OUR PICKSGolden Dome is a Trillion Dollar Gambit | These Materials Could Cripple America’s Defense Industrial Base | Artificial Intelligence Ushers in a Golden Age of Hacking, and more
· Vaccine Panel That Limited Covid Shot Scrutinized After Chaotic Meetings
· Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access
· Golden Dome is a Trillion Dollar Gambit
· These Materials Could Cripple America’s Defense Industrial Base
· With Calls for Retribution Over Kirk, Some See Rise of a “Woke Right”
· The U.S. Is Quietly Pausing Some Arms Sales to Europe
· Artificial Intelligence Ushers in a Golden Age of Hacking, Experts Say
Vaccine Panel That Limited Covid Shot Scrutinized After Chaotic Meetings (David Ovalle, Rachel Roubein and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post)
Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices showed a tenuous grasp of process and cited flawed research as they revisited covid, hepatitis B and MMRV shots.
RFK Jr.’s Dismantling of the Vaccine Schedule Has Only Just Begun (Leana S. Wen, Washington Post)
Why it matters that the CDC is altering the childhood immunization schedule.
Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access (Ken Bensinger, New York Times)
The Department of Defense will force reporters to pledge not to gather or use any information – even if it is unclassified — that had not been formally authorized for release, or risk losing their credential to cover the military.
Golden Dome is a Trillion Dollar Gambit (Todd Harrison, War on the Rocks)
U.S. President Donald Trump set high expectations for “Golden Dome.” His executive order directing development of this homeland air and missile defense system lists a broad range of threats: “ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.” At an Oval Office event, he went further, claiming Golden Dome would be “very close to 100 percent” effective, completed “in about three years,” and cost “about $175 billion.” The problem with setting expectations this high is that it can only lead to disappointment. The capabilities Trump promised for Golden Dome are fundamentally misaligned with the cost and schedule he asserted. Although reports suggest that an initial architecture has been selected, unless expectations are recalibrated, Golden Dome risks being built to promises rather than requirements, eroding the transparency and confidence needed to make the program sustainable.
These Materials Could Cripple America’s Defense Industrial Base (Macdonald Amoah, Morgan Bazilian, Clarkson Kamurai, and Jahara Matisek, War on the Rocks)
The Pentagon’s arsenal and defense industrial base is built on materials that China can turn off like a light switch. Growing uncertainty in critical mineral markets and the open weaponization of supply chains by China has prompted a paradigm shift in how the Pentagon addresses these issues. (Cont.)
