• Vitriolic Reactions to Arouri's Killing Highlight His Importance to the Iranian Regime’s “Axis of Resistance”

    The death on 2 January 2024 of Saleh Al-Arouri, a leading Hamas financier and military leader, resulted in threats of retribution against Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah and other regional proxies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

  • In a First, California Cracks Down on Farms Guzzling Groundwater

    In much of the United States, groundwater extraction is unregulated and unlimited. This lack of regulation has allowed farmers nationwide to empty aquifers of trillions of gallons of water for irrigation and livestock. In many places, such as California’s Central Valley, the results have been devastating. California has just imposed a first-of-its-kind mandatory fee on water pumping by farmers in the Tulare Lake subbasin, one of the state’s largest farming areas.

  • Security Agencies Warn Election Officials to Brace for Attacks on U.S. Presidential Race

    U.S. intelligence and security agencies are trying to prepare election officials across the United States for a wave of new attacks aiming to destroy voter confidence in November’s presidential election, just as a series of reports warn that familiar adversaries – Russia, China, and Iran — are starting to ramp up their efforts.

  • Suozzi, Smith Relaunch the Congressional Uyghur Caucus

    In July 2021, Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) launched the bipartisan Congressional Uyghur Caucus to raise awareness of China’s systemic human rights violations against the Uyghur people and to support legislation aimed at addressing this coordinated human rights abuse. Suozzi decided not to run in 2022 for another term – but won the seat (NY-3) again in a special election in February this year. One of his first acts in Congress: Relaunching, with Smith, the Uyghur Caucus.

  • Australia’s Leadership Imperatives in Critical Minerals

    Australia, like Canada, is well placed to be a global leader in the critical minerals sector. The country has the natural endowment, technical expertise and experience, global mining footprint, and mining capital base to back a claim to worldwide leadership.

  • Sinking Land Increases Risk for Thousands of Coastal Residents

    One in 50 people living in two dozen coastal cities in the United States could experience significant flooding by 2050, according to new research. The study projects that in the next three decades as many as 500,000 people could be affected as well as a potential 1 in 35 privately owned properties damaged by flooding.

  • Problems with Glen Canyon Dam Could Jeopardize Water Flowing to Western States

    Without upgrades to the Glen Canyon dam’s infrastructure, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s ability to get water downstream to the lower Colorado River basin as required by the Colorado River Compact could be in jeopardy. This may be, in the words of concerned groups, “the most urgent water problem” for the Colorado River and the 40 million people who rely on it.

  • FEMA Is Making an Example of This Florida Boomtown. Locals call it “Revenge Politics.”

    When U.S. homeowners buy subsidized flood insurance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they make a commitment to build back better after flood disasters, even if it costs them. The Biden administration is trying to punish Lee County for rebuilding flood-prone homes. The state’s Republican politicians are fighting back.

  • Under Biden, U.S. Reimagines Asian Alliances as 'Lattice' Fence

    For decades, U.S. policy in Asia has relied on what was informally known as the “hub and spokes” system of bilateral alliances. But lately, U.S. officials have used another analogy to describe their vision for the region: a lattice fence. It may sound like only a metaphorical tweak, but say it could have big implications, as they try to create a durable plan to respond to China’s growing power.

  • U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Soared 140 Percent in 2023 – Breaking All Previous Records

    Massive spike Post-Oct. 7 recorded; campus incidents tripled; bomb threats targeting Jewish institutions up 10 times.

  • Chinese Nationalist Trolls Pretend to Be Trump Supporters Ahead of U.S. Elections

    Chinese nationalist trolls have been posing as American supporters of former President Donald Trump on X to try to exploit domestic divisions ahead of the U.S. election. China’s so-called Spamouflage troll network mimics Russia’s playbook during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when Moscow used information warfare to damage the Clinton campaign, boost Trump’s chances and sow distrust in American democracy.

  • Improving the Security of Soft Targets and Crowded Places

    Attacks on soft targets and crowded places (ST-CPs) represent a significant challenge. How can prevention, protection, and response and recovery investments reduce the risk of casualties from attacks on ST-CPs?

  • West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push

    A new report and research from a British defense research group has found that many Western nations are still reliant on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

  • How Texas Is Playing a Major Role in the Race to Develop Clean Energy Technologies

    The federal government is pouring billions of dollars into developing clean power sources. In this conversation hosted by The Texas Tribune in Houston, panelists discussed how Texas companies are playing a major role in emerging technologies like hydrogen and geothermal.

  • Russia's Disinformation Campaign Seeps into U.S. Views

    The Washington Post recently published an investigation into an extensive and coordinated Russian campaign to influence U.S. public opinion to deny Ukraine the aid. The investigation exposed a Kremlin-linked campaign in which “political strategists and trolls have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions,” the Post reported.