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The Civil-Military Divide over Artificial Intelligence
What factors influence how comfortable and uncomfortable software engineers feel with potential applications of AI for the U.S. military? Is there a correlation between the degree of trust that software engineers have in societal institutions—specifically, in DoD—and their perception of the acceptability of building AI applications for DoD? Do software engineers perceive the countries that DoD has identified as strategic competitors as a meaningful threat to the United States? What types of news media and other sources of information are software engineers relying on to inform them about events related to DoD?
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AMLO's Lithium Grab and War on Green Energy Will Hurt North America
Nationalizing Mexico’s lithium reserves and extending state control over electricity and energy will undermine the region’s prosperity and security.
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Another Russian Tycoon Dies Under Suspicious Circumstances
A former top manager of LUKoil has died under strange circumstances, the latest in a series of mysterious deaths of Russian businessmen since Moscow launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
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Global Coalition Readying 'Holistic' Assault on Islamic State in Africa
The ever-present threat from Islamic State is again being thrust onto the global stage, with the United States voicing hope that it is not too late to prevent the terror group from turning the African continent into a dangerous playground.
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Strengthening the Nation’s Early Warning System for Health Threats
The White House hosted the Summit on Strengthening the Nation’s Early Warning System for Health Threats in support of the launch of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA). The launch of the CFA fulfills requirements in National Security Memorandum-1 (NSM-1), which instructed U.S. leadership to strengthen the international COVID-19 response and advance global health security and biological preparedness.
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Undetected and Dormant: Managing Australia’s Software Security Threat
At the same time as software has become integral to our prosperity and national security, attacks on software supply chains are on the rise. Software supply chain attacks are popular, can have a big impact and are used to great effect by a range of cyber adversaries.
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Wildfires Are Still Catching Us Off-Guard. Congress’ Plan to Fix That Isn’t Going Anywhere.
Last year, during a Congressional hearing on the state of wildfire research, researchers and fire managers said that coordination among federal agencies to improve wildfire research would be tremendously helpful to prepare for future fires. But the proposal to connect federal research agencies and improve wildfire research crashed and burned.
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Cornell University Profs Call for School to Halt, Reverse Its Growing Academic, Business Ties with China
An event at Cornell University, organized by three professors, which called for the university to halt, and then reverse, its growing academic and business ties with China, reflected a broader trend of calls for colleges and universities to cut ties with and divest from Chinese groups linked to human rights abuses.
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Spain Sacks Intelligence Chief in Wake of Pegasus Scandal
Paz Esteban was replaced after a controversy over the use of the Pegasus spyware to hack top Spanish officials’ cellphones, as well as spying on Catalan separatists.
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The Movement to Ban Government Use of Face Recognition
Our faces are unique identifiers that can’t be left at home, or replaced like a stolen ID or compromised password. Facial recognition technology facilitates covert mass surveillance of the places we frequent, people we associate with, and, purportedly, our emotional state. Communities across the country are fighting back.
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DHS’s ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Assailed by Lawmakers
A proposed new DHS working group focusing on countering disinformation has run into a buzzsaw of opposition from members of Congress. Some have characterized the would-be Disinformation Governance Board as an Orwellian body threating free speech. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a congressional hearing, scrambled to defend the new board.
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Research Exposes Long-Term Failure of Russian Propaganda in Ukraine's Donbas Region
A study of the propaganda that flooded Donbas for years reveals a failure to build pro-Russian “in-group” identities in the region, despite Putin’s claims of support.
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What Research Reveals About Disinformation and How to Address It
Stanford scholars from across the social sciences are studying the threats disinformation poses to democracy. Here is some of their research.
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Trump Appointee Twice Delayed Report on Russian Election Interference, Federal Watchdog Says
A just-published DHS IG report says that a senior Trump appointee twice delayed the release of a report detailing Russia’s interference in the 2020 election, interference aimed to help the Trump campaign. Moreover, in order to dilute the significance of the information about Russia’s interference, other DHS officials added a so-called “tone box” describing efforts by Chinese and Iranian influence actors to promote unsubstantiated narratives questioning the mental health of then-President Donald Trump. With the exception of the added tone box itself, China and Iran are not mentioned in the report.
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Russia's Claims of Ukrainian Biological Weapons: A Propaganda Ploy?
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has claimed Kyiv is developing biological weapons with support from the US and Germany. Experts familiar with laboratories in Ukraine say the accusations are groundless.
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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.