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AI Disinformation: Lessons from the U.K. Election
The record-breaking 2024 figure of about 4 billion voters eligible to go to the polls across more than 60 countries coincided with the full-fledged arrival and widespread uptake of multimodal generative artificial intelligence (AI), which enables almost anyone to make fake images, videos and sound.
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A View from the CT Foxhole: William Braniff, Director, Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
The decade after 9/11 was largely about integrating our special operations community with our intelligence community. “The decade after the decade after 9/11, we started to really integrate our federal law enforcement efforts so that we could find, fix, finish, exploit, analyze, and prosecute here in the United States,” says William Braniff.
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What Is the Online Safety Act and Why Have Riots in the U.K. Reopened Debates About It?
Social media played a key role in the widespread coordination of riots in locations across the country. Online platforms have also served as a vehicle through which misinformation and hateful rhetoric has spread.
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Why Indonesia Moved Its Capital to a Jungle Hundreds of Miles Away, and more
· Why Indonesia Moved Its Capital to a Jungle Hundreds of Miles Away
The new city, Nusantara, comes as Jakarta continues to sink at a record pace· America’s Failed Approach to Iran Can’t Really Be Called a Strategy
For almost a decade, Washington has had an attitude toward Iran — unrelenting opposition and pressure — but not a strategy· NATO’s Weak Spot Against Russia Facing a Choice to Take Up Arms
The undefended Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea have long been a gap in Europe’s shield. Remilitarization could turn them into one of the West’s key defenses -
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China’s Overseas Police Stations: Global Concerns
As China has emerged as a great power, it has sought to augment its overseas presence through measures like the establishment of Confucius Institutes and military bases and access points worldwide. The setting up of overseas police stations is a recent development that has invited international scrutiny, sparking serious concerns regarding the breach of international norms and the erosion of host countries’ sovereignty.
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Colombia Isn’t Ready for a New Venezuelan Migration Wave, Plus Bukele’s Mano Dura Threats Won’t Fix the Economy
Petro has eroded Colombia’s institutions for managing migration since taking office in 2022, leaving Colombia ill-equipped to handle a new Venezuelan migration wave; Bukele’s mano dura tactics got results on crime, but won’t fix the economy.
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Protecting Our Elections Against Tech-Enabled Disinformation
Electoral administrators around the world are dealing with a radically changed democratic landscape. Concerns focus on the pervasive presence of disinformation and false narratives, the rise of new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, occasional madcap conspiracy theories, threats to electoral workers, and the need to maintain citizens’ confidence in electoral outcomes.
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How the Marshall Fire Sparked a Political Transformation in Colorado
After the fire destroyed his town in 2021, a state rep took on insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and landlords — and beat them all.
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Study Highlights Challenges in Detecting Violent Speech Aimed at Asian Communities
A study of language detection software found that algorithms struggle to differentiate anti-Asian violence-provoking speech from general hate speech. Left unchecked, threats of violence online can go unnoticed and turn into real-world attacks.
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Election Deniers Continue Attempts to Meddle with Certification – But the Process Is Resilient
Georgia’s State Election Board made it easier to delay certification, but disputes do not mean problems with the election.
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Germany: Islamist Terror Poses 'Persistently High' Risk
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has warned that Germany remains a target for Islamist terrorists. Her comments follow the cancellation of three Austrian concerts by US pop star Taylor Swift.
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Today's Autocracies Are Networked In Efforts To Erode Democracy, Says Author Anne Applebaum
Autocracies around the world have become increasingly mutually reinforcing in their competition with democratic societies, Pulitzer Prize winning U.S. journalist and historian Anne Applebaum said.
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A Call to Protect Democracy from Political Violence
As the nation reels from the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions say we must be clear about the threat of guns in a heated election.
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Gun Violence Legislation Would Expand Research, Collaborations
Federal legislation to establish a gun violence research program, with funds for projects, is being sought by Democratic North Carolina U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee. If successful getting through the Republican majority chamber, the projects would examine the nature, root causes, consequences and prevention of gun violence.
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‘Killer Robots’ Are Becoming a Real Threat in Africa
The use of drones in the Sahel, a region of Africa that has been plagued by violence driven by jihadist insurgency for much of the past decade, has become a real problem. But even more concerning is the fact that their AI-powered variants, which are known as lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), have been deployed in Africa in recent years.
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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.