-
Ukraine’s Drone Attack Offers Fearful Lessons for a Chinese Invasion Force
Ukraine’s massive drone strike against Russian air bases on 1 June should reverberate across all theaters of conflict. But there is one Western Pacific scenario where it could be very relevant indeed: a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
-
-
Ukraine’s Air Force Has Survived. Taiwan’s Almost Certainly Couldn’t
The Ukrainian air force went to war against invading Russian forces in February 2022 with just 125 combat aircraft concentrated at around a dozen large bases. Given Russia’s overwhelming deep-strike advantage, few observers expected the Ukrainian brigades to survive the first hours of the war. But they did survive. And 38 months later, they’re still surviving—and flying daily air-defense and strike sorties. It has been an incredible feat. Can the equally outgunned Taiwanese air force duplicate it? Almost certainly not.
-
-
Analysis of the IAEA’s Comprehensive Iran NPT Safeguards Report May 2025
The Trump administration’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran was a gift to Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, freeing Iran from that deal’s tight restrictions on developing nuclear weapons – a freedom which Iran has used to accelerate, unhindered, its rush toward the bomb. But Iran is still a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which bars member states from developing nuclear weapons. The recent IAEA report notes that Iran is in egregious violation of its NPT obligations, and that it has been engaging in an elaborate, ongoing cover-up of its nuclear weapons-related activities.
-
-
Golden Dome Dangers: An Arms Control Expert Explains How Trump’s Missile Defense Threatens to Make the U.S. Less Safe
President Donald Trump’s idea of a “Golden Dome” missile defense system carries a range of potential strategic dangers for the United States. Moreover, Trump’s goals for Golden Dome — protecting the U.S. from ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles, and missiles launched from space — are likely beyond reach.
-
-
Defending U.S. Military Bases Against Drones? A Recent Tabletop Exercise Explores How
In 2016, during coalition operations against the Islamic State, defense leaders started characterizing drones, especially small-unmanned aircraft systems, as a threat to U.S. military personnel and installations. Since then, drones have proliferated and increasingly threaten military personnel and bases, both at home and abroad.
-
-
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.”
-
-
Boulder Fire-Attack Suspect's Family in ICE Custody, Pending Deportation
The family members of the suspect in Sunday’s Colorado attack have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and could be deported as early as Tuesday evening.
-
-
Familiar Attempts to Justify and Downplay Antisemitic Violence Follow Latest Attack on Jewish Community
Reactions to the Boulder, Colorado attack followed a familiar pattern to the 21 May 2025 Washington, D.C. murder of a couple leaving an event for young Jewish. Many of the same anti-Zionist groups and influencers who celebrated or justified D.C. shooting suspect Elias Rodriguez’s actions reacted similarly to the Boulder attack. other extremists also responded with predictable antisemitism and conspiracy theories by claiming the attack was a “false flag” or blaming Jews.
-
-
Ukraine Drone Strikes on Russian Airbase Reveal Any Country Is Vulnerable to the Same Kind of Attack
Air defense systems are built on the assumption that threats come from above and from beyond national borders. But Ukraine’s coordinated drone strike on 1 June on five airbases deep inside Russian territory exposed what happens when states are attacked from below and from within. In low-level airspace, visibility drops, responsibility fragments, and detection tools lose their edge. Drones arrive unannounced, response times lag, coordination breaks.
-
-
From Hypersonic to Alliances: Russia’s Emerging Threats to U.S. and NATO Security
Russian innovations with short/medium-range hypersonic weapons present the main challenge to the United States.
-
-
How Do the Militaries of Russia and Ukraine Stack Up?
Russia holds a sizable advantage over Ukraine on troop numbers and weaponry yet the two sides have fought to a standstill. Russia this spring has ramped up attacks on civilian targets while resisting U.S. ceasefire calls.
-
-
“The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States
As President Donald Trump guts the main federal office dedicated to preventing terrorism, states say they’re left to take the lead in spotlighting threats. Some state efforts are robust, others are fledgling, and yet other states are still formalizing strategies for addressing extremism. With the federal government largely retreating from focusing on extremist dangers, prevention advocates say the threat of violent extremism is likely to increase.
-
-
Liverpool F.C.’s Victory Parade Was Disrupted by a Car Ramming. Why Do These Types of Attacks Happen?
The ramming at Sunday’s victory parade for the soccer team was one of several that have happened across the globe recently.
-
-
Jewish Community Faces Unprecedentedly High Threat Environment
Jewish communities in the U.S. and across the world are facing and environment of unprecedentedly high threats. Between July 2024 and May 2025, law enforcement has documented 15 terrorist plots or attacks targeting Jews, Zionists or Jewish institutions in the U.S.
-
-
Street-Level Violence Prevention Programs Have Been Decimated by Trump Just Ahead of Summer
Community-based violence intervention programs nationwide have long worked alongside law enforcement officers to deescalate conflict, prevent retaliatory shootings and, in some cases, arrive at crime scenes before police do. And a growing body of research has found a correlation between temperature spikes and violent crime.
-
The long view
AI-Controlled Fighter Jets May Be Closer Than We Think — and Would Change the Face of Warfare
Could we be on the verge of an era where fighter jets take flight without pilots – and are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI)? US R Adm Michael Donnelly recently said that an upcoming combat jet could be the navy’s last one with a pilot in the cockpit.
What We’ve Learned from Survivors of the Atomic Bombs
Q&A with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman, New Vice Chair for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
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.
Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”