• Protecting Health Security from Potential Threats Arising from Advances in Biotechnology

    The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said it was applauding congressional leaders in health security for their introduction of two pieces of legislation to strengthen security around emerging threats from advances in biotechnology.

  • Significant Intelligence Failures by FBI, DHS in Lead-Up to January 6th Capitol Attack

    A Senate panel released a new report detailing the results of an investigation examining intelligence failures by the FBI and DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) in the lead-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The investigation found that intelligence failures and operational missteps by the FBI and DHS I&A contributed to the security planning failures that left frontline officers unprepared for the violent mob that breached the Capitol and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power.

  • Planned in Plain Sight

    Beginning in December 2020, the FBI and DHS I&A were receiving increasingly detailed, and worrisome, information – from informers, encrypted chat rooms, and other sources — that Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other far-right violent extremist groups supporting then-President Donald Trump were planning attacks on the Capitol and other federal buildings in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transition of power to the winner of the November election, Joe Biden. Despite the dire nature of the information, the FBI and I&A failed to issue sufficient warnings to the Capitol police, DC police, and other frontline personnel based on, and reflecting, the available intelligence indicating January 6th might turn violent.

  • How Jan. 6 Committee Staffers Have Filled in the Blanks

    According to Tucker Carlson, the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was not an attempted putsch but instead “mostly peaceful chaos.” Quinta Jurecic writes that the Fox News host’s revisionist take on Jan. 6 has so far received widespread condemnation, and that among the voices criticizing Carlson’s attempted rewriting of history have been staffers formerly on the Jan. 6 committee.

  • Political Division Prolongs the Immigration Crisis: Report

    The U.S. immigration system is slow and stymied by politics, but the border crisis represents an opportunity to address gaps in the American labor market, according to a new report.

  • Lawmakers: “Clean Reauthorization” of Surveillance Authorities a “Nonstarter”

    Key U.S. lawmakers are warning the country’s top intelligence officials that they could soon find themselves without a much-talked-about surveillance authority unless their agencies are able to prove they can be trusted.

  • Why Church Committee Alums Urged New House Panel to Avoid Partisanship

    The bipartisan Church Committee of the mid-1970s was created in the wake of New York Times stories on intelligence abuses by the CIA targeting American dissidents. It uncovered decades of intelligence and Civil Rights abuses by the FBI, CIA, and the NSA, and led to sweeping oversight reforms. House Republicans this month launched a House Judiciary subcommittee to look into the “weaponization” of the federal government. It would be a good idea to follow the bipartisan – and non-partisan — example of the Church Committee. 

  • The Weaponization of the Federal Government Has a Long History

    The House Republicans have created a “Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government,” which should be an occasion for revisiting a classic of that power-abusing genre, featuring its greatest star, Richard Nixon. There were others. Congress has the power, even the obligation, to unearth and eliminate government weaponization. But if the subcommittee abuses its power for partisan ends, it will merely be an example of the problem it’s supposed to solve.

  • Five Key House Republican Investigations

    As they assume their role as the majority party in the House, Republicans are vowing to forge ahead with long-promised investigations of the Biden administration. Republicans say that these investigations are not payback for the Democratic-led investigation of former President Donald Trump, but nothing more than exercising their oversight responsibility to hold the administration accountable.

  • U.S. Capitol Police Chief Highlights Improvements Capitol Security

    During the last two years, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) has been working around the clock to implement more than 100 significant improvements. “Today we are clearly better off than we were before the January 6 attack,” USCP chief says.

  • Content Moderation Sacrificed in Left-Right Deals on Tech Reform

    With time running out on the lame-duck Congress, tech reformers are pushing for votes on a package of bills that stalled over the summer. Three bills—the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), and the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA)—would write special competition rules for large tech companies in ways that could fundamentally change how tech platforms moderate content like hate speech, disinformation, and incitement to violence.

  • Analysts Don't Expect Significant Changes in Immigration Policy After the Midterms

    Despite the record influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and a shortage of workers in the United States, experts believe immigration policy will remain unchanged after the midterm elections.

  • At-Risk Communities to Invest in Disaster Mitigation Projects

    Bipartisan legislation to make permanent FEMA National Risk Index (NRI), an online tool that utilizes data to identify communities that are most vulnerable to natural disasters, has advanced in the Senate. The bill would require FEMA to use data from the NRI, or a similar tool, o designate the communities across the nation that are most in need of mitigation projects – and help them access federal funding and support to plan for mitigation and resilience projects.

  • Democrats Wand to Use Budget Proposal to Legalize Undocumented Immigrants

    Democrats will try to use the budget proposal – and the reconciliation process — to provide a direct pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants in America. The details of the measure have not yet been released, and passage is far from certain, as there are many political and procedural hurdles to overcome.

  • Why a Commission Should Investigate the U.S. Capitol Attack

    Far too little is known about how the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol happened. A bipartisan investigation should address this, to dispel falsehoods and to help prevent such an assault from happening again.