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Golden Dome's $185 Billion Price Tag Faces Uncertain Funding
The general leading President Donald Trump’s ambitious Golden Dome missile shield said a key part of the program, with uncertain costs, could be scrapped in favor of lower-cost options as lawmakers turn their focus to the president’s proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for 2027.
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U.S. Government Ramps Up Mass Surveillance with Help of AI Tech, Data Brokers – and Your Apps and Devices
To understand the issues, it is critical to know how these technologies function, who collects what data about you, how that data can be used against you, and why the laws you might think are protecting your data do not apply or are ignored.
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ICE’s Heavy‑Handed Immigration Enforcement Was Tried Once Before – by Arizona’s Notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the Early 2000s
From 2006 to 2017, Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, implemented his own immigration detention program, instructing deputies to detain anyone who did not carry a valid identification and did not speak English. One U.S. Department of Justice attorney characterized Arpaio as overseeing “the worst pattern of racial profiling by a law enforcement agency in U.S. history.”
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Schmidt v. City of Norfolk Brief: Automated License Plate Readers Commit Fourth Amendment Searches
Norfolk, Virginia, has deployed nearly 200 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) across the city, capturing every passing vehicle’s location, time, and identifying details—and storing that data for weeks. Now, two residents are suing.
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This Law May Help Prevent Mass Shootings, but GOP-Led States Are Trying to Ban It
Red flag laws once enjoyed support from across the political spectrum. Now, six Republican-controlled states have prohibited enforcing the orders — and in some cases, prescribed fines or criminal charges for officials who try. Three other states are considering similar bans in 2026.
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War at the Speed of Light: The Emerging Role of Directed-Energy Weapons
For decades, notions of laser weapons have been the stuff of science fiction. Now they are becoming military reality, as directed-energy weapons, including high-energy lasers and high-power microwave weapons, open new approaches to counter swarms of cheap drones.
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Bogus “Antifa” Designations and FBI Warrantless Access to Americans’ Communications
FISA Section 702’s “Back Door,” allowing access to Americans’ communications, is ripe for abuse especially in the context of the administration’s campaign to paint “antifa” as an international and domestic terrorist threat. Because it is amorphous and untethered to the facts, the “antifa” label creates a framework for bringing peaceful civil society organizations and everyday Americans exercising their right to protest into the Section 702 surveillance net.
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Sandia Accelerates AI Innovation for Nuclear Deterrence
Not taking a risk is a risk. That’s one message from a two-day summit at Sandia focused on artificial intelligence that emphasized its value for nuclear deterrence.
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The Unravelling of the Global Nuclear Order
While the NPT is experiencing a credibility crisis, the future of the CTBT hangs in the balance. The expiry of the New START on 5 February 2026 marked the end of the arms control era. The nuclear taboo regarding the non-use of nuclear weapons is fast diminishing due to explicit nuclear threats by world leaders. The infusion of AI into nuclear decision-making, meanwhile, is likely to affect strategic stability.
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The U.S. Is Pushing Southeast Asia Toward China. The Iran War Made It Worse.
There is a growing anxiety among U.S. allies in Southeast Asia about inconsistencies in U.S. policy and the credibility of long-term commitments under Trump’s leadership. A new survey of Southeast Asian opinion leaders shows they prefer China to the United States as a partner, while the region’s biggest geopolitical concern is U.S. global leadership.
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Study of Tommy Robinson's Social Media Reveals How Online Influencers Mobilize Supporters without Direct Calls to Action
Analysis shows how influencers shape public behavior and legitimize violence through narratives, not instructions. Far-right extremist Tommy Robinson “used emotional appeals and conspiracy narratives to set up a worldview where violence felt like a natural, even necessary response,” says one researcher.
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How Iran Can Stop Shipping with Mines – in the Strait, the Whole Gulf, and Even the Red Sea
Mine warfare doesn’t need to sink ships to succeed. It works by imposing unacceptable risk. Sea mines offer distinct advantages as a maritime weapon. They require little training or specialist support. They are easy to deploy. And they can be laid without direct combat interaction with an adversary, remaining dormant until activated by a passing vessel. These characteristics make mines the most cost-effective weapons available to a weaker and outmatched force.
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How Sea Mines Threaten Global Trade, and How Navies Detect Them
Artificial intelligence techniques, such as machine learning, can help navies detect modern sea mines. Here’s what I’ve learned about how the mines work and how they can be neutralized.
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New York City’s Spike in 3D-Printed Guns Prompts Push for Tougher Laws
Police in the nation’s biggest city are recovering a growing number of 3D-printed guns. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is advocating legislation that would make 3D-printing guns a crime.
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Researchers Advance Critical Materials Recycling Technologies
The U.S. has deposits of nearly all critical materials, but mining capabilities cannot meet the nation’s growing demand. Most extraction and processing are done overseas, much of it in China. This reliance on foreign critical materials risks supply disruptions that could affect U.S. national security, economic growth and everyday life.
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The long view
The Drone Threat to America’s Cities
Drones are coming for our cities. The tech is cheap, the threat is real, and our defenses are nearly nonexistent. To avoid that ugly reality, we need to come up with better ideas, and we need them fast. Because ready or not, the drones are coming.
Remotely Coerced Violence: 764, The Com Network, and the Hybridization of Threats
Nihilistic violent extremism is best understood as a victim-driven, youth-centered online ecosystem in which status, belonging, and identity are earned through the production, circulation, and escalation of harm. It combine sadistic online exploitation, cybercrime, self-directed violence, animal abuse, school-violence threats, and terrorist or violent-extremist conduct.
The U.S. Murder Rate Fell to Historic Lows in 2025 – Here’s Why
The murder rate in 2025 was the lowest in modern American history. Homicide rates have closely followed three trends over the past decade: alcohol consumption, drug abuse and firearm purchases. Now that the drug and alcohol crises are waning and gun purchases are falling, so too is the murder rate.
Combat Experience as a Strategic Resource: Lessons of the Red Army Purges
Since January 2025, the Defense Department has removed, replaced, or forced the early retirement of a remarkable concentration of operationally experienced senior officers. What is the impact of these removals on combat effectiveness, which is Secretary Hegseth’s own widely shared standard? I believe the impact is negative. In fact, the impact of those decisions on combat effectiveness constitutes a strategic liability of the Defense Department’s own making – the depletion of a vital resource central to the Secretary’s sought-after lethality.