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Resourcing the Ramp-Up: NATO and the Challenge of a Coherent Industrial Response to Russia's War in Ukraine
Near the top of the new NATO Secretary-General’s in-tray will be an urgent question: why are efforts to mobilize the alliance’s industrial base and ramp up production still yielding underwhelming results, over two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
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The Spotty International Tax Record of Big U.S. Technology Companies
Many big technology firms continue to book large offshore profits in low tax jurisdictions, particularly Ireland and Singapore.
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I Studied ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City – Here’s What People in Detroit and the More Than 167 Other Cities and Towns Using This Technology Should Know
One method Detroit and other cities facing high levels of gun violence have employed is gunshot detection technology, specifically the industry-leading ShotSpotter product, which uses acoustic sensors to notify police when the system hears gunfire. Since 2020, my colleagues and I have conducted the largest study on this technology. Our research was designed to test both the efficiency and effectiveness of this technology.
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Are Mass Layoffs and Data Breaches Connected?
Layoffs create conditions where disgruntled employees face added stress or job insecurity, so they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors that heighten the company’s vulnerability to data breaches.
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New U.S. Arctic Strategy Focused on Russian, Chinese Inroads
The United States is looking to boost intelligence collection in the Arctic and enhance cooperation with allies in the region, to prevent Russia and China from exploiting the cold and icy northern region at America’s expense.
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Not Just Beijing’s Doing: Market Factors Are Also Hitting Rare Earths Prices
Have depressed rare earths prices been engineered by the Chinese state to snuff out non-Chinese rivals before they get going? Or do they simply reflect a weak market, with demand rising more slowly than was expected by the promotors of a slew of new projects?
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Why the Experts Should Answer to the Amateurs
Tension between experts and non-experts is an inevitable part of modern organizations and societies. Highly trained experts are necessary to keep things functioning smoothly —but accountability matters. We need specialists to solve hard problems, but they need to be accountable to non-experts.
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Climate Change Has Forced America’s Oldest Black Town to Higher Ground
Princeville, North Carolina, is relocating with help from a new federal grant. Hurricane Matthew, which submerged the town under more than 10 feet of water, was the final straw. The town has just received millions of dollars in new funding from FEMA to build a new site on higher ground.
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A $40B Critical Mineral Supply Chain Could Start in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has a mine pollution problem. America has a critical mineral shortage. And both problems may get solved as researchers find these critical and strategic elements in the polluted waters that come from acid mine drainage.
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Why Chinese Technology Set Off Alarm Bells in Germany
Even as the German government moves to bar components made by China’s Huawei and ZTE from core parts of the country’s 5G networks, some German companies are looking to work with Chinese firms in other critical areas.
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In an Era of Dam Removal, California Is Building More
Earlier this year, the federal government finalized $216 million dollars in funding for a controversial dam project south of the Klamath River, adding to the $1 billion in direct grants already pledged to the project known as Sites Reservoir. This would be California’s first major new reservoir in half a century. Proponents say a new reservoir off the Sacramento River is environmentally friendly.
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Germany Foils Russian Plot to Assassinate German Arms Company Chief
German politicians have voiced horror over a report that Russia planned to murder a German arms company boss. US intelligence is said to have uncovered the plot against Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger.
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The New Fintech That Knows Whether Your Voice Matches Your Face
Your face is no longer your own. Nor is your voice. Fraudsters can steal them both from the Internet. And, using the power of AI, they can create a deepfake version of you that’s so convincing it’ll beat bank security. Banks and financial institutions increasingly use voice biometrics these days to confirm a caller’s identity.
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Transformers: Cooler Side of the Grid
Failures in transformers cause widespread disruptions across electrical networks, severely affecting grid stability. The financial impact of such failures often goes beyond just the cost of replacing the transformer. Simulations on NSF-funded Stampede2 provide models for a resilient and sustainable electric grid.
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Hundreds of Tech Companies Want to Cash In on Homeland Security Funding. Here's Who They Are and What They're Selling.
Whenever concerns grow about the security along the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the U.S. government generate dollars — hundreds of millions of dollars — for tech conglomerates and start-ups. Who are the vendors who supply or market the technology for the U.S. government’s increasingly AI-powered homeland security efforts, including the so-called “virtual wall” of surveillance along the southern border with Mexico?
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The long view
Need for National Information Clearinghouse for Cybercrime Data, Categorization of Cybercrimes: Report
There is an acute need for the U.S. to address its lack of overall governance and coordination of cybercrime statistics. A new report recommends that relevant federal agencies create or designate a national information clearinghouse to draw information from multiple sources of cybercrime data and establish connections to assist in criminal investigations.
Trying to “Bring Back” Manufacturing Jobs Is a Fool’s Errand
Advocates of recent populist policies like to focus on the supposed demise of manufacturing that occurred after the 1970s, but that focus is misleading. The populists’ bleak economic narrative ignores the truth that the service sector has always been a major driver of America’s success, for decades, even more so than manufacturing. Trying to “bring back” manufacturing jobs, through harmful tariffs or other industrial policies, is destined to end badly for Americans. It makes about as much sense as trying to “bring back” all those farm jobs we had before the 1870s.
The Potential Impact of Seabed Mining on Critical Mineral Supply Chains and Global Geopolitics
The potential emergence of a seabed mining industry has important ramifications for the diversification of critical mineral supply chains, revenues for developing nations with substantial terrestrial mining sectors, and global geopolitics.
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”