Charlie Kirk Assassination Raises Fear of Surging Political Violence | We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself | The ICE Raid at Hyundai Was a Massive Own Goal | The New Math of Quantum Cryptography, and more

She added, “All it will take is the slightest hint from the political leaders, including the president, but also anyone else, that this is the moment that they’re needed.”

The Tragedy of Charlie Kirk’s Killing  (George Packer, The Atlantic)
His murder is a tragedy for his family and a disaster for the country. In an atmosphere of national paranoia and hatred, each act of political violence makes the next one more likely. Last year, Trump came within a couple of inches of being assassinated. In June, two elected Democrats in Minnesota were shot, one fatally. President Trump has ordered flags across the country to be lowered to half-staff in Kirk’s honor, but he wasn’t a statesman like John F. Kennedy, or a moral leader like Martin Luther King Jr. (whom Kirk called “not a good person”). I won’t pretend that I believe America just lost a great man. In the long history of American political assassinations, Kirk belongs in the company of charismatic provocateurs such as Huey Long and Malcolm X, cut down before their time. Like them, he had a feel for the political pulse of his moment, a demagogic flair, and the courage to take on all comers in argument, which exposed him to the sniper who ended his life.
Words are not violence—violence is violence. After Trump’s brush with death, before anything was known about his would-be assassin, J. D. Vance and others blamed the shooting on the rhetoric of his political opponents. Within hours of Kirk’s killing, with the shooter still at large, Elon Musk posted on X: “The Left is the party of murder.” Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie, wrote: “You called us Hitler. You called us Nazis. You called us Racists. You have blood on your hands.” Some right-wing activists are calling for the Trump administration to crack down on leftist organizations—in other words, to use Kirk’s death as a pretext for political repression, which is just what an authoritarian government would do. No one should feel anything but horror and dread at the murder of Charlie Kirk. And no one should use the killing of a man known for his defense of free speech to muzzle others or themselves from speaking the truth about the perilous state we’re in.

America Enters a New Age of Political Violence  (Naftali Bendavid, Washington Post)
Leaders in both parties react to Charlie Kirk’s slaying with fear and foreboding about the country’s direction.
Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, said the country’s political factions increasingly see each other as mortal enemies who threaten the country’s existence, and from there, it is not a big step for mentally unbalanced people to turn to violence. Social media, Dallek added, acts as a sort of accelerant in spreading these toxic ideas.
“We are in the most politically violent moment we’ve been in as a country since the 1960s and the 1970s,” Dallek said. “It does feel like we are in a 1960s-era cycle, and it’s really hard to get out of.”
Dallek noted that after the Oklahoma City bombing, President Bill Clinton traveled to the city and gave what is often regarded as the best speech of his career, urging the country to come together. It is not clear, Dallek suggested, that today’s leaders are willing or able to make a similar unifying gesture.

“War Is Here”: The Far-Right Responds to Charlie Kirk Shooting with Calls for Violence  (David Gilbert, Wired)
Prominent far-right figures and elected officials have called for vengeance following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Charlie Kirk, Charismatic Right-Wing Activist, Fatally Shot in Utah  (Michael Levenson and Robert Draper, New York Times)
Kirk, 31, a close ally of President Trump, was killed while speaking in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University. A university official said no suspect was in custody.

The Horrifying Assassination of Charlie Kirk  (David A. Graham, The Atlantic)
The shooting of the conservative activist is the latest act of political violence in the United States.

Man Accused of Printing 236-page Screed on Killing a Federal Judge  (Daniel Wu, Washington Post)
John Phillip Ivers, 72, has a history of making threats against federal officials.

