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Pentagon Bans Tech Vendors from Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation
The Defense Department has tightened cybersecurity requirements for its cloud services providers. The changes come after ProPublica revealed how Microsoft’s use of China-based engineers left sensitive government data vulnerable to hacking.
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The Government Shouldn’t Play “Truth Police”
There is little doubt that ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was the result of the not-so-veiled threats by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that the network would face FCC action unless it removed Kimmel who, Carr argued (wrongly), had implicated MAGA in the killing of Charlie Kirk. But the government should not serve as the arbiter of truth in public debate. Government coercion to censor speech is wrong no matter which party is in power. We should all be concerned when the government takes upon itself the role of policing “truth” and uses that mantle as a tool to threaten and punish disfavored speakers.
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Vaccine Death and Side Effects Database Relies on Unverified Reports – and Trump Officials and Right-Wing Media Are Applying It Out of Context
In its meeting over the last two days, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has discussed reports linking 25 child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines. These death reports are derived from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a database the anti-vaccine movement and conspiracy theorists have used to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States
A total of 3,599 people have been murdered in politically motivated terrorist attacks in the United States from 1 January 1975 through 10 September 2025 (this figure includes the 2,979 killed on 9/11 by foreign terrorists). If we include the 9/11 victims, then murders committed in attacks by foreign and domestic terrorist account for about 0.35 percent of all murders since 1975.
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Right-Wing Extremist Violence Is More Frequent and More Deadly Than Left-Wing Violence − What the Data Shows
After the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Trump and members of his administration claimed that radical leftist groups foment political violence in the U.S. But all research on the subject conclusively shows that most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and that right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.
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More States Protect Access to the COVID Shot as Feds Restrict Eligibility
At least 17 states have taken steps to ensure broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine since last month, when the federal government significantly restricted eligibility for the shot. The moves represent an extraordinary state rebellion against the public health authority of the federal government.
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When Global Trade Is About More Than Money
International trade can yield far more than imports and exports. Economist’s new tool looks at how China is more effective than U.S. in exerting political power through import, export controls
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The Toxic Legacy of 9/11…and How to End It
Restoring the Bill of Rights to its proper shape and place in our civic life would be one way to honor those killed on 9/11 and in the wars that followed.
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DOJ Is Sharing State Voter Roll Lists with Homeland Security
All studies of the subject have conclusively shown that the number of illegal liens voting in U.S. election is vanishingly small (these studies also hasten to add that the term “vanishingly small” exaggerates the number of illegal liens trying to vote). Still, DOJ demanded states turn over the lists. Homeland Security says it will comb through for “illegal aliens.”
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States Rush to Pass New Political Maps in Gerrymandering Blitz
States are gearing up to deliver more votes for their favored political parties in a rare, mid-decade overhaul of voting maps that threatens to frustrate voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
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Elon Musk Pushed Back on Our Reporting on His Houston Tunnels Plan. Experts Say His Comments Are Misleading.
Elon Musk is taking issue with a recent investition by the Houston Chronicle and The Texas Newsroom that raised questions about a flood tunnel project he’s pitching to address Houston’s chronic flooding woes. But experts said his response, which he did not explain to the newsrooms, isn’t supported by facts or data.
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The Legacy of the 9/11 Attacks: Terror Threats Have Multiplied
Nearly twenty-five years after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, the country faces a much different landscape of threats and counterterrorism challenges. The U.S. military handily defeated al-Qaeda and Taliban forces and supported the battlefield victory over forces of the so-called Islamic State, but it has largely abandoned soft power efforts that could counter their enduring appeal.
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“This Will Not End Here”: A Scholar Explains Why Charlie Kirk’s Killing Could Embolden Political Violence
“Political assassinations come in waves. We see that not only in the United States but other countries. I’ve looked at political assassinations in many democracies, and one of the things I see in a fairly consistent manner is that political assassinations create a process of escalation that encourages others on the extreme political spectrum to feel the need to retaliate. And that is my main concern,” says University of Massachusetts Lowell scholar Arie Perliger, who studies political violence and assassinations.
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Are Political Assassinations on the Rise? A Criminologist Weighs in on the Shooting Death of Charlie Kirk
James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist, says there has been a rise in politically motivated killings, attempted killings and partisan threats —even though the overall fatalities remains a small number.
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Influencers, Multipliers, and the Structure of Polarization: How Political Narratives Circulate on Twitter/X
A recent study provides a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms driving polarization and issue alignment on Twitter/X and reveals how political polarization is reinforced and structured by two distinct types of highly active users: influencers and multipliers.
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The long view
Violent Acts in Houses of Worship Are Rare but Deadly – Here’s What the Data Shows
Houses of worship are meant to be open spaces of peace and refuge. The challenge is balancing this higher purpose with practical security. By studying past tragedies, Americans may better prepare for the future –and prevent more families from enduring the heartbreak of recent weeks.
U.S.-China Tech Rivalry: The Geopolitics of Semiconductors
The United States and China are locked in a high‑stakes contest for dominance in computing power. In response to US sanctions and export controls, China has ramped domestic chip design and manufacturing, aiming to create an all‑Chinese semiconductor supply chain that reduces dependence on foreign technologies.
The American TikTok Deal Doesn’t Address the Platform’s Potential for Manipulation, Only Who Profits
If we want to protect democratic information systems, we need to focus on reducing the vulnerabilities in our relationship with media platforms – platforms with surveillance power to know what we will like, the algorithmic power to curate our information diet and control of platform incentives, and rules and features that affect who gains influence. The biggest challenge is to make platforms less riggable, and thus less weaponizable, if only for the reason that motivated the TikTok ban: we don’t want our adversaries, foreign or domestic, to have power over us.
Hashtags and Humor Are Used to Spread Extreme Content on Social Media
Conspiracy theories and incitement to harassment and violence abound on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. But the extreme content is often mixed with ironic play, memes and hashtags, which makes it difficult for authorities and media to know how to respond.
Funding Cuts, Policy Shifts, and the Erosion of U.S. Scientific and Public Health Capacity
The U.S. continues to face mounting threats to its health, scientific enterprise, and national security. A recent report warns that proposed FY 2026 budget cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could reduce its funding by more than half – from $9 billion in FY 2025 to under $4 billion. If passed by Congress, these cuts would result in an estimated ~$11 billion in economic losses.
History is repeating itself at the FBI as Agents Resist a Director’s Political Agenda
President Trump has installed loyalists to head the DOJ and FBI – loyalists who are determined to use the organizations they lead to advance the president’s political interests. In the past 50 years, the FBI has had only one other director as overtly – if not as unabashedly — political as Kash Patel: L. Patrick Gray, who served for a year under President Richard Nixon. Gray was held accountable after he tried to help Nixon end the FBI’s Watergate investigation. Whether Kash Patel has more staying power is unclear.