• Ukraine: What Would a Russian Invasion Actually Look Like? These Are the Three Most Likely Scenarios

    Russia has been laying the ground for military action against Ukraine since 2014, when it seized Crimea and thereby gained a more substantial military foothold to the south. Meanwhile, the ongoing war in Ukraine’s Donbas region allowed Russian security and intelligence units to continue to gauge Ukrainian military and paramilitary operations. If military action does occur, there are three likely scenarios for how it would play out.

  • Russia Planning Post-Invasion Arrest and Assassination Campaign in Ukraine: U.S. Officials

    Russia has prepared a detailed list of prominent Ukrainian opponents of Russia ad anti-corruption activists, and of Belarusian and Russian dissidents living in exile in Ukraine, who would be hunted down and killed by Russian special forces should Russia move forward with plans to invade Ukraine.

  • Addressing the Challenges to U.S.-Russia Strategic Stability

    What are the origins of the current divergence in U.S. and Russian threat perceptions regarding preemption? What are the practical consequences of Russia’s threat perceptions for U.S. interests? Could changes to current policies address Russian concerns while delivering the benefits afforded the United States by the status quo? A new RAND study offers answers to these questions.

  • New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers

    Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.

  • Possible Russian Cyberattacks Could Reverberate Globally: U.S., Allies

    The United States and its Western allies are bracing for the possibility that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would have a ripple effect in cyberspace, even if Western entities are not initially the intended target.

  • New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers

    Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.

  • Hotter, Drier Nights Mean More Runaway Fires

    Thanks to the warming climate, the potential for more severe nighttime wildfires is increasing, and warmer nights mean firefighters will not be able to rely on cooler temperatures to help them get a handle on fires, a new study shows.

  • We Need Answers about the CIA’s Mass Surveillance

    The Central Intelligence Agency has been collecting American’s private data without any oversight or even the minimal legal safeguards that apply to the NSA and FBI, an unconstitutional affront to our civil liberties. The whos, whats, whys, and hows of this semi-disclosed CIA program are still unknown, and the public deserves the right to know exactly what damage has been done.

  • Users of Unmanned Aircraft Need to View Risk Mitigation More Holistically

    A recently published study has found that users of unmanned aircraft, also known as drones, need to take a more holistic approach to identifying and mitigating potential risks before undertaking a flight.

  • Chinese “Space Cleaner” Grabbing and Throwing Away Old Satellite

    A Chinese satellite was spotted in late January grabbing another long-dead satellite and days later throwing it into a “graveyard” orbit 300 km away, where objects are less likely to hit spacecraft. There’s nothing wrong with throwing out the trash — many other countries have launched or are currently developing technologies to clear space junk. However, despite the seeming ubiquity of efforts to develop and implement space junk disposal technology, some U.S. officials have expressed worry over Chinese trash disposal satellites.

  • Identifying “Double-Hazard” Zones for Wildfire in the West

    Rapidly growing communities in the American West’s forests and shrublands are nestled in zones where local soil and plant traits amplify the effect of climate change on wildfire hazards and lead to bigger burns.

  • U.S. Army Releases Its Climate Strategy

    The U.S. Army announces the release of its first Climate Strategy that guides decision making in response to threats from climate that affect installation and unit sustainability, readiness, and resilience. The strategy directs how the Army will maintain its strategic advantage through deliberate efforts to reduce future climate impacts and risks to readiness and national security.

  • Broad, and Likely Unauthorized, Use of Pegasus Spyware by Israel's Police Shocks Israel

    Since 2015, Israel’s police has employed the intrusive Pegasus spyware to spy on businesspeople, journalists and editors, senior managers of government ministries and agencies, leaders of protest movements, and more – and it appears that in many, if not most, of these cases, the spying was done without judicial approval or after judges were misled by the police about the nature of the monitoring technology. The Pegasus software has been used by authoritarian governments around the world to spy on political opponents, human rights activist, journalists – and in at least one case, to spy on U.S. diplomats. The U.S. has blacklisted the Israeli company NSO, Pegasus maker, and American companies are not allowed to sell their technology to NSO or do business with it

  • Energy Weapon Only 'Plausible' Explanation for Some Cases of Havana Syndrome

    U.S. intelligence agencies may have ruled out the idea that a rash of mysterious illnesses plaguing American diplomats and other officials is part of a sustained campaign by one of Washington’s adversaries, but they now say that in a small number of cases the only likely explanation is the use of some sort of weapon.

  • Experts Suggest U.S. Embassies Were Hit with High-Power Microwaves – Here’s How the Weapons Work

    The technology behind the suspected weapons is well understood and dates back to the Cold War arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. High-power microwave weapons are generally designed to disable electronic equipment. But as the Havana syndrome reports show, these pulses of energy can harm people, as well.