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“Backlash Effect”: Why the Middle East Conflict Triggers Hate Crimes in the U.S.
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, a wave of antisemitism and Islamophobia has swept across the United States, putting American Jewish and Muslim communities on edge. There has been a staggering 312 cases of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault during the first two weeks of the war, a nearly five-fold increase from the same period last year.
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Hunt for Answers Continues Over Chinese Ship's Suspected Role In Damaging Baltic Pipeline
A Chinese ship suspected of damaging an underwater gas pipeline and two telecom cables in the Baltic Sea is returning to China through the Russian Arctic as Finnish investigators continue to search for answers about the vessel’s role in the incident.
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Options for Strengthening South Korea’s Nuclear Assurance
What are the major nuclear weapon threats to ROK security? What policy and strategy options might strengthen ROK nuclear assurance? What nuclear employment planning and execution options might strengthen ROK nuclear assurance? What nuclear weapon force options might strengthen ROK nuclear assurance? How can they be designed to minimize political difficulties with the ROK and with ROK neighbors?
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Al-Aqsa Storm Heralds the Rise of Non-state Special Operations
The surprise, brutal 7 October attack by Hamas has sent shockwaves around the world. Israel’s surprise was deeper than a combined intelligence and operational surprise. Leo Blanken, Ian Rice, and Craig Whiteside write that “It was failure of imagination.” What Israel missed “is the growing democratization of technology, which is rapidly providing new and dangerous capabilities to non-state actors.”
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Pioneering the Study of Mass Murder
It is because of Fox’s daily efforts to scour and synthesize police and media reports that we know 2,944 people have died in 567 mass killings in the U.S. since 2006. And that was before a man shot and killed at least 18 people at a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine.
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What the Israel Defense Forces Can Expect When It Enters the ‘Gaza Metro’ Tunnel System
Israel’s military commanders will know that this is unlikely to be a simple operation. Among the factors complicating their mission of eliminating Hamas is the “Gaza Metro”, a vast network of interconnected tunnels within the region. Having invested heavily in subterranean infrastructure over the years, Hamas is counting on this network to aid its survival in the coming weeks. These tunnels are defended, booby-trapped and likely to be populated with human shields and hostages as well as fighters, they will be challenging for even a well-equipped and capable attacking force.
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Monitoring Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles with Radio Waves
Monitoring whether states are complying with disarmament treaties is not an easy task. An international team has been exploring remote monitoring with the help of two antennas and a couple of mirrors.
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As Philadelphia Struggles to Hire Cops, More Businesses Are Turning to Private Armed Guards
In Philadelphia, armed guards are summoned to stand sentinel in places where they’ve rarely — if ever — been before. Concern about homicides is also contributing to the rise of private security. But there are questions about limited training and regulation.
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U.S. Hurtles Toward New Record for Mass Shootings
So far in 2023 there have been more than 565 mass shootings, which the FBI defines as incidents in which at least four people are shot or killed. Gun-related incidents take the lives of 120 people a day in the nation and is the No. 1 cause of death of children. ATF director cites advances in gun technology, lack of restrictions on access, says change will come when Americans demand it.
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Colorado Prisons Vulnerable to Natural Disasters but May Be Ill-Prepared
Three-quarters of Colorado prisons are likely to experience a natural disaster in the coming years, but due to aging infrastructure and outdated policies, many are ill-equipped to keep residents safe.
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Antisemitism Has Moved from the Right to the Left in the U.S. − and Falls Back on Long-Standing Stereotypes
Traditionally, antisemitism in the United States was promoted by far-right organizations and movements which focused on propagating traditional antisemitic narratives alleging Jews’ racial inferiority, their control of the financial sector, and their role in global cabals aiming to undermine America and Western civilization. In the last thirty years, however, the ideology underlying antisemitism in the U.S. has come to encompass both sides of the political spectrum. Progressive and left-leaning movements that are critical of Israel’s policies, especially with regard to the Palestinian population, have become linked to antisemitic practices, too.
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AI Bots Are Helping 911 Dispatchers with Their Workload
In the middle of a storm, 911 call centers often find themselves inundated with reports of fallen trees, flooded roads and panicked residents. Every call matters, but with multiple reports of the same incident pouring in, the pressure on emergency services can become overwhelming. Amid the chaos, a technological ally has emerged: artificial intelligence. AI is quietly revolutionizing non-emergency calls in 911 dispatch centers.
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Threats to U.S. Jewish, Arab, Muslim Communities on the Rise: DHS, FBI
Hostilities in the Middle East are reverberating in the United States, where homeland security and law enforcement officials are tracking a steady increase in threats to Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities. CBP warned that operatives with links to three U.S.-designated terrorist organizations — Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah — might try to enter the U.S. along its southern border.
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Working with Banks Around the World to Prevent Weapons Proliferation
Most banks have no interest in facilitating a risky weapons sale or contributing to instability in the global landscape. But most are either unaware of the issue or do not know how to address it. Through live and virtual events, the financial sector is learning how to avoid inadvertently facilitating illicit weapons trade.
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“Surveillance: From Vision to Data” Explores History of Surveillance
The term surveillance may suggest images of high-tech cameras or George Orwell’s ever-watching Big Brother, but surveillance involves more than watching and being watched. To understand surveillance and its consequences, look to data: who collects it, what information is compiled, how it is interpreted, and ultimately, why it matters.
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More headlines
The long view
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.