• China’s Control and Coercion in Critical Minerals

    Markets for critical minerals are no longer shaping up to be the next components of the global economy to be dominated by China. They already are. While Western nations were sleeping, China built vertically integrated supply chains for several critical minerals vital to the energy transition and high technology applications, including defense equipment.

  • Removing Cuba from List of Countries ‘Not Fully Cooperating’ Over Terrorism May Presage Wider Rapprochement – If Politics Allows

    The U.S. State Department removed Cuba from its list of countries “not fully cooperating” with anti-terrorism efforts in mid-May 2024, but you would be forgiven for not noticing. Despite the low-key nature of the announcement, taking Cuba off the list is a big deal. The move is a potential step toward a rapprochement between Washington and Havana.

  • Why Did the U.S. Open Up Banking to Cuba's Private Sector?

    As Cuba faces a social and economic crisis, the United States has enabled more financial support for private businesses in the country in a boost to Internet-based services and financial services.

  • Video Games Might Matter for Terrorist Financing

    Every day, billions of dollars flow across international borders among millions of people on a public online market, with functionally no government oversight or regulation. The market? Virtual currency and digital assets in video games. Moshe Klein writes that “as terrorists seek new methods of conducting financial activity, governments must remain one step ahead and consider how they can proactively investigate and close extant avenues for terrorist financing.”

  • ARPA-H Announces Program to Enhance and Automate Cybersecurity for Health Care Facilities

    The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced the launch of the Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense (UPGRADE) program, a cybersecurity effort that will invest more than $50 million to create tools for information technology (IT) teams to better defend the hospital environments they are tasked with securing.

  • U.S. Announces Measures to Help Over 11,000 Cuban Small Businesses

    The administration unveiled regulatory changes to increase support for the Cuban people and independent private sector entrepreneurs. The changes will enable more U.S. financial support for small private businesses in Cuba, enhance internet-based services on the island and broaden access to financial services.

  • O-RAN Is Overhyped as Avoiding Chinese 5G Influence

    In recent years, countries have faced a stark choice between Chinese and Western suppliers to develop their 5G cellular network infrastructure. While Chinese suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE are not trusted because of their ties and legal obligations to China’s party-state, Western suppliers have struggled to compete on cost. The emergence of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) technology has some promised, but the idea that O-RAN is a viable alternative to Chinese suppliers seems hollow.

  • Major Gaps in Cybersecurity at Auto Workshops

    Many auto workshops do not know enough about how to keep our cars safe from cyberattacks, a new study reveals. “A large proportion of the vehicle fleet could practically be entirely open to attacks or already breached,” says a cybersecurity expert.

  • Revolutionizing Energy Grid Maintenance: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the Future

    Scientists are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to transform energy grid asset maintenance, helping U.S. power companies identify and address problems before they even occur, helping to ensure the security and reliability of America’s energy infrastructure.

  • Emerging Threats to the U.S. Financial System

    In early 2021, a freewheeling, freethinking group of investors on Reddit plowed their money into GameStop, a video game retailer that several big hedge funds had bet against. The stock price shot up, some people made millions—and, to the delight of those on Reddit, the hedge funds had some very bad days. Researchers saw the GameStop story as a cautionary tale. If investors on Reddit could work together to move the markets like that, what could an adversary like China do?

  • Venezuela Travel Advisory

    With the security situation in Venezuela continuing to deteriorate, the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel advisory which urges would be travelers to note Venezuela’s “to crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and the arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” The advisory further urges people to “Reconsider travel due to wrongful detentions, terrorism, and poor health infrastructure” in Venezuela.

  • Why Biden Wants to Block the Nippon-U.S. Steel Deal

    A proposed Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel, a century-old icon of American industry, is facing domestic political pushback that could challenge the Biden administration’s foreign policy aims. Biden’s opposition to the deal risks undercutting his administration’s efforts to strengthen U.S. alliances and supply chains, experts say.   

  • The Government Wants to Buy Their Flood-Prone Homes. But These Texans Aren’t Moving.

    The recent floods in Harris County, Texas, show why home buyout programs can be important. These programs involve the government buying, and demolishing, houses in flood-prone zones, that is, areas which typically flood first and worse. The Harris County flood control district wants to buy properties along the San Jacinto River that have flooded repeatedly. Some residents aren’t leaving.

  • History Says Tariffs Rarely Work, but Biden’s 100% Tariffs on Chinese EVs Could Defy the Trend

    Earlier this month, President Biden announced a hike in tariffs on a variety of Chinese imports, including a 100% tariff that would significantly increase the price of Chinese-made electric vehicles. Tariffs have a troubled history, but Biden’s move might defy historical precedent and succeed where other tariffs have failed. The Biden tariffs can succeed in giving the U.S. EV industry room to grow, and encourage similar protective actions elsewhere, reinforcing the global shift toward securing supply chains and promoting domestic manufacturing.

  • Beyond Watermarks: Content Integrity Through Tiered Defense

    Watermarking is often discussed as a solution to the problems posed by AI-generated content. However, watermarking is inadequate without other methods of detecting and sorting out AI-generated content.