Beyond Hawala: Emerging Online Financing Trends Among South Asian Violent Extremist Groups in 2025  (Ashreet Acharya, GNET)
Throughout 2025, we have witnessed the rapid evolution of fundraising tactics used by violent extremist groups across South Asia. Despite constant military and political crackdowns, it remains challenging for counterterrorism financing measures to be globally impactful. The region’s financial landscape is rapidly transforming with a surge in fintech adoption and mobile wallets, with global cryptocurrency markets hitting record highs, allowing access for both licit and illicit users. With record remittance flows, these trends create a fertile ecosystem for extremist financiers to hide illegal fund transfers within legitimate volumes. This convergence makes it crucial to understand how these violent groups sustain their financial operations while regulators risk falling behind.
This evolution marks a shift towards more advanced technology-driven strategies from traditional tactics like hawala networks and front charities. This Insight draws on recent open-source case studies and comparative data from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Indonesia to analyze these advancements and explore how extremist actors misuse cryptocurrency, crowdfunding platforms, and digital payment apps to evade regulatory scrutiny, enhancing the survival and sustenance of their financial networks. Moreover, the Insight underscores the operational repercussions of such financial innovations and proposes actionable recommendations for policymakers, fintech corporations and law enforcement agencies to interrupt terror financing impactfully and sustainably.

Can Gaming Support Disengagement? Exploring Opportunities and Challenges for Innovative Disengagement Approaches  (Linda Schlegel and Vivienne Ohlenforst, GNET)
The last few years have seen an increase in research efforts detailing how extremist actors are seeking to exploit video games, digital gaming spaces, and gaming culture. This mounting evidence of extremist activities in the gaming sphere has prompted intense discussions on how to prevent and/or counter violent extremism (P/CVE) across the heterogeneous gaming ecosystem. While gaming-related P/CVE efforts are still in their infancy, several approaches have been piloted. These include the development of bespoke P/CVE games to inoculate audiences against extremist influences or educate them about radicalization, the application of gamified elements in prevention contexts, digital youth work on gaming (-adjacent) digital platforms, and the use of popular commercial video games to play with young target audiences and open lines of communication during shared gameplay. The vast majority of P/CVE approaches in the gaming sphere are aimed at primary prevention. This means that the main target audience are individuals, who are not radicalized, and the goal of these projects is to enhance resilience against extremist influence. Secondary prevention, which addresses individuals who are interested in extremist ideas or on the pathway of radicalization, and tertiary prevention, which focuses on highly radicalized audiences, have not yet featured prominently in gaming-related P/CVE measures.
To our knowledge, discussions examining how gaming could support interventions aimed at radicalized individuals are rare. In this Insight, we therefore offer a preliminary exploration of opportunities for gaming-related tertiary prevention and disengagement approaches, as well as the challenges that may arise for P/CVE practitioners in the space. Our goal is to inspire more conversations on the application of games and gaming-related approaches in working with radicalized target audiences. The Insight is based on a handbook for practitioners we created in the context of the RadiGaMe project (Radicalization on Gaming Platforms and Messenger Services) and offers five avenues for gaming-related tertiary prevention and disengagement work as well as the challenges associated with them: Identification and first contact, digital disengagement, offline disengagement with a digital gaming component, offline disengagement with an offline gaming component, and working with former extremists in gaming environments. 

THE LONG VIEW

We Are Watching a Scientific Superpower Destroy Itself  (Stephen Greenblatt, New York Times)
And now, notwithstanding its triumphs, the whole enterprise is in serious trouble. The Trump administration began its assault by using the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on many campuses to charge elite universities with antisemitism. The rationale has largely shifted to complaints about affirmative action, diversity initiatives, liberal bias and the like. Scientific research has been curtailed; postdoctoral fellowships have been abruptly canceled; laboratories have been shuttered and visas denied. The damage to scientific enterprise extends beyond our borders, whether it’s from the cancellation of nearly $500 million in funding for mRNA research under the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a kind of Lysenko lite — or the purging of data on which climate researchers around the world depend. We will never know what diseases might have been cured or what advances in technology might have been invented had the lights not gone out in the labs.
Several universities have now paid what amount to enormous fines in the hopes of restoring at least some federal support. But that restoration is not guaranteed; the administration has often conditioned it on demands that intrude on precisely the areas of university life — curriculum, instruction, administration, personnel — that the N.D.E.A. prohibited the government from touching.
Should the Trump administration settle for one-time fines, universities, chastened by the threats of the past few months, may yet recover their footing. But if, as seems entirely possible, the administration is determined to reshape the intellectual life and values of faculty members and students alike, then such recovery will be impossible.

