• Extremists Have Turned Texas into a Hotbed for Hate: Report

    Texas continues to be a hotbed for extremism and antisemitism, driven by the heavy presence of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-LGBTQ+ groups that are headquartered or active in the state.

  • DOE Invests $39 Million to Support a 21st Century Electric Grid

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $39 million for projects across DOE’s National Laboratories to help modernize the electricity grid. The investments will support the development and deployment of concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future while incorporating equity and the best available climate science.

  • Increase in Chinese-Language Malware Could “Challenge” Russian Dominance of Cybercrime: Report

    For decades, Russian and eastern European hackers have dominated the cybercrime underworld. These days they may face a challenge from a new contender: China. Researchers have detected an increase in the spread of Chinese language malware through email campaigns since early 2023, signaling a surge in Chinese cybercrime activity and a new trend in the global threat landscape.

  • How Local Police Could Help Prevent Another January 6th-Style Insurrection

    As scholars who study street gangs and far-right groups, we see that the larger law enforcement community continues to focus – we believe mistakenly – on the belief that, like terrorist groups, white supremacists are coordinated in ideology and intent. Evidence shows that perception actually diverts local police agencies’ attention from identifying and managing these groups. We believe that if police had treated Proud Boys as members of a street gang from the group’s inception in 2016, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, might have been avoided, or at least reduced in severity.

  • Walking the Artificial Intelligence and National Security Tightrope

    Artificial intelligence (AI) presents nations’ security as many challenges as it does opportunities. While it could create mass-produced malware, lethal autonomous weapons systems, or engineered pathogens, AI solutions could also prove the counter to these threats. Regulating AI to maximize national security capabilities and minimize the risks presented to them will require focus, caution and intent.

  • Eritrea Stoking Conflicts Between Its Migrants Abroad

    The repressive regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has forced many Eritreans to seek refuge abroad. Some commentators believe Afwerki is stoking conflict between Eritrean migrants and their host nations.

  • American Grand Strategy, Realism, and the Russo-Ukraine War

    Choices in foreign policy are never simple and are always sub-optimal. The choice faced now is whether to continue to support Ukraine fighting a messy, tragic war, which it may take time to win, or to let it carry on alone, with the prospect of an even more tragic conclusion from which the Western Alliance, let alone Ukraine, might never recover. As Western countries are not actually doing the fighting and have the resources to sustain Ukraine in its struggle, in the end this is not that difficult a choice to make. No, Ukraine is not another Vietnam.

  • Think Twice Before Saying “Cult”

    Some critics of Donald Trump liken the dynamic between the former president and his followers to a political cult, a claim rekindled by CBS/YouGov polling released last month. Survey shows intense support for ex-president despite indictments, but common claim against MAGA movement falls short of scientific rigor.

  • Sovereignty in Space

    The EU wants to establish its own satellite network by 2027, with the aim of increasing the resilience of the European communications infrastructure and gaining technological sovereignty in space. Achieving this will require novel solutions.

  • “High Risk” from Foreign, Domestic Terrorists: U.S.

    DHS warned Thursday of a “high risk” from domestic and foreign terrorists for the coming year. The department’s threat assessment points to the prevalence of conspiracy theories, personal grievances and what it describes as “enduring racial, ethnic, religious, and anti-government ideologies,” often shared in online forums, all serving to motivate small groups and individuals within the U.S.

  • Florida Arrests Undocumented Migrant Under State’s New Law

    A Mexican citizen taken into custody for allegedly driving without U.S. papers and transporting undocumented people was one of the first people to be arrested under Florida’s controversial SB 1718, considered the most restrictive state law regarding migrants in the United States.

  • North Korea’s Coming Breakout

    Bad news for the world is often welcome relief to North Korea, a country that thrives in the shadowy cracks of the international system, Jonathan Corrado writes. Recent international developments have played into North Korea’s hands. “History shows that North Korea cannot be ignored. The more preparation is done today, the easier the answer will be tomorrow,” Corrado concludes.

  • “Tyranny of the Minority’” Warns Constitution is Dangerously Outdated

    The U.S. Constitution desperately needs updating, say Harvard government professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. In a new book, a follow-up to their How Democracies Die, Levitsky and Ziblatt urge institutional reforms, which include rejection of candidates who violate norms.

  • A Review of NIST’s Draft Cybersecurity Framework 2.0

    Cybersecurity professionals, and anyone interested in cybersecurity, have noted that the gold standard of cybersecurity is getting a needed polish. “But all that glitters is not gold,” Melanie Teplinsky writes. NIST’s voluntary cybersecurity framework leaves organizations vulnerable to the nation’s most capable cyber adversaries. NIST’s proposed overhaul won’t change that.

  • Deepfake Threats Advisory from NSA, U.S. Federal Agencies

    The National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. federal agency partners have issued new advice on a synthetic media threat known as deepfakes. This emerging threat could present a cybersecurity challenge for National Security Systems (NSS), the Department of Defense (DoD), and DIB organizations.