OUR PICKSThe New Logic of Nuclear Finance | Tracing Engineered Biothreats with AI Forensics | Hegseth Conscripts the Pentagon for Trump’s “Retribution Campaign,” and more

“The Mood Is Miserable”: Inside Kash Patel’s Chaotic FBI  (Cameron Henderson, The Telegraph)
From loyalty tests to rumors of Trump replacing the bureau director, line agents feel “a target on their backs.”

The Uncomfortable Truth About Climate AI  (Ryan Biller, Foreign Policy)
Military technologies used to address climate threats are often the same ones used for more nefarious purposes.

Hegseth Conscripts the Pentagon for Trump’s “Retribution Campaign”  (Noah Robertson, Tara Copp and Sarah Ellison, Washington Post)
In threatening to deploy the military justice system against Democrats, Hegseth has joined Trump’s norm-shattering bid to punish political foes.

The New Logic of Nuclear Finance  ( Daniel Joyner, National Interest)
Nuclear energy financing must undergo a parallel shift alongside improvements in technology in order to witness the second nuclear renaissance.

AI Regulatory Lessons from the Atomic Age  (Emily de La Bruyere and Nathan Picarsic, National Interest)
The United States faces an AI challenge similar to the Atomic Age and needs clear federal rules to secure leadership and manage proliferation risks amid great power competition.

Tracing Engineered Biothreats with AI Forensics: Five Steps to Improve Attribution  (Oliver M. Crook, Anemone Franz, and Aaron Maiwald, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
The 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the United States, the 2007 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic have something in common: Investigators have struggled to determine their origins despite extensive efforts. This highlights a critical gap in biosecurity capabilities—the limitations of modern forensics in reliably tracing biological threats back to their sources.
When a novel pathogen emerges, investigators face a cascade of urgent questions: What is it, something familiar or entirely new? Did it come from a natural spillover event, a laboratory accident, or a deliberate attack? And if evidence points to non-natural origins, who created it?
This final question is becoming increasingly important as biotechnology advances. 
Fortunately, recent advances in machine learning and genomics offer promising paths forward. We have five recommendations for improving genetic engineering detection and attribution.