• From Wadham to GCHQ and Back: Robert Hannigan on Cybercrime, Spying and the AI Tsunami Coming Our Way

    Is the much-vaunted cyber-Armageddon likely or even possible? One experts says that “‘State cyber threats do get overplayed. They can’t do everything and countries over-estimate their cyber capabilities – just as they over estimate their military capability.” The expert  insists, however, that “The challenges are ‘moving very fast’, as potential attackers learn fast.”

  • That Was the Coup That Was

    This was a mutiny more than a coup or an insurrection, but possibly to Prigozhin’s surprise and certainly Putin’s alarm, it almost turned into something more. Putin faces a cruel dilemma: He cares about his survival, whether from Covid or coups. The unintended consequences of the Ukraine war are now threatening his regime. Any suggestion that he wants to get out of the war will aggravate the image of weakness; sticking with the war regardless of losses will aggravate his actual weaknesses. 

  • Two Days in June: Echoes of the Past

    The Prigozhin affair is reminiscent of events three decades ago. Thirty years ago, disgruntled members of the Russian military, intelligence services, and police organizations attempted to topple Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, and Boris Yeltsin, who was the president of the Russian Federation. The attempted coup lasted three days, from 19 to 22 August 1991.

  • Declassified U.S. Intelligence Answers Few Questions on Origins of COVID-19

    On Friday, the U.S. intelligence community released declassified U.S. intelligence on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, following a March executive order signed by President Joe Biden. The report said that despite concerns about biosafety measures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and despite its history of work with coronaviruses, there is no intelligence that indicates COVID-19 was present in the lab before the outbreak.

  • Can Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin Challenge Putin?

    The owner of the Wagner private military contractor and leader of a massive internet troll farm has called for an armed rebellion to oust Russia’s defense minister. But is he a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin?

  • Three Convicted for Helping China to Repatriate Chinese Nationals

    The three men were acting on behalf of China in a campaign to harass, stalk and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC as part of a global and extralegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”

  • Scientific and Technological Flows Between the United States and China

    What are the potential benefits and risks of U.S.-Chinese scientific research collaboration? What is the nature and volume of scientific researcher flows between the United States and China? What potential threats and benefits have emerged from the recent uptick in scientific collaboration between the United States and China on aerospace engineering research?

  • Russia Increases Spy Activity, Disinformation Campaign in Germany

    Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has warned that Russia’s spy operations are expected to increase in Germany. The agency noted that far-right movements are harnessing opposition to military support for Ukraine.

  • China’s Push for Science and Technology Collaboration with BRI Countries

    China is aiming to make science and technology (S&T) cooperation a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). There are complaints over Chinese approach of sharing data and protection of intellectual property. Maintaining accountability and transparency is vital for progress and can ensure win-win cooperation with member countries of BRI. A key fundamental is to uphold the principle of “open science,” making scientific process more transparent, inclusive and democratic.

  • U.S. Critical Infrastructure May Not Be Resilient Enough to Fend Off, Survive Chinese Cyberattacks: CISA Director

    Americans “need to be prepared” for Chinese cyberattacks, U.S. cyber official said, because the United States may not be resilient enough to fend off and survive Chinese attacks on its critical infrastructure should the present great power competition between Washington and Beijing evolve into an actual conflict.

  • UFOs: What We’ll Learn from the NASA Panel Investigating Sightings

    Later this year, a full report will be released with even more details and findings from NASA investigations of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), or what most of us would call UFOs (unidentified flying objects). No UFOs or aliens just yet, but NASA is now taking claims of the UAPs very seriously and seems determined to understand them all.

  • Le Pen’s Far-Right Party “Mouthpiece,” “Communication Channel” for the Kremlin: French Parliament Report

    Marine Le Pen and her populist far-right National Rally party had long been accused of parroting Russia’s propaganda and praising Vladimir Putin’s strongman approach to politics. In the hope of refuting these charges, the NR set up a parliamentary inquiry to investigate foreign interference in French politics. The move backfired spectacularly: The committee’s findings, which will be released next week, show that on a host of issues, Le Pen’s policy stances were indistinguishable from Putin’s – and in most cases, she and her party used the very same language used by Russia’s propaganda organs.

  • China Extends Its Lead Over U.S. in Key Technologies

    Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, and the ability to retain global talent—crucial ingredients that underpin the development and control of the world’s most important technologies, including those that don’t yet exist.A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) finds that China’s global lead extends to 37 out of 44 technologies that ASPI is now tracking. These findings should be a wake-up call for democratic nations, who must rapidly pursue a strategic critical technology step-up.

  • The Executive Order on Commercial Spyware: Implications and Prospects

    The growing national security threat from misuse of commercial spyware is increasingly being recognized. The US has been taking the lead in addressing the growing menace of unregulated spyware companies and the proliferation of intrusive tools. The Biden administration’s latest Executive Order will ensure that commercial spyware firms will be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny.

  • Amid Fears of Chinese Influence, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States Has Grown More Powerful

    The Committee on Foreign Investment, a U.S. government interagency committee established in 1975 by President Gerald Ford, is tasked with studying and coordinating the implementation of policy on foreign investment in America.The primary objective of the committee is to review selected foreign investments and some real estate transactions by foreigners in the U.S. for their national security implications.