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Lawmakers: “Clean Reauthorization” of Surveillance Authorities a “Nonstarter”
Key U.S. lawmakers are warning the country’s top intelligence officials that they could soon find themselves without a much-talked-about surveillance authority unless their agencies are able to prove they can be trusted.
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Section 702’s Unconstitutional Domestic Spying Program Must End
On its face, Section 702 allows the government to conduct surveillance inside the United States so long as the surveillance is directed at foreigners currently located outside the United States. And yet, the NSA routinely (aka “incidentally”) acquires innocent Americans’ communications without a probable cause warrant. Then, rather than “minimize” the sharing and retention of Americans’ data, as Congress required, the NSA routinely shares such data with other government agencies, which retain it for at least five years.
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“Prevent” Review: Why We Need a New – and Clearer – Definition of Islamist Extremism
An independent review of the UK counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, has recommended that the government increase its efforts to tackle Islamist extremism. One fundamental question this review poses is what exactly “Islamist extremism” is. This matters because many professionals (including teachers, lecturers, social workers, health workers and prison guards) are now legally obliged to watch out for it. A clearer definition is possible.
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Extremist Propaganda Soars to All-Time High in 2022
In 2022, there has been a significant increase in racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) propaganda efforts, which included the distribution of racist and antisemitic fliers, stickers, banners, graffiti, and posters, as well as laser projections - with a total of 6,751 cases reported in 2022, compared to 4,876 in 2021.
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Can Biden’s New Asylum Policy Help Solve the Migrant Crisis?
The Biden administration’s proposed immigration policy aims to curb migrant flows to the United States amid record border crossings. What will it do, and how does it compare to the Trump years?
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Some Election Officials Refused to Certify Results. Few Were Held Accountable.
A ProPublica review of local officials who refused to certify 2022 election results found that most did not face formal consequences. Experts explain what that means for the future of American elections.
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Australian Government Needs to Go ack to Basics to Build an Australian Rare-Earths Industry
China has moved well beyond an aspiration to monopolize the production of rare earths. It aims for leadership in the production of the full range of goods making use of rare earths—from electric cars to wind turbines, MRI scanners, lasers and rocket motors.
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Senior U.S. Intelligence Official Worries About TikTok, Chinese Tech
General Paul Nakasone, who heads both the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told lawmakers there are many reasons to be wary of China’s rapid expansion in cyberspace, and Chinese-owned TikTok is but one example. “TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons,” Nakasone. “One is that the data that they have. Secondly is the algorithm and the control. Who has the algorithm?”
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Extremists Co-opt Norfolk Southern Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
In the aftermath of the February 3, 2023, freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a range of misinformation and unfounded claims has emerged as extremists and conspiracy theorists leverage the event for their own political and ideological gain.
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Russian Cyberattacks on U.S. Likely to Become Bolder, More Brazen
Repeated failures by Russian cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns to inflict lasting damage during the Kremlin’s ongoing war against Ukraine is unlikely to dampen Moscow’s resolve and could instead spur a new wave of riskier efforts against a wider set of targets.
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How Germany’s Far-Right Politicians Became the Kremlin’s Voice
The AfD, Germany’s far-right populist party, has often been labelled as a party of “Putin-Versteher” (“Putin understanders”). Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the AfD has increasingly contributed to Russian disinformation campaigns.
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No, Texas Can’t Legally Secede from the U.S., Popular Myth Notwithstanding
The theme of independence has recurred throughout the history of Texas, which was a republic from 1836–45. But the Civil War established that a state cannot secede. Texas seceded from the Union in January 1861, but even before Texas formally rejoined the nation on 30 March 1870, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession had never been legal, and that, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state.
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12 Days: The Time Iran Needs to Produce Enough Weapon-Grade Uranium for a Nuclear Weapon
Iran can now break out and produce enough weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon in 12 days, using only three advanced centrifuge cascades and half of its existing stock of 60 percent enriched uranium. This breakout could be difficult for inspectors to detect promptly, if Iran took steps to delay inspectors’ access.
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North Korea’s Nuclear Tests Expose Neighbors to Radiation Risks
Tens of thousands of North Koreans and people in South Korea, Japan, and China could be exposed to radioactive materials spread through groundwater from an underground nuclear test site. North Korea secretly conducted six tests of nuclear weapons at the Punggye-ri site in the mountainous North Hamgyong Province between 2006 and 2017.
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Garland Would Not Object to Designating Wagner a Foreign Terrorist Organization
Founded in 2014, the Wagner Group is run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a sanctioned oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. With an estimated 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, the majority recruited from Russia’s prisons, the paramilitary force has become a veritable arm of the Russian military in Ukraine.
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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.