OUR PICKSU.S. Cannot Prevent Every AI Biothreat—But It Can Outpace Them | Everything Is a “False Flag” Now | Why Armies Are Using Laser Weapons to Zap Things Out of the Sky, and more

The U.S. Cannot Prevent Every AI Biothreat—But It Can Outpace Them  (Tal Feldman and Jonathan Feldman, Lawfare)
Just like LLMs generate text, PLMs generate proteins—but there is no playbook to manage the risks.

US Alters Tech Policy, Puts Chips on the Table  (Jennifer Lee and Fritz Lodge, The Strategist)
A shift is underway in the Trump administration’s approach to tech policy. Nvidia said on 14 July that the US government would soon grant it licenses to resume exports of its H20 chips to China. AMD is expecting the same for its MI308 chips. This may appear surprising after multiple statements from Trump administration officials that controls on the export to China of higher-end AI chips, such as the H20, were off the table.
This move doesn’t change the broader bipartisan consensus behind restricting China’s access to strategic tech, but rather fits into a pattern of recent decisions showing that tech export controls—previously viewed as a non-negotiable issue of US national security—can now be used as bargaining chips in trade talks with China. The next talks are scheduled for 28 and 29 July in Stockholm between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterparts. This shift exacerbates uncertainty for domestic and international tech firms and will encourage Beijing to push for further loosening of controls in future negotiations.

“Under the Microscope”: Activists Opposing a Nevada Lithium Mine Were Surveilled for Years, Records Show  (Mark Olalde, ProPublica)
Law enforcement agencies have collaborated with private security to surveil largely peaceful protesters opposed to a Nevada mining project called Thacker Pass. An FBI-led joint terrorism task force has at times focused on the protests, according to internal law enforcement communications. Indigenous people protesting the mine say they have been unfairly singled out by authorities for trying to protect their lands.

How the Supreme Court’s ‘Rule for the Ages’ Could Impact Trump’s Obama Witch Hunt  (Asha Rangappa, MSNBC)
“A rule for the ages.” This is what Justice Neil Gorsuch claimed the Supreme Court was deciding when it heard oral arguments on President Donald Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” in April 2024. Two months later, the court did indeed hand down such a rule, endorsing Trump’s view that a former president cannot be criminally indicted for “official acts” carried out during the course of his presidency.
The rationale for granting immunity was ostensibly to protect former presidents; without it, the court argued, prosecutions by current administrations of their predecessors “would quickly become routine.”
So much for that. President Trump’s latest baseless accusations that former President Barack Obama committed “treason” in investigating Russia’s election interference in 2016 — accusations made by his own director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and for which his attorney general has created an investigative “strike force” — shows that, far from deterring such prosecutions, the court’s “rule for the ages” has made them easier.

Republicans Pushed the Laken Riley Act to Prioritize Deporting Criminals —but DHS Isn’t Doing That  (David J. Bier, CATO)
Going after a small number of criminal fugitives will not allow the president’s team to hit its sky-high deportation targets.

Everything Is a “False Flag” Now  (David Gilbert, Wired)
Conspiracy theories about so-called false-flag attacks have been around for decades. But as trust in media and public institutions craters, every single major news event is now being labeled as fake.

Why Armies Are Using Laser Weapons to Zap Things Out of the Sky  (Economist)
They’re good drone-killers.

Underground with America’s Nuclear-Missile Crews  (Economist)
The cost of replacing ageing ICBMs is soaring as a new arms race looms.

Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance Demands Broader Data Protections  (Justin Sherman, Lawfare)
As adversary surveillance capabilities expand, the U.S. national security community faces grave threats. Broader data protections can help.