Washington Post Daily Dot: “China has reached parity with the United States on this year’s Fortune Global 500 list, which dropped this morning. “As the Chinese Century nears its third decade, Fortune’s Global 500 shows how profoundly the world’s balance of power is shifting,” Geoff Colvin writes in the magazine. “American companies account for 121… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
Learn about the Mueller Report – A Podcast Series from Lawfare
Lawfare – “For the past several weeks, a group of us has been working on a project to tell the story of the Mueller Report in an accessible form. The Mueller Report tells a heck of a story, a bunch of incredible stories, actually. But it does so in a form that’s hard for a… Continue Reading
New deepfake detection tool should keep world leaders safe—for now
MIT Technology Review: “..a new digital forensics technique promises to protect President Trump, other world leaders, and celebrities against such deepfakes—for the time being, at least. The new method uses machine learning to analyze a specific individual’s style of speech and movement, what the researchers call a “softbiometric signature.” The researchers, from UC Berkeley and… Continue Reading
Face It, You’re Being Watched
“San Francisco is the first American city to ban facial recognition software used by police and other agencies. Bloomberg QuickTake [YouTube] explains why the technology’s advance is so alarming to regulators, the public, and even the people developing it.” See also: Government Is Using Most Vulnerable People to Test Facial Recognition Software; GAO Report –… Continue Reading
What Democrats Can Learn About Impeachment From the Civil War
The New York Times Opinion – Lesson One: Don’t let Trump take the initiative. By Jamelle Bouie “…I have been revisiting a few popular histories of the Civil War, both for personal interest and future work. It’s almost impossible to count all of the connections to make between that period, Reconstruction and present-day political life.… Continue Reading
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms
Foreign Affiars – “For U.S. intelligence agencies, the twenty-first century began with a shock, when 19 al Qaeda operatives hijacked four planes and perpetrated the deadliest attack ever on U.S. soil. In the wake of the attack, the intelligence community mobilized with one overriding goal: preventing another 9/11. The CIA, the National Security Agency, and… Continue Reading
CIA now has an Instagram account
Axios: “The CIA, one of the rare government entities known for its social media savvy, is now on Instagram to give users another look into the secretive agency, Axios’ Marisa Fernandez writes. The new account is another online vehicle to “spark the curiosity of Instagram users” and find recruits, CIA press secretary Timothy Barrett said.… Continue Reading
U.S. War Costs Casualties and Personnel Levels Since 9/11
CRS report via FAS – U.S. War Costs Casualties and Personnel Levels Since 9/11, April 18, 2019 “Seventeen years have passed since the U.S. initiated major military operations following the September 11, 2001,terrorist attacks. In the intervening period, operations first classified as Global War on Terror (GWOT) and later Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) have varied in… Continue Reading
The butterflies that could stop Trump’s wall
BBC News – “The obstacles to President Donald Trump’s border wall are not confined to the four walls of Congress. As areas are cleared to start building new sections, some landowners, including a butterfly sanctuary, have sued to stop the construction…The butterfly centre…sits on 110 acres near the southern tip of Texas – an area… Continue Reading
Laptops to Stay in Bags as TSA Brings New Technology to Airports
Bloomberg: “Air passengers at a growing number of U.S. airports will no longer need to remove electronics, liquids, and other items from their carry-on luggage at security checkpoints as the Transportation Security Administration rolls out new technology. The TSA took a major step in a broader plan to revamp its overall screening process with faster,… Continue Reading
NATO at Seventy: An Alliance in Crisis
Belfer Center Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship: “Approaching the seventieth anniversary of its founding in April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remains the single most important contributor to security, stability and peace in Europe and North America. NATO provides the umbrella defending Europe from conventional and nuclear attack and a secure… Continue Reading
Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts
Looking to the Future, Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts – Majorities predict a weaker economy, a growing income divide, a degraded environment and a broken political system “When Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country in decline economically, politically and on the world stage. While a narrow… Continue Reading
