, Lawfare)
Since the Islamic State crashed onto the scene in 2014, the U.S. has led efforts to combat the group’s influence, acting as one of the largest donors to the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State and leading its forces through Operation Inherent Resolve. These efforts resulted in the successful territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. With the fall of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate, however, the threat changed—demanding a new approach. Accordingly, in 2022, U.S. Central Command Commanding General Michael Kurilla divided the Islamic State threat into three parts: “[Islamic State] at large” (the leaders and operatives fighting the U.S. and its partners Irweaq and Syria); “[Islamic State] in detention” (the thousands of Islamic State-affiliated men and boys, as well as some women and girls, held in detention facilities and youth “rehabilitation” centers in Iraq and Syria); and the “potential next generation of [Islamic State]” (the tens of thousands of primarily women and minors held in northeast Syrian Al-Hol and Roj detention camps).