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Protecting Major Sporting Events from Terrorism: Considerations for the Paris Olympics and Beyond
As France prepares to host the Summer Olympic Games next month, recent developments have highlighted the challenging threat environment that exists for the country’s security services. The scale of the events planned during the Paris Olympics, in a tense terrorist environment, presents a series of unique challenges for French security services under the scrutiny of an international audience.
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Grassley, Cortez Masto Want Senate Confirmation of Secret Service Directors
Lawmakers filed a bill that would require Senate confirmation of Secret Service directors and impose a 10-year term limit. The heads of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and Customs & Border Protection are already confirmed by the Senate.
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Far-Right Influencers on X Promote Anti-Zionism, Hate and Conspiracy Theories
An analysis identified five influencers on X whose engagement spiked in the days and weeks after Hamas’s attack on Israel, with content that included virulent anti-Zionism alongside antisemitic tropes, disinformation and other forms of hateful or harmful rhetoric.
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New U.S. Arctic Strategy Focused on Russian, Chinese Inroads
The United States is looking to boost intelligence collection in the Arctic and enhance cooperation with allies in the region, to prevent Russia and China from exploiting the cold and icy northern region at America’s expense.
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States Strike Out on Their Own on AI, Privacy Regulation
There’s been no shortage of AI tech regulation bills in Congress, but none has passed. In the absence of congressional action, states have stepped up their own regulatory action. States have been legislating about AI since at least 2019, but bills relating to AI have increased significantly in the last two years.
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Not Just Beijing’s Doing: Market Factors Are Also Hitting Rare Earths Prices
Have depressed rare earths prices been engineered by the Chinese state to snuff out non-Chinese rivals before they get going? Or do they simply reflect a weak market, with demand rising more slowly than was expected by the promotors of a slew of new projects?
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Germany Moves to Protect Top Court Against Far Right
Several authoritarian governments are trying to curb the clout of their countries’ supreme courts. As far-right populists gain ground in Germany, the government is also working to protect this bastion of democracy.
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Climate Change Has Forced America’s Oldest Black Town to Higher Ground
Princeville, North Carolina, is relocating with help from a new federal grant. Hurricane Matthew, which submerged the town under more than 10 feet of water, was the final straw. The town has just received millions of dollars in new funding from FEMA to build a new site on higher ground.
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Will Maduro Hold on to Power in Venezuela’s 2024 Election?
The closely watched elections on July 28 will determine whether incumbent President Nicolás Maduro wins a third term or allows a democratic transition.
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A Uniquely Perilous Moment in U.S. Politics
Assassins believe that they can change the course of history. Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware write that the attempt om Donald Trump’s life is but the latest violent incident targeting an elected official or candidate in the United States in recent years. “The biggest question is whether this is, in fact, the beginning of what could be the most violent presidential race in the history of the country.”
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How AI Can Aid Decision Making in Mass-Casualty Events
EMTs and paramedics are sometimes confronted with a series of life-and-death questions and dilemmas at the scene. Researcher Omer Perry says his team’s study on paramedic behavior during high-stress situations helped them develop a potentially lifesaving algorithm.
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Albuquerque Made Itself Drought-Proof. Then Its Dam Started Leaking.
El Vado is an odd dam: It’s one of only four in the United States that uses a steel faceplate to hold back water, rather than a mass of rock or concrete. The dam, which is located on a tributary of the Rio Grande, has been collecting irrigation water for farmers for close to a century, but decades of studies have shown that water is seeping through the faceplate and undermining the dam’s foundations. Cities across the West rely on fragile water sources — and aging infrastructure.
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Russia Spreads Disinformation to Cover Up Its Use of Chemical Weapons in Ukraine
The United States determined Russia used the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and riot control agents (RCA) as a method of warfare in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
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Trump Assassination Attempt Sparks Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories and Violent, “Revenge” Rhetoric
Online reactions to the assassination attempt elevated a variety of conspiracy theories about the motivation for and “real” perpetrators of the attack, as well as calls for retaliatory violence and a civil war.
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Trump Assassination Attempt Poses New Test for U.S. Democracy
After a shooting that injured former President Donald Trump and killed a spectator at a campaign rally, leaders of both parties must unite behind efforts to calm and stabilize the political climate.
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
No Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism
The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.
Fragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. This new era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
How Disastrous Was the Trump-Putin Meeting?
In Alaska, Trump got played by Putin. Therefore, Steven Pifer writes, the European leaders and Zelensky have to “diplomatically offer suggestions to walk Trump back from a position that he does not appear to understand would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for American interests. And they have to do so without setting off an explosion that could disrupt U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-European relations—all to the delight of Putin and the Kremlin.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.