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Trading on Tom Homan: Inside the Push to Cash in on the Trump Administration’s Deportation Campaign
A Pennsylvania businessman who had Tom Homan on his payroll led companies to believe his connections to the future border czar could help advance their bids for government work, industry executives said.
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Underground Data Fortresses: The Nuclear Bunkers, Mines and Mountains Being Transformed to Protect Our “New Gold” from Attack
Bunker scholars have long noted that these buildings are as much about time as they are about space. Bunkers are designed to preserve and transport their contents through time, from an apocalyptic present into a safe future.
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Funding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity
The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.
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The American TikTok Deal Doesn’t Address the Platform’s Potential for Manipulation, Only Who Profits
If we want to protect democratic information systems, we need to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities in our relationship with media platforms – platforms with surveillance power to know what we will like, the algorithmic power to curate our information diet and control of platform incentives, and rules and features that affect who gains influence. The biggest challenge is to make platforms less riggable, and thus less weaponizable, if only for the reason that motivated the TikTok ban: we don’t want our adversaries, foreign or domestic, to have power over us.
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly from Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies
The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most important military contractors.
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U.S. Department of Energy buys 5% of Lithium Americas
Lithium Americas, founded 2023 in Canada, owns the permit to develop the Thacker Pass grounds in Humboldt County, Nevada for lithium mining. The U.S. Department of Energy settled government takeover reports of Lithium Americas Corp., announcing a 5% ownership of the $1.5 billion mining company.
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Multitasking Raises Risk of Phishing
In the information age, multitasking is often worn as a badge of honor. But according to new research, multitasking may also blind us to hidden threats, thereby increasing our chances of falling victim to cybercrime.
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Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened
The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noem’s big donors make the ask.
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Market Incentives and Cybersecurity: Fixing the Broken System Before It Breaks Us
Cybersecurity is not just an IT issue; it is a shared responsibility and an economic imperative. Only by ensuring resilience can we confidently adopt new technology and realize its benefits. The next horizon of the cyber security strategy would require a mix of incentives—including regulation, market forces and cultural change—to realize the objective of building a secure and resilient digital economy.
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Pentagon Bans Tech Vendors from Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation
The Defense Department has tightened cybersecurity requirements for its cloud services providers. The changes come after ProPublica revealed how Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers left sensitive government data vulnerable to hacking.
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The Government Shouldn’t Play “Truth Police”
There is little doubt that ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was the result of the not-so-veiled threats by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that the network would face FCC action unless it removed Kimmel who, Carr argued (wrongly), had implicated MAGA in the killing of Charlie Kirk. But the government should not serve as the arbiter of truth in public debate. Government coercion to censor speech is wrong no matter which party is in power. We should all be concerned when the government takes upon itself the role of policing “truth” and uses that mantle as a tool to threaten and punish disfavored speakers.
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The Security Industry’s Blind Spot - Management
The global security industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. Driven by rising crime rates, growing urbanization, and heightened awareness of personal and property safety, the demand for private security services continues to soar.
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Who Pays for Wildfire Damage? In the West, Utilities Are Shifting the Risk to Customers
Utah laws cap wildfire damages and let utilities pass the cost onto customers. Utility lobbyists are pushing the model in other states.
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Cybersecurity Training Programs Don't Prevent Employees from Falling for Phishing Scams
Cybersecurity training programs as implemented today by most large companies do little to reduce the risk that employees will fall for phishing scams. Study involving 19,500 UC San Diego Health employees evaluated the effectiveness of two different types of cybersecurity training.
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When Global Trade Is About More Than Money
International trade can yield far more than imports and exports. Economist’s new tool looks at how China is more effective than U.S. in exerting political power through import, export controls
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The long view
Entity Resolution: The Security Technology You Probably Haven’t Heard Of
The concept “entity resolution” (ER) is probably unfamiliar, but it underpins much of the world’s security—in telecommunications, banking and national security.
“DeepSeek Is in the Driver’s Seat. That’s a Big Security Problem”
Democratic countries have a smart-car problem. For those that don’t act quickly and decisively, it’s about to become a severe national security headache.