• QUICK TAKES // By Ben FrankelTargeting Nuclear Scientists

    The killing of Iranian nuclear scientists has been an integral part of Israel’s campaign, stretching back more than two decades, to disrupt and derail Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The 14 Iranian scientists killed on and since 13 June were all leading members of the Iran’s nuclear weaponization group.

  • CLOAK & DAGGERNuclear Scientists  Have Long Been Targets in Covert Ops – Israel Has Brought That Policy Out of the Shadows

    By Jenna Jordan and Rachel Whitlark

    Since 1944, there have been at least 100 instances of what researchers call nuclear “scientist targeting.” The most recent example are the 14 senior Iranian nuclear scientists Israel killed on 13 June as part of the opening move of its surprise attack on Iran, in which Israel has also decapitated the Iranian military, intelligence services, and Revolutionary Guard by killing practically all of these organizations’ leaders and senior officers – several dozen in all. In the week since the attack was launched, Israel has killed three more Iranian nuclear scientists.

  • SECRET SERVICESThe Shadow Architects of Power

    By Leda Zimmerman

    Intelligence agencies in authoritarian regimes have distinct foreign policy preferences and actively work to advance them. MIT Ph.D. candidate Suzanne Freeman reveals how these intelligence agencies do it.

  • SECRET SERVICESThe Hole in Canada’s Intelligence System Is ASIS-shaped

    By Linus Cohen

    A hardy perennial in Ottawa politics is whether Canada should create a foreign intelligence service equivalent to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6).

  • ESPIONAGEHow Digital Identities Challenge Traditional Espionage

    By Kyle McCurdy

    It used to be so simple. An intelligence officer could fly to a country, change passports and, with a false identity, emerge as a completely different person. But those days are long since over.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHEurope’s Moment of Truth: A Democracy Shield for Today and Tomorrow

    Democracy in Europe is under growing pressure. Authoritarian regimes like Russia and the People’s Republic of China are conducting increasingly sophisticated foreign interference campaigns. Internally, illiberal actors – who are often the beneficiaries of this foreign interference — are eroding the rule of law and civic freedoms as democratic norms deteriorate in the EU’s immediate neighborhood. The EU’s European Democracy Shield, announced in 2024 and expected in 2025, aims to counter these threats to democracy.

  • ACADEMIC ENTANGLEMENTSA British University’s Technology Entanglements with Russia and China

    By Bethany Allen, Danielle Cave, and Adam Ziogas

    A major British research university’s joint venture campus in China maintains partnerships and close links with entities sanctioned by Britain, the US, EU and others for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and assisting China’s military modernization and human rights violations. The links to sanctions highlight the risks posed by foreign science, technology and academic partnerships in China in a period of heightened geopolitical rivalry, intensifying technological competition and deepening China-Russia cooperation.

  • HARDWARE SECURITYCircuit Boards Must Be Trusted. So We’d Better Make Them in Australia

    While national security debates have focused on chips and microelectronics, the role of printed circuit board (PCBs) in underpinning system trust has gone largely unexamined. In today’s contested environment, that carries strategic consequences.

  • CHINA WATCHIt’s Not Just Software. Physical Critical Equipment Can’t Be Trusted, Either

    By Jason Van der Schyff

    Just auditing the software in critical equipment isn’t enough. We must assume that adversaries, especially China, will also exploit the hardware if they can.

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHRomania at the Crossroads as Europe Watches On

    By Alexandru Damian

    George Simion and Nicușor Dan will contest the second round of Romania’s presidential election on 18 May. The election could have profound implications for both Romania and Europe.

  • ARGUMENT: TACKLING ELECTION INTERFERENCERomania, Foreign Election Interference, and a Dangerous U.S. Retreat

    The Romanian election is but one example of recent foreign election interference incidents. The Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election led Congress, on bipartisan basis, and the relevant agencies in the executive branch, to make many changes to address this threat, but under the new administration, “the U.S. is now moving full steam ahead to completely destroy its defenses against that threat,” Katie Kedian writes. All of the positive U.S. government developments “have been dismantled or severely downgraded,” leaving “the U.S. public less informed and less safe from foreign interference.”

  • TECHNOLOGY & CONFLICTMemes and Conflict: Study Shows Surge of Imagery and Fakes Can Precede International and Political Violence

    By Tim Weninger and Ernesto Verdeja

    The widespread use of social media during times of political trouble and violence has made it harder to prevent conflict and build peace.

  • THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONWhat Happened to Putin’s Friends? How Europe’s Radical Right Navigated the Ukraine Crisis on Social Media

    By Chendi Wang and Argyrios Altiparmakis

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created a dilemma for European radical right parties: these parties had cultivated friendly ties with Vladimir Putin. An analysis of a decade of Facebook posts reveals how these parties strategically managed their communications to avoid the political fallout while maintaining their Eurosceptic agenda.

  • CYBERSECURITYTrump Is Shifting Cybersecurity to the States, but Many Aren’t Prepared

    By Madyson Fitzgerald

    President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order which substantially reduced the role of the federal government in securing elections, health care, and critical infrastructure against cyberattacks by state actors and cybercriminals. The responsibility of for protection has been shifyed to states and localities, but only 22 of 48 states in a Nationwide Cybersecurity Review met recommended security levels. Moreover, Trump’s funding cuts will make it more difficult for states to bolster their cyber defenses.

  • DATA PROTECTIONProtecting Americans’ Sensitive Data from Foreign Adversaries

    Last week DOJ took steps to move forward with implementing a program to prevent China, Russia, Iran, and other foreign adversaries from using commercial activities to access and exploit U.S. government-related data and Americans’ sensitive personal data to commit espionage and economic espionage, conduct surveillance and counterintelligence activities, and otherwise undermine our national security.