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A Peak at the Nation’s Future Cybersecurity Workforce
Hack the Port 22, hosted jointly by USCYBERCOM and the Maryland Innovation and Security Institute, brought together subject matter experts from government, industry, and academia to highlight the nation’s critical infrastructure and cyber defense priorities.
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Risks of an Unfamiliar New Nuclear Age
High-tech advances in weapons technologies and a return of ‘great power nuclear politics’, risk the world ‘sleepwalking’ into a nuclear age vastly different from the established order of the Cold War, experts warn. Stockpiles are much reduced from the peak of up to 70,000 nuclear weapons seen in the 1980s, but progress in a number of new or ‘disruptive’ technologies threatens to fundamentally change the central pillars on which nuclear order, stability and risk reduction are based.
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Russian Trolls Tried to Distract American Voters with Entertainment
In a finding that has implications for the 2022 midterm elections, Cornell researchers found Russia tried to distract liberal voters during the 2016 presidential campaign with a seemingly innocent weapon – tweets about music and videos – taking a page from its domestic disinformation playbook.
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Why Is Germany Not Supplying Ukraine with Heavy Weapons?
The criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been unrelenting. He has been accused of stalling and breaking his promises over sending heavy weapons to Ukraine. Here are some of the main points of contention.
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CDC Launches New Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics
New center will enhance capability for timely, effective decision-making to improve outbreak response using data, models, and analytics
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Federal Research Funding Has Positive “Ripple Effects”
Federal funding for biomedical research has a “ripple effect” of stimulating new studies even beyond the original purposes of a grant and may provide unexpected benefits.
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Can Africa Satisfy Europe's Energy Demand?
As the war in Ukraine rages on, the European Union is desperately searching for alternative energy sources. Africa has abundant reserves, but experts say the continent’s energy sector needs urgent reforms and help.
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Cloud Server Leasing Can Leave Sensitive Data Up for Grabs
Renting space and IP addresses on a public server has become standard business practice, but according to computer scientists, current industry practices can lead to “cloud squatting,” which can create a security risk, endangering sensitive customer and organization data intended to remain private. New research provides solutions for companies, cloud-service providers to help minimize security risks.
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Marine Highways Bolster Supply Chain Efficiency, Resilience
The increased use of the nation’s navigable waterways relieves landside congestion, provides new and efficient transportation options, increases the productivity of the surface transportation system, and strengthens the U.S. supply chains.
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China’s Growing Influence in Latin America
Over the past two decades, China has developed close economic and security ties with many Latin American countries, including Brazil and Venezuela. But Beijing’s growing sway in the region has raised concerns in Washington and beyond.
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Domestic Extremists’ Social Media Habits
A new study, bridging two leading databases on extremist hate and violence, found that individuals in both have been influenced by social media, and their web platform choices may mirror those of the general population.
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International Approval Shapes Public Perceptions of Drone Warfare
Drones that carry weapons are increasingly employed as counterterrorism tools, but nations use and constrain strikes differently. France, for example, submits its strikes to the U.N. for approval; the U.S. typically does not. This difference matters when it comes to public support and perceptions of legitimacy.
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With Dwindling Water Supplies, the Timing of Rainfall Matters
A new study shows it’s not how much extra water you give your plants, but when you give it that counts. This is especially true near Palm Springs, where the research team created artificial rainfall to examine the effects on plants over the course of two years.
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Russia’s War in Ukraine: China’s Lessons
China is learning from Russia’s troubled war in Ukraine to improve its battle strategies and prepare for economic sanctions if Beijing ever attacks self-ruled Taiwan. Experts say that China may also be looking harder at peaceful solutions for Taiwan, they say.
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Germany: €3 Billion for Floating LNG Terminals
Berlin plans to lease four liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to wean itself off Russian gas. The decision comes as the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline now sits unused at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
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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.”