Something Is Very Wrong Online  (Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic)
The cycle of violence will continue as long as the medium doesn’t change.

How the United States Is Undoing the Post-9/11 Security Architecture That Has Kept It Safe  (Donell Harvin, Just Security)
Since 9/11, the United States has invested more than $1 trillion directly into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and trillions more dollars into wars fought in the name of counterterrorism, intelligence centers, surveillance, and counter-extremism programs. That money bought a sprawling security architecture that provided safer airports, fusion centers connecting federal and local intelligence, reforms to disaster relief, and new counterterrorism units at every level of government. But since President Donald Trump took office in January, many of those investments have been completely erased. Americans may be no safer today from foreign and domestic terrorism than they were on September 11, 2001. In some ways, given the rise of domestic violent extremism and the political encouragement of it, Americans may be even more vulnerable.

Perpetual War and International Law: Enduring Legacies of the War on Terror  (Ryan Goodman and Tess Bridgeman, Just Security)
Just Security, in partnership with Oxford University Press, has released  Perpetual War and International Law: Enduring Legacies of the War on Terror, edited by Brianna Rosen, Senior Fellow at Just Security and Director of the AI and Emerging Technologies Initiative. The book is available for pre-order here.
Released to mark the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the volume offers a timely reflection on the enduring legacies of the post-9/11 era and prospects for moving beyond the war paradigm. It interrogates the blurring of the boundaries between war and peace, demonstrates how precedents set during the global “war on terror” continue to shape contemporary conflicts, and examines how this era of perpetual war might come to a close.

Federal Funding Cuts Threaten US Biosafety  (Steph Batalis, National Interest)
Proposed federal funding cuts threaten biosafety, undermining the safeguards, oversight, and resources needed to keep research labs, scientists, and the public safe.

DEMOCRACY WATCH

Brazil Just Succeeded Where America Failed  (Filipe Campante and Steven Levitsky, New York Times)
On Thursday, the Brazilian Supreme Court did what the U.S. Senate and federal courts tragically failed to do: bring a former president who assaulted democracy to justice.
In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court voted 4 to 1 to convict ex-President Jair Bolsonaro of conspiring against democracy and attempting a coup in the wake of his 2022 election defeat. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Barring a successful appeal, which is unlikely, Mr. Bolsonaro will become the first coup leader in Brazilian history to serve time in prison.
These developments draw a sharp contrast with the United States, where President Trump, who also attempted to overturn an election, was sent not to prison but back to the White House. Mr. Trump, perhaps recognizing the power of that contrast, called Mr. Bolsonaro’s prosecution a “witch hunt” and described his conviction as “a terrible thing. Very terrible.”

Pentagon Plan Envisions 1,000 Troops for Louisiana Policing Mission  (Alex Horton and Tara Copp, Washington Post)
Documents reviewed by The Washington Post illustrate the Trump administration’s evolving strategy for sending the military into cities with Democratic majorities.

FBI Director Draws Criticism from the Right Over Handling of Kirk Shooting  (Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck, Washington Post)
Right-wing online influencers —some of whom helped propel Kash Patel to the powerful law enforcement position less than a year ago —are now questioning whether he should continue leading the agency.
And within the FBI, multiple people said the Kirk investigation has highlighted Patel’s inexperience and minimal knowledge of how the vast law enforcement bureau operates. Morale is low and he is “crumbling under pressure,” current and former officials said, accusing the leader of being more interested in his image within right-wing circles on social media than with learning the ins and outs of the expansive and powerful agency he leads.
Patel vowed during his Senate confirmation hearing to be a fair leader who would protect the law enforcement bureau’s workforce and make it less political. But since he has been in the job, Patel has pushed out many of the bureau’s most experienced leaders across the country. Many of the top national security officials who would typically help lead a potential domestic terrorism shooting like the Kirk case have been pushed out in recent months, multiple people said.
Earlier this week, three ousted senior FBI leaders sued Patel, portraying Patel as an incompetent leader who indiscriminately fired people because either the White House or online influencers pressured him to.

