• Violent Extremists Are Not Lone Wolves – Dispelling This Myth Could Help Reduce Violence

    After decades of research on numerous attacks that have left scores dead, we have learned that extremists are almost always part of a pack, not lone wolves. But the myth of the lone wolf shooter remains tenacious, reappearing in media coverage after almost every mass shooting or act of far-right extremist violence. Because this myth misdirects people from the actual causes of extremist violence, it impedes society’s ability to prevent attacks.

  • 2023 Border Security & Intelligence Summit

    Defense Strategies Institute announced its 11th Annual Border Security & Intelligence Summit. This forum will bring together DHS, IC, Federal Agencies, and Industry to discuss the protection of U.S borders through enhanced technology and intelligence solutions.

  • The Most Advanced Bay Area Earthquake Simulations to Be Publicly Available

    Accurately modeling the effects of an earthquake is possible, but it requires intricate physics-based models that can only be run on advanced supercomputers. The data from such models are invaluable for the earthquake research community and engineers seeking to build and retrofit earthquake-resilient homes, businesses, and infrastructure. Supercomputer-generated simulations will soon be accessible on an open-access website.

  • Next-Generation Storm Forecasting Project Aims to Save Lives

    Severe storms have greatly impacted the Southeastern United States over the years. A key to dealing with storms and minimizing their severity is early forecasting and detection.

  • China’s Militarization of Meteorological Balloons

    Beijing’s spy balloon is a clear example of an emerging technology developed for military and intelligence operations but that crucially evolved out of civilian and scientific programs. China’s balloon-technology programs contain sober lessons about Beijing’s incremental acquisition of foreign intellectual property and its technology partnerships with Western research institutions.

  • Spy Balloon Reveals China’s ‘Near Space’ Military Program

    Chinese spy balloon drifting across the United States this month was a demonstration of a little-noticed program which has been discussed in China’s state-controlled media for more than a decade in articles extolling its potential military applications.

  • One Year After: How Putin Got Germany Wrong

    Vladimir Putin has made many strategic mistakes, but one misjudgment stands out: Germany. Putin considered Germany too dependent on Russian energy, too weak militarily, and too business-minded to mount any significant resistance to his war. He was wrong. Germany, once dangerously dependent on Russian energy, has defied Russian expectations in its reaction to war in Ukraine.

  • South Korea: Support for Nukes Is on the Rise

    Over three-quarters of South Koreans believe a nuclear deterrent offers the best defense for their country amid growing security threats from North Korea and China.

  • Why Did So Many Get the Ukraine Invasion Predictions So Wrong?

    As the drumbeat of war grew louder in the months before February 24, 2022, many Western intelligence officers, military analysts, and political scientists believed Russia would not invade. Wrong. They also looked hard at what was known about Russia’s modernized, reformed, and well-financed armed forces — and many believed that if Russia invaded, Ukraine’s military would be routed. Wrong again.

  • Winners and Losers in the Russia–Ukraine Cyberwar

    Much of the focus has been on the kinetic war in Ukraine, but the cyber conflict has also continued unabated with both sides engaged in a variety of maneuvers, from attacks on critical infrastructure to spreading misinformation. Along the way, a number of existing preconceptions about cyber conflict in an active war scenario have been upended —chief among them was the expectation that cyber attacks would play a decisive part in the conflict and that Russia would dominate in this domain.

  • Breakthrough Alert Messaging for a Mobile Public

    It is in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) that the danger and damage from the growing risk of wildfires is most prevalent. Of paramount importance is alerting people in the path of fires and enabling their safe evacuation from the area.

  • Train Cars Which Derailed in Ohio Were Labeled Non-Hazardous

    Nearly two weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio, questions still linger about the lasting effects of the incident and the speed at which residents were returned to their homes. What we do know is that the train cars were marked as non-hazardous, and thus officials weren’t notified that the train would be crossing through the state.

  • Bruen Decision Takes Gun Law Back to a Time Before ‘Domestic Violence’

    The Supreme Court introduced a historical test that is upending gun laws across the country. The most recent policy to fall: a ban for subjects of restraining orders.

  • Stoking Wildfire Resilience in Oregon

    Monitoring allows all the moving pieces of an emergency response to launch into action and for decision makers to have as much time as possible to assess and mitigate the threat. This is certainly true when it comes to wildfires. S&T is piloting smoke detection sensors ahead of the 2023 wildfire season.

  • Michigan State Murders: What We Know About Campus Shootings and the Gunmen Who Carry Them Out

    A gunman opened fire at Michigan State University on Feb. 13, 2023, killing three people and injuring five others before taking his own life. There have been nine mass shootings in or around college or university settings since 1966, according to The Violence Project database, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are murdered in public in a single incident. This would not include the Michigan State University shooting at this stage, or many other incidents in which fewer people than four were killed. It also doesn’t include the 1970 Kent State massacre in which four students were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard. In all the campus mass shootings in the database, the gunman was a man, with an average age of 28. The youngest was 22 and the oldest was 43. Six of the nine perpetrators were nonwhite.