• The Strategic Choices Ukrainian, Russian Military Leaders Are Facing in the Donbas

    With the war in Ukraine in its seventh week and Moscow pressing its campaign more forcefully in the east and south, fighting could become more brutal as the guerrilla-style tactics Ukrainians used around Kyiv to repel Russian forces shift to a more conventional battle of military might. Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King’s College London and author of The Future Of War, explains what this new stage of the conflict will look like.

  • The Battle for Donbas Will Be Protracted and Bloody

    For eight years, Russia and Ukraine have fought in the Donbas region, with Russian regular army elements supplementing separatist units. Now, after defeat in Kyiv, Russian forces are redeploying there to take on Ukraine’s best and most experienced units. The battles to come will resemble more the maneuver battles of the second world war than those fought around the cities of Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy in the six weeks the war has raged so far. Nonetheless, the Russians are unlikely to prevail.

  • Google Fights Dragnet Warrant for Users’ Search Histories Overseas, but It Is Continuing to Give Data to Police in the U.S.

    Google is fighting back against a Brazilian court order to turn over data on all users who searched for specific terms, including the name of a well-known elected official and a busy downtown thoroughfare. Google should be applauded for challenging this digital dragnet search in Brazil, but the company must also stand up for the rights of its users against similar searches in the U.S. and elsewhere.

  • Another Problem for Russia in Ukraine: Effective Satellites Are Few and Far Between

    The Russian forces have faced many problems in Ukraine. A big item on the list of problems: satellites — there are too few of them, and too few with high-quality capabilities. According to experts and open-source information, Russia has long been saddled with a small and inadequate fleet of communications and surveillance satellites that in many cases rely on either outdated technology or imported parts that are now harder to come by due to Western sanctions.

  • Why the War in Ukraine Poses a Greater Nuclear Risk than the Cuban Missile Crisis

    There has been a considerable debate of the risk of nuclear escalation growing from the current Russian war in Ukraine. Some dismiss the concern about a possible Russian first use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but Lawrence Korb and Stephen Cimbala write that “[d]ismissing Putin’s nuclear saber rattling as a ploy to manipulate NATO and world opinion, however, would be a mistake. The likelihood of a deliberate or miscalculated escalation to nuclear first use is now as great, or greater, than it was during the fateful Cuban missile crisis of 1962.”

  • Entering Dangerous, Uncharted Waters: Iran’s 60% Highly Enriched Uranium

    As soon as mid-to-late April, Iran is expected to reach a new dangerous, destabilizing threshold, having enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) — about 40-42 kilograms (kg) of 60 percent enriched uranium (uranium mass) — to fashion a nuclear explosive.

  • Risks of a Dirty Bomb Attack Are Increasing

    In a new factsheet, the GAO says that the risks of a dirty bomb attack are increasing and the consequences could be devastating.

  • New Wildfire Detection System Receives Funding Boost

    The high intensity of the recent fire seasons in Oregon, coupled with the increasing wildfire risk this year as approximately three-quarters of the state is now in severe drought conditions, has highlighted how critical a new project, aiming to help with the early detection and monitoring of wildfires, is — both for firefighters and the general public.

  • Iran Vows to Continue Nuclear Activities

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran will continue nuclear development activities as talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers remain stalled. The nuclear deal collapsed four years ago when former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, allowing Iran to vastly expanded its nuclear work.

  • The Future of 5G+ Infrastructure Could Be Built Tile by Tile

    Currently 5G+ technologies rely on large antenna arrays that are typically bulky and come only in very limited sizes, making them difficult to transport and expensive to customize. Researchers have developed a novel and flexible solution to address the problem. Their additively manufactured tile-based approach can construct on-demand, massively scalable arrays of 5G+‐enabled smart skins with the potential to enable intelligence on nearly any surface or object.

  • How Ukraine Has Defended Itself Against Cyberattacks – Lessons for the U.S.

    In 2014, as Russia launched a proxy war in Eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea, and in the years that followed, Russian hackers hammered Ukraine. The cyberattacks went so far as to knock out the power grid in parts of the country in 2015. Russian hackers stepped up their efforts against Ukraine in the run-up to the 2022 invasion, but with notably different results. Those differences hold lessons for U.S. national cyber defense.

  • Curbing Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

    The Ukrainian city of Mariupol is one of the latest examples of a populated area that has been turned to rubble by the relentless use of heavy explosive weapons. Destroyed cities and towns in Yemen, Ethiopia, and Syria, among others, provide other examples. An international agreement under negotiation at the United Nations this week seeks to reduce harm to civilians by curbing the use of heavy explosive weapons in cities, towns and villages.

  • Californians Living with Handgun Owners More Than Twice as Likely to Die by Homicide

    Californians who didn’t own handguns but lived with handgun owners were more than twice as likely to die by homicide compared with those living in gunfree homes.

  • Tactical Tunneling to Help Military Operations, Rescue Missions

    New tactical tunneling technologies show the feasibility of rapidly constructing tactical tunnel networks that enable secure, responsive resupply in denied environments. These networks could provide infrastructure for logistics support, such as pre-positioning supplies in advance of an operation or providing ongoing resupply as troops move through a contested area. The ability to rapidly bore tactical tunnels could also be helpful in rescue missions.

  • Cyberattacks Have Yet to Play a Significant Role in Russia’s Battlefield Operations in Ukraine – Cyberwarfare Experts Explain the Likely Reasons

    Since the latter half of 2021 analysts offered contrasting predictions about the role cyberspace would play in an armed conflict. These predictions capture an ongoing debate about whether conflict in cyberspace is destined to supplant conventional conflict or exacerbate it. As the war has evolved, it’s clear that analysts on both sides of the debate got it wrong.