OUR PICKSFBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE | Drones are Changing How Wars Harm Civilians | The Dulling of America’s Scientific Edge, and more

FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves  (Dell Cameron and Caroline Haskins, Wired)
In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.

FBI Fires, Rehires, Then Fires Again Agents Assigned to Trump Case  (Perry Stein, Washington Post)
The FBI has fired several agents involved in the investigation that led up to the special counsel case against Donald Trump.

What Does Trump Think Nuclear Testing Is?  (Decker Eveleth, Foreign Policy)
A vague statement opens a range of expensive possibilities.

The GOP Civil War Over Nick Fuentes Has Just Begun  (David Gilbert, Wired)
Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes has led to a major reckoning in the Republican party.

Right-Wing Chatbots Turbocharge America’s Political and Cultural Wars  (Steven Lee Myers and Stuart A. Thompson, New York Times)
Once pitched as dispassionate tools to answer your questions, A.I. chatbots are now programmed to reflect the biases of their creators.

The Dulling of America’s Scientific Edge  (Editorial Board, Washington Post)
U.S. researchers are increasingly looking to do their work abroad.

Drones are Changing How Wars Harm Civilians  (Lauren Spink, Just Security)
Drones are rapidly changing war. Without urgent, collective action, their use will lead to greater civilian harm in conflicts.

The Prosecution of James Comey: Where’s the Lie?  (Benjamin Wittes and Anna Bower, Lawfare)
The government’s response to James Comey’s vindictive prosecution raises one very big and important question.
On Monday, the prosecution outlined its case. Spoiler alert: That case is unspeakably, breathtakingly devoid of merit. To see it laid out in all its patchwork threadbaredness is to gasp with embarrassment for the prosecutors who have presented this to an American court. It is to understand why no career prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia would work this case and why Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan had to import two sacrificial lambs from North Carolina to litigate the matter. To read it is to spend 48 pages understanding the depth of corruption in the Justice Department in the second Trump administration.