• The Middle Road: Why the United States Needs a Dynamic Approach to Its Foreign Policy

    The world finds itself in a precarious calm before a potential storm of great power rivalry. The United States is in yet another crucial presidential election cycle. Both tickets offer largely contrasting stances for America’s position on the international stage. However, must America’s approach to its role on the international stage be one of two extremes, or can it be more nuanced?

  • Is the American Empire collapsing?

    The United States remains a global power unparalleled in history. So what would it take for this situation to change? Four possible developments or events seem to be plausible candidates.

  • U. of California Faces Lawsuit for Not Hiring Illegal Aliens

    UC’s Board of Regents decided by a vote in January to suspend for one year the implementation of its policy that allowed the hiring of illegal aliens. Now, the university faces a lawsuit for not offering jobs to illegal aliens.

  • Public Trust in U.S. Elections Is Decreasing. But Should It Be?

    Recent polls show public trust in the integrity of U.S. elections is decreasing, largely among Republicans. But this doesn’t signal that our elections are getting less reliable, scholars said.

  • Salt Typhoon Hack Shows There's No Security Backdoor That's Only for The "Good Guys"

    If U.S. policymakers care about China and other foreign countries engaging in espionage on U.S. citizens, it’s time to speak up in favor of encryption by default. If these policymakers don’t want to see bad actors take advantage of their constituents, domestic companies, or security agencies, again—they should speak up for encryption by default.

  • Ohio Is Home to About 50 White Extremist Groups, but the State’s Social and Political Landscape Is Undergoing Rapid Racial Change

    Rapidly changing social conditions in Ohio have played a significant role in the growth of extremism. Between 1990 and 2019, manufacturing jobs shrank from 21.7% of all employment in the state to 12.5%, mostly affecting white men. For many of these alienated men, extremist ideologies offer easy answers to complex questions that involve their sense of disenfranchisement.

  • Reducing Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise in Virginia

    As the climate changes and sea levels rise, there is concern that sinking coastlines could exacerbate risks to infrastructure, as well as human and environmental health in coastal communities. The Virginia Coastal Plain is one of the fastest-sinking regions on the East Coast. 

  • 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment

    DHS has issued its 2025 threat assessment, focusing on the most direct, pressing threats to the U.S. homeland during the next year. The assessment is organized around DHS missions that most closely align or apply to these threats—public safety, border and immigration, critical infrastructure, and economic security.

  • Amid Multiple Disasters, FEMA Faces Funding Challenges, Misinformation, and Politicization

    Congress gave the agency enough money to last the year. But back-to-back hurricanes are stretching resources thin. Moreover, in the wake of Helene and Milton, FEMA has faced a barrage of brazen lies and distortions concocted by Donald Trump and amplified by his supporters about disaster relief dollars being misused and redirected toward housing migrants.

  • Sahel’s Terrorism Problem(s)

    Al-Qaeda has begun increasingly replicating the tactics employed by its Salafi-jihadi rival, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS), in Africa’s Sahel region by relying on powerful affiliates like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). It has done so to revitalize its ideological appeal and rejuvenate its primacy in the global jihadi fold, even as ISIS has remained the deadliest terror group for the ninth consecutive year.

  • The October 7 Attack: An Assessment of the Intelligence Failings

    Hours after the Hamas attack of October 7 began, they were widely attributed to an apparent Israeli intelligence failure, with pundits pointing to several possible sources, including a misunderstanding of Hamas’ intentions, cognitive biases, and an overreliance on the country’s technological superiority. Building on previous literature on surprise attacks and intelligence failures to examine both Israel’s political level and intelligence level prior to October 7, 2023, the findings suggest that the attack was likely not the result of a single glaring failure but rather the accumulation of several problems at both levels.

  • Election Security: When to Worry, When to Not

    Everyone wants an election that is secure and reliable and that will ensure that the voters’ actual choices are reflected in the results. At the same time, not every problem in voting technology or systems is worth pulling the fire alarm —we have to look at the bigger story and context. And we have to stand down when our worst fears turn out to be unfounded.

  • How One Swing-State County Has Escaped Election Conspiracies

    Mercer County, Pennsylvania has avoided the rancor and abuse that have plagued other parts of Pennsylvania. Local Democratic and Republican leaders both vouch for the integrity of the county’s voting system.

  • $100 Million to Accelerate R&D and AI Technologies for Sustainable Semiconductor Materials

    The U.S. Commerce Deprtment ssued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to announce an open competition demonstrating how AI can assist in developing new sustainable semiconductor materials and processes that meet industry needs and can be designed and adopted within five years. 

  • The CHIPS Act: How U.S. Microchip Factories Could Reshape the Economy

    The CHIPS and Science Act seeks to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry amid growing fears of a China-Taiwan conflict. Where is the money going, and how is the effort playing out?