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Intrusive Surveillance and Interrogation of Portland Demonstrators by DHS Agents
DHS surveillance of 2020 protestors in Portland, Oregon was broader and more intrusive than had previously been knows. DHS agents created individual dossiers on many of the protestors, dossiers which included lists of friends and family, travel history, social media postings, and other records unrelated to securing federal property or homeland security. Documents also reveal that Trump appointees at DHS endorsed baseless conspiracy theories in justifying what Senator Ron Wyden D-Oregon) called “violations of Oregonians’ civil rights.”
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Relaxing Conceal Carry Permit Restrictions Significantly Increases Firearm Assaults
The average rate of assaults with firearms increased an average of 9.5 percent relative to forecasted trends in the first 10 years after 34 states relaxed restrictions on civilians carrying concealed firearms in public. Researchers say that specific provisions in conceal carry laws may reduce risks associated with civilian gun carrying.
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What, If Any, Are the Chances of Toppling Putin and Who Might Take Over?
There is a consensus among most of the Russian elite, including liberals (although it seems to be waning in recent times): there is no such thing as a truly post-Putin Russia. Putinism is so embedded in the country’s political, social and economic institutions and relationships that it’s almost impossible to imagine. A realistic prognosis of a post-Putin Russia and succession plan must take this into account.
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How China’s Military Plugs into the Global Space Sector
China is using seemingly civilian and academic Chinese research institutions to advance its military goals in space. International organizations like the International GNSS Service need to be aware that even overtly civilian entities can be intertwined with the Chinese military. Collaboration with high-risk Chinese institutions must be done with extreme care to ensure data and products intended to support international science and commerce are not redirected towards unwanted military uses.
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DHS Unveils New Cybersecurity Performance Goals for Critical Infrastructure
DHS released the Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs), voluntary practices that outline the highest-priority baseline measures businesses and critical infrastructure owners of all sizes can take to protect themselves against cyber threats.
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Ensuring Our Workforce Is Cyber Ready
Remaining vigilant and prepared to protect our nation’s cybersecurity is one of DHS S&T’s highest priorities. To meet this goal, S&T is harnessing the intellectual power of America’s universities and leveraging some of the best and brightest subject matter experts and academic minds via S&T Centers of Excellence (COE).
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Israel Presenting U.S. With Intelligence on Iranian Drones Used in Ukraine
Israeli President Isaac Herzog shared intelligence about Iranian drones being used by Russian forces in Ukraine when he met Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden.
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Bolsonaro vs. Lula: What’s at Stake in Brazil’s 2022 Election
Brazil’s presidential election is down to two polarizing candidates, and experts say the runoff will be a major test for one of the world’s largest democracies.
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Better Regulating Drone Use Requires Communication, Not Surveillance
In 2018, Congress gave the DHS and DOJ sweeping new authorities to destroy or commandeer privately-owned drones which pose a “credible threat” to a “covered facility or asset” in the U.S. as well as intercept the data it sends and receives. The definition of “credible threat” was left entirely to the discretion of DOJ and DHS.
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Will China Try to Take Taiwan in Xi’s Third Term?
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s success in securing an unprecedented third term this weekend has fueled speculation on whether he will try to forcefully reunify with Taiwan — the self-ruled island seen by Beijing as a part of China — in the next few years. Partly fueling the speculation is that Xi, the strongest leader China has had in years, has often called for achieving China’s “rejuvenation,” which includes reunifying with Taiwan.
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U.S. Charges Chinese Spies in Huawei case
Prosecutors allege that Chinese spies were foiled by a double agent. The U.S. Justice Department says China is trying to undermine the U.S. judicial system.
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Artificial Intelligence and Extremism: The Threat of Language Models for Propaganda Purposes
Recent large-scale projects in the field of Artificial Intelligence have dramatically improved the quality of language models, unfolding a wide range of practical applications. Language models are statistical models that calculate probability distributions over sequences of words. Language models can make many beneficial contributions, but they may also be misused by extremist actors for propaganda purposes.
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Tracking Threats and Harassment Against Local Officials
Following the 2020 presidential election, there has been a growing wave of threats against and harassment of election officials. Nearly 60 percent these threats and acts of intimidation took place in the five states which Trump falsely claimed he had won: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
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DHS to Stabilize Its Historic Lighthouse on Plum Island
DHS S&T is leading a project aiming to stabilize the historic Plum Island Light Station. The lighthouse was constructed in 1869 and put into service in 1870. Plum Island, New York, is located approximately 1.5 miles from the eastern end of Long Island’s North Fork. The island is wholly owned by the DHS and primarily serves as a secure location for DHS S&T’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC).
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Companies Weigh Fallout from U.S. Ban on Sending Chip Tech to China
The new U.S. ban the transfer of advanced U.S. semiconductor technology to China affects not only U.S. firms that sell to China, but any company whose products contain American semiconductor technology. Semiconductor companies and other tech firms that count China among their largest single markets are facing potentially severe damage to their revenues.
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More headlines
The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Patriots’ Day: How Far-Right Groups Hijack History and Patriotic Symbols to Advance Their Cause, According to an Expert on Extremism
Extremist groups have attempted to change the meaning of freedom and liberty embedded in Patriots’ Day — a commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord – to serve their far-right rhetoric, recruitment, and radicalization. Understanding how patriotic symbols can be exploited offers important insights into how historical narratives may be manipulated, potentially leading to harmful consequences in American society.
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.
Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles
To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”