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A Russian Airline Bomb Plot? What We Know About the Polish PM's Accusations
The accusation was as blunt as it was serious: Russia is plotting terror attacks against unspecified targets utilizing aircraft, Poland’s prime minister said. Though shocking, the Polish leader’s comments were not out of the blue: there’s been a growing number of suspicious, alarming, and unexplained incidents in recent months.
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Reimagining Imaging at the Airport
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are collaborating on Advanced Imaging Technology to improve the passenger screening experience.
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FBI, DHS Warn of Likely Terrorist Attacks
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are warning that a copycat terrorist attack could occur similar to the New Year’s Day New Orleans attack.
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What Made the Los Angeles Wildfires So Monstrous
Powerful winds and extra-dry vegetation have fueled what may become the costliest wildfires on record. The longer-term challenge is better adapting Los Angeles, and the rest of California, to a future of ever-worsening droughts and wildfires. “People talk about adapting to the climate,” sys one expert. “We haven’t adapted to the climate we have, let alone the climate that’s coming.”
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What We Learned from Analyzing 10 Years of Shooting Data
A Trace series challenges what many people might think about gun violence in America. Here is one of the highlights: You’re more likely to be shot in the rural South than in big cities like Chicago.
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A Disaster Expert Explains Why the L.A. Fires Have Been So Catastrophic
As we’re seeing more and more disaster events, it raises questions about risk and whether insurers are going to keep insuring homes in the long run. Increasingly, it seems the answer is no.
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Mending Fences: Strengthening Homeland Defense through Integrated Civil-Military Air Surveillance
A 1953 advertisement for the U.S. Air Force’s civilian Ground Observer Corps described America’s air defenses as a “10 mile high fence full of holes.” Thane C. Clare argues that in the seventy years since then, not much has changed – and that the United States “is not currently prepared to face a growing number of national security threats and challenges, including from the air.”
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How Many People Were Killed by the Pandemic Surge in Shootings?
In a new analysis, The Trace figured out the number of people who might have lived if gun violence had remained at its 2019 level.
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Japanese Yakuza Leader Pleads Guilty to Nuclear Materials Trafficking
Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan, New York, the other day to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries.
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The Militia and the Mole
A wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover, climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell his family or friends. He penetrated a new generation of militia leaders, which included doctors and government attorneys. Experts say that militias could have a renaissance under Donald Trump. He sent ProPublica a massive trove of documents. The conversations that he secretly recorded give a unique, startling window into the militia movement.
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Islamic State Group-Inspired New Orleans Attack Revives Familiar Fears
Even before the shock from the deadly New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans could subside, early indications from the investigation pointed to a scenario U.S. law enforcement and security officials have long feared –a plot at least inspired by the Islamic State terror group.
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Vehicle-Ramming Attacks
Vehicle-ramming attacks have emerged as a significant terrorist tactic in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States. From the perpetrator’s perspective, ramming attacks have several advantages.
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Vehicles as a Terrorist Weapon: History of the Last 20 Years
The last twenty years have seen dozens of terrorist attacks in which the perpetrators used a vehicle as a weapon.
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Trump Has Promised to Build More Ships. He May Deport the Workers Who Help Make Them.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to increase the pace of U.S. military shipbuilding. But his pledge to also clamp down on immigration could make it hard for shipyards already facing workforce shortages.
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Cartels Turn to Social Media to Lure Americans into Human Smuggling as Texas Enforces Stricter Laws
Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year.
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.
The Surprising Reasons Floods and Other Disasters Are Deadlier at Night
It’s not just that it’s dark and people are asleep. Urban sprawl, confirmation bias, and other factors can play a role.
Why Flash Flood Warnings Will Continue to Go Unheeded
Experts say local education and community support are key to conveying risk.