• What We Know About Mass School Shootings in the U.S. – and the Gunmen Who Carry Them Out

    Most school shooters are motivated by a generalized anger. Their path to violence involves self-hate and despair turned outward at the world, and our research finds they often communicate their intent to do harm in advance as a final, desperate cry for help. The key to stopping these tragedies is for society to be alert to these warning signs and act on them immediately.

  • The Meaning of Biden’s Big Shift on Taiwan

    The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) does not obligate the United States to directly intervene on Taiwan’s behalf. Instead, for four decades Washington has maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity,” leaving unanswered the question of whether it would defend Taiwan. In moving away from strategic ambiguity, Biden made a long overdue adjustment to U.S. policy.

  • Is Russia Using Laser Weapon in Ukraine

    Last Wednesday, a top Kremlin official said that Russia has deployed an advanced laser weapons system in combat in Ukraine. Laser weapons, if they are usable, could help Moscow against one of its main menaces in Ukraine: Drones. Several countries, including Russia, have been working on developing laser weapons, but experts say it is not clear whether Russia’s R&D efforts have so far yielded an operational weapon.

  • U.S. 'Active Shooter' Incidents Surged in 2021: FBI

    The FBI defines an active shooter as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” Amass shooting is typically defined as a shooting that involves four or more victims and can take place in public or private spaces. There were 61 “active shooter” incidents in the United States last year, an increase of more than 50% from 2020 and more than twice as many as five years ago, the FBI reported.

  • Buffalo Attack Footage Spread Quickly Across Platforms, Has Been Online for Days

    The livestream of the accused Buffalo shooter’s deadly attack at a Buffalo supermarket was available briefly via Twitch, but the footage spread quickly across online platforms, and remains online for public consumption.

  • Next-Generation Search & Rescue: Body Cameras, Live Streaming

    Typically, search and rescue teams in the wilderness use radio, in-person briefings, text messaging, drones and paper forms to communicate and coordinate their efforts. New digital tools have the potential to revolutionize wilderness search and rescue efforts.

  • Local, Temporary 5G Network to Help Fight Forest Fires

    When it comes to activities such as fighting forest fires, monitoring construction sites or providing multimedia services at sports and other mass events, a reliable, secure 5G campus network is often needed locally and temporarily to ensure maximum network coverage on the entire site.

  • Codifying Support for Nuclear Inspections in Iran

    The main obstacle for a new nuclear deal with Iran is Iran’s disregard of its safeguards commitments and defiance of standard International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) procedures are more problematic for a nuclear deal. Resolving those outstanding inspection issues offers a far more promising pathway to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons in the long run.

  • DOJ Steps Up Hate Crime Prosecutions

    DOJ says that with hate crimes on the rise, U.S. federal prosecutors have charged more than 40 people with bias-motivated crimes since January 2021, obtaining over 35 convictions.

  • The Buffalo Shooting Suspect Once Threatened a Mass Shooting. Why Wasn’t He Disarmed?

    The Buffalo mass shooter was taken into custody by police last June after he threatened to carry out a shooting at his Western New York high school. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and released a couple of days later. None of that prevented him from buying a gun, or keeping the ones he already owned. New York has a red flag law, but it wasn’t invoked.

  • Accused Buffalo Mass Shooter Had Threatened a Shooting While in High School. Could More Have Been Done to Avert the Tragedy?

    There is a $3 billion industry in U.S. school safety focused almost entirely on hardening schools with active shooter drills, metal detectors and armed security. In recent years, however, behavioral threat assessment teams – teams in schools that get troubled people help before they turn to violence – have been touted as key to bridging the gap between hard security and soft prevention.

  • European Academics Helping China's Military

    European researchers have cooperated with China’s National University of Defense Technology (NUDT). The NUDT’s purpose is to “Strengthen the Armed Forces and the Nation.” An investigation by 10 European news outlets has found nearly 3,000 scientific publications by researchers affiliated with European universities and their counterparts at military-linked institutions in China — most notably the NUDT.

  • A Quest for Significance Gone Horribly Wrong – How Mass Shooters Pervert a Universal Desire to Make a Difference in the World

    There is a mental and psychological dimension to the problem of mass shooting, to be sure, but it is not illness or pathology. It is the universal human quest for significance and respect – the mother, I believe, of all social motives.

  • Computer Code to Speed Up Airport Security

    Imagine moving through airport security without having to take off your shoes or belt or getting pulled aside. Researchers are working on the Open Threat Assessment Platform, which allows the Transportation Security Administration to respond more quickly and easily to threats to air travel safety.

  • SWAT Team Members as Amateur Inventors Who Make a Difference

    SWAT teams routinely enter dangerous situations where they need to make difficult, potentially life-and-death decisions. Such challenging circumstances present opportunities for innovation, and these first responders are often amateur inventors as well.