• CHINA WATCHChina's South China Sea Tactics Push Manila to Become More Assertive

    By William Yang

    In a bold move, the Philippine coast guard this week publicly cut loose a floating barrier installed by China near a disputed South China Sea lagoon, highlighting how Beijing’s actions are fueling forceful responses, analysts say. It also could help rally other countries in the region to stand up to Beijing.

  • U.S. & BRICSThe BRICS Expansion and the Global Balance of Power

    In early September, the BRICS group of five countries with emerging economies announced it would expand its ranks by six nations. This would loosely link together countries representing about 30 percent of global GDP and 43 percent of global oil production. MIT political scientist Taylor Fravel examines the potential and limitations of a bigger BRICS group of countries — and what it means for the U.S.

  • CYBERSECURITYU.S., Latin America to Boost Cybersecurity

    By Jeff Seldin

    Countries up and down the Western Hemisphere are looking to eliminate weaknesses in their cyber infrastructure that could give potential adversaries, including China and Russia, the ability to do extensive damage by exploiting a single vulnerability.

  • NUCLEAR WEAPONSIs Myanmar About to Go Nuclear?

    By Andrew Selth

    The specter of the world’s first ‘Buddhist bomb’ still hangs over Myanmar. It has been given impetus by the coup in February 2021 and the military regime’s increasingly close relations with Russia. The question must be asked: why is the junta expending precious resources on a nuclear reactor of arguable utility when it is already struggling with a costly civil war, an economy in dire straits, the collapse of government services and widespread poverty and hardship?

  • ARGUMENT: CRITICAL MINERALSThe U.S. Government Should Stockpile More Critical Minerals

    The 2022 National Defense Strategy describes China as America’s “most consequential strategic competitor for the coming decades.” Yet, Gregory Wischer and Jack Little write, the United States is unprepared to fight a major war against the Chinese. “A longer, more intense U.S.-Chinese conflict over Taiwan would expose even deeper cracks in the defense industrial base and undermine the U.S. military’s ability to defeat the Chinese military: The United States lacks sufficient stocks of critical minerals to support the defense industrial base, from nickel in superalloys for jet engines to rare earth elements in magnets for guided munitions,” they write.

  • CHINA WATCHTech War: Is Huawei's New Chip a Threat?

    By Yuchen Li

    The US-China chip war is heating up after Huawei launched a new phone featuring technology that Washington was hoping to keep out of China’s reach: China’s largest chipmaker SMIC has surprised the West by creating a homegrown 7nm chip. Will the United States respond with more sanctions?

  • NIJJAR AFFAIRWhat Might We Learn from the Nijjar Affair and the Breakdown in Canada–India Relations?

    By Ian Hall

    Khalistani activism overseas—not just in Canada, but also in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia—is a major concern for New Delhi, not a marginal one, as some governments might think. And whatever has occurred in this particular case, India has long since shed its earlier adherence to “strategic restraint”: it is clear that India is willing to use force and take risks to defend its interests. Moreover, this muscularity is popular within India and segments of the Indian diaspora overseas.

  • NIJJAR AFFAIRCanada-India Tensions Over Killing of Sikh Separatist: What to Know

    By Manjari Chatterjee Miller

    Canada’s stunning allegations of an India-directed plot to kill Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has stirred frictions between two major democracies and raised questions about India’s global actions to protect its interests.  

  • ARGUMENT: CYBERTHREATS & NUCLEAR CREDIILITYThe Cyber Threat to Nuclear Non-Proliferation

    Most cyber scholars looking at the nexus of cyber campaigns/operations and the nuclear weapons enterprise—command and control, communications, and delivery systems—focus on the consequences of targeting the enterprise through cyber operations during militarized crises or armed conflicts between nuclear powers. Michael P. Fischerkeller writes that there is, however, a third geopolitical condition—competition short of crisis and armed conflict—where the consequences, although of a different ilk, are no less severe.

  • EXTREMISMExtremists Have Turned Texas into a Hotbed for Hate: Report

    By Robert Downen

    Texas continues to be a hotbed for extremism and antisemitism, driven by the heavy presence of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-LGBTQ+ groups that are headquartered or active in the state.

  • POWER GRIDDOE Invests $39 Million to Support a 21st Century Electric Grid

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $39 million for projects across DOE’s National Laboratories to help modernize the electricity grid. The investments will support the development and deployment of concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future while incorporating equity and the best available climate science.

  • CYBERCRIMEIncrease in Chinese-Language Malware Could “Challenge” Russian Dominance of Cybercrime: Report

    By Masood Farivar

    For decades, Russian and eastern European hackers have dominated the cybercrime underworld. These days they may face a challenge from a new contender: China. Researchers have detected an increase in the spread of Chinese language malware through email campaigns since early 2023, signaling a surge in Chinese cybercrime activity and a new trend in the global threat landscape.

  • EXTREMISMHow Local Police Could Help Prevent Another January 6th-Style Insurrection

    By Matthew Valasik and Shannon Reid

    As scholars who study street gangs and far-right groups, we see that the larger law enforcement community continues to focus – we believe mistakenly – on the belief that, like terrorist groups, white supremacists are coordinated in ideology and intent. Evidence shows that perception actually diverts local police agencies’ attention from identifying and managing these groups. We believe that if police had treated Proud Boys as members of a street gang from the group’s inception in 2016, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, might have been avoided, or at least reduced in severity.

  • AIWalking the Artificial Intelligence and National Security Tightrope

    By Jack Goldsmith

    Artificial intelligence (AI) presents nations’ security as many challenges as it does opportunities. While it could create mass-produced malware, lethal autonomous weapons systems, or engineered pathogens, AI solutions could also prove the counter to these threats. Regulating AI to maximize national security capabilities and minimize the risks presented to them will require focus, caution and intent.

  • MIGRATIONEritrea Stoking Conflicts Between Its Migrants Abroad

    By Mimi Mefo Takambou

    The repressive regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has forced many Eritreans to seek refuge abroad. Some commentators believe Afwerki is stoking conflict between Eritrean migrants and their host nations.