• Banning Fake News Traffickers Online Improved Public Discourse

    When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users. A new study found that the crackdown by Twitter also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the platform but had been following those who were kicked off.

  • Joint Efforts Needed to Combat Disinformation

    The spread of fake news is destabilizing societies and fueling anti-democratic movements around the world. Collaborative efforts are needed to tackle the problem, says a new report.

  • Former CENTCOM Commander: President Picked ‘Worst’ Choice in Afghanistan Withdrawal

    President Joe Biden picked the “worst of all possible worlds” when deciding how to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, the former commander who oversaw the U.S. withdrawal there told VOA.

  • Spies Are Not Who You Think They Are

    For the vast majority of the public, their perception of intelligence work has been shaped by the ever popular genre of spy fiction – Ian Flemin’s invention, James Bond, is but one example. This archetype, familiar from spy novels, films, and TV series, is completely misleading, and at the same time not entirely removed from the truth.

  • Fool’s Gold: Overhyped Tech Startups Distract from Military Innovation

    Technology startups almost never live up to all the hype they generate. Much of this innovation is fool’s gold. Often, these solutions are not developed beyond an initial concept. It’s a missed opportunity for the U.S. military. Startup companies often present the Pentagon with more cost-effective, swift, and adaptable solutions compared to the weapons systems typically provided by the handful of major contractors the Pentagon usually turns to.

  • Analysis of the IAEA’s Iran NPT Safeguards Report - May 2024

    For the second time in its quarterly safeguards reports on Iran’s compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has drawn attention Iran’s current ability to make nuclear weapons. Without strong and decisive action y the IAEA, Iranwill succeed in steadily augmenting its nuclear program penalty-free, enabling it to build a nuclear weapon more quickly than Western powers could detect and stop.

  • Reports: Russian Physicists Being Denied Entry to U.S.

    After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US government attempted to make it easier for Russian scientists to enter the United States. But there are reports that it has actually become more difficult.

  • 2020’s ‘Fake Elector’ Schemes Will Be Harder to Try in 2024 – but Not Impossible

    Electors will gather across the United States in December 2024, just weeks after the election, and formally cast votes for president and vice president. They will send their votes to Congress, which will count them and determine who received the most votes. Typically, the casting of electoral votes is little more than a ceremonial process. But the last time this process happened – in 2020 – it was anything but typical.

  • Biden’s Immigration Order Won’t Fix Problems Quickly – 4 Things to Know About What’s Changing

    Biden’s executive order prevents everyone who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border without a visa, and not passing through an official port of entry, from seeking asylum. It goes into effect when the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each day exceeds an average of 2,500. Effectively, this is a ban on asylum.

  • How Secure Is Gene Synthesizing Research?

    Critics warn that the benefits of gene synthesizing research are undermined by security measures which are not sufficiently tight to prevent such research form being used by bad actors to do harm. One expert writes: “The problem is that governments don’t mandate security across the industry — and even though it’s a crime to ship DNA sufficient to generate the entire infectious 1918 influenza, there’s no law against shipping pieces of it.” The International Gene Synthesis Consortium disagrees.

  • Beyond The ‘Incel Attacker’: Media Reporting on Cases of Misogynist Violence

    Incidents of misogynist violence are often tenuously linked to the wider incel community in media reports, most notably in the immediate aftermath of attacks carried out by lone male perpetrators. But it is important clearly to separate cases of misogynist violence from the wider incel community.  and offers recommendations to journalists who report on such violence.

  • Texas Tells Local Election Officials to Stop Releasing Information That Exposes How Some People Vote

    Texas’ top election official issued emergency guidance to counties aimed at protecting ballot privacy. The emergency guidance from the secretary of state comes after reports in Votebeat and The Texas Tribune confirmed the choices some voters make can later be identified through legally available records.

  • New Voter Registration Rules Threaten Hefty Fines, Criminal Penalties for Groups

    Lawmakers in several states have enacted a variety of voter registration laws over the past four years. The measures add new requirements around registering and communicating with voters and threaten hefty penalties for violations. The stated goal of the new laws is to prevent fraud, but some voting rights groups contend their real purpose is to dampen participation by likely Democratic voters.

  • China’s Control and Coercion in Critical Minerals

    Markets for critical minerals are no longer shaping up to be the next components of the global economy to be dominated by China. They already are. While Western nations were sleeping, China built vertically integrated supply chains for several critical minerals vital to the energy transition and high technology applications, including defense equipment.

  • Feds Send Millions of Taxpayer Dollars to the Taliban

    After two decades at war with the Taliban, the U.S. government is now sending millions of taxpayer dollars to the terrorist group. A recently released federal watchdog report shows that the U.S. government has sent at least $11 million to the Taliban since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops. But experts and even the federal watchdog estimate the number is much higher.