The Sinister Brilliance of Donald Trump’s Security Theatre  (Economist)
How the president presents himself as America’s protector.

National Guard Documents Show Public “Fear,” Veterans’ “Shame” Over D.C. Presence  (Alex Horton, Washington Post)
Internal documents reviewed by The Post show how domestic missions rooted in politics risk damaging Americans’ trust in the military.

White House Exerts Enormous Influence Over F.B.I., Lawsuit Says  (Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, New York Times)
A sprawling suit by three fired F.B.I. officials provides a disturbing account of efforts by top Trump aides to strip the bureau of its independence.

FBI Leaders Allege in Lawsuit They Were Unlawfully Fired Over Political Loyalty  (Perry Stein, Washington Post)
The former acting director says a Trump administration official asked a series of questions, including “Who did you vote for?”

America’s Perón  (Scott Lincicome, The Atlantic)
Decades of personalist rule turned Argentina into a global economic laughingstock. Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood the lesson.

MORE PICKS

The ICE Raid at Hyundai Was a Massive Own Goal (Economist)
Georgia spent years wooing the foreign carmaker.

Trump’s Hyundai Raid Drains U.S. Battery Brains  (Christina Lu,Foreign Policy)
The United States can’t build the powerful technologies on its own.

Federal Judge Curbs DHS Force Against Journalists in L.A.  (Scott Nover, Washington Post)
The judge cited an “avalanche of evidence” that ICE and Border Patrol agents violated the rights of reporters covering protests of immigration raids.

US Investment in Spyware Is Skyrocketing  (Vas Panagiotopoulos, Wired)
A new report warns that the number of US investors in powerful commercial spyware rose sharply in 2024 and names new countries linked to the dangerous technology.

When the Vibes Are Off: The Security Risks of AI-Generated Code  (Carolin Kemper, Lawfare)
Vibe coding produces software riddled with insecurities. Will risk management and regulatory compliance, too, fall victim to the vibes?

Boat Suspected of Smuggling Drugs Is Said to Have Turned Before U.S. Attacked It  (Charlie Savage and Helene Cooper, New York Times)
The Trump administration has argued that the summary killing of 11 people it accused of running drugs was legal under the laws of war.

You Might Have Already Fallen for MAHA’s Conspiracy Theories  (Alexander Stockton and Derek Beres, New York Times)
How does someone become an anti-vaxxer or come to believe that chemotherapy is more dangerous than cancer? It can begin with what seems like a harmless health tip: Cut seed oils or artificial food dyes from your diet. From there, the road can get treacherous. It’s paved with good intentions, surrounded by misinformation and filled with influencers who say they just want to make you, and America, healthy again.
Using artificial intelligence to identify narrative patterns across nearly 12,000 videos and podcasts from the world of wellness, New York Times Opinion Video reconstructed the MAHA conspiracy theory rabbit hole. In the video above, hear from people who found themselves sucked to the bottom of it. They developed an extreme distrust of the health care system, with tragic consequences. All the while, the people peddling anti-health-care content — people now empowered by and working in the Trump administration — have raked in their share of the $460 billion wellness industry, profiting from the paranoia they fueled.
Does that mean it’s game over for evidence-based medicine? As former followers of these MAHA influencers will tell you, there’s a path out of the rabbit hole, too.

The New Math of Quantum Cryptography  (Ben Brubaker, Wired)
In theory, quantum physics can bypass the hard mathematical problems at the root of modern encryption. A new proof shows how.

The Deeper Crime Problem that the National Guard Can’t Solve  (Toluse Olorunnipa, The Atlantic)
Proven solutions have been rejected by the administration in favor of no-tolerance policies and flashy shows of force.

The US Government Has No Idea How Many Cybersecurity Pros It Employs  (Brandon Vigliarolo, The Register)
Auditors find federal cybersecurity workforce data messy, incomplete, and unreliable.