YouTube Official Blog: An update on our commitment to fight terror content online, August 1, 2017: “A little over a month ago, we told you about the four new steps we’re taking to combat terrorist content on YouTube: better detection and faster removal driven by machine learning, more experts to alert us to content that… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
CRS – US Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress
U.S. Role in the World: Background and Issues for Congress, Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs; Michael Moodie, Assistant Director and Senior Specialist in Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade. July 12, 2017. “The overall U.S. role in the world since the end of World War II in 1945 (i.e., over the past 70 years) is… Continue Reading
Marshall Project Investigation Yields Details on Pentagon Weapons-for-Cops Giveaway
This piece was reported and written by Tom Meagher and Gabriel Dance for The Marshall Project and by Shawn Musgrave of MuckRock, an independent investigative news site.: “You may have heard that the image-conscious Los Angeles Unified School District chose to return the grenade launchers it received from the Defense Department’s surplus equipment program. You… Continue Reading
CRS – Democracy Promotion: An Objective of U.S. Foreign Assistance
Democracy Promotion: An Objective of U.S. Foreign Assistance, May 31, 2017. R44858. “Promoting democratic institutions, processes, and values has long been a U.S. foreign policy objective, though the priority given to this objective has been inconsistent. World events, competing priorities, and political change within the United States all shape the attention and resources provided to… Continue Reading
Paper – Metadata: The Most Potent Weapon in This Cyber War
Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology – “Metadata, or “data about data,” is collected and recorded to describe data, identify trends, administer algorithmic solutions, and model potential scenarios. When one understands how to make sense of seemingly random metadata or how to pair the data with other exfiltrated data pools, there are limitless possibilities for social… Continue Reading
Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis
CRS report via FAS – Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis, James K. Jackson, Specialist in International Trade and Finance. June 29, 2017. “Foreign direct investment in the United States in 2015 increased by 83% over that recorded in 2014. (Note: The United States defines foreign direct investment as the ownership… Continue Reading
Largest nuclear arsenals in the world
(Stockholm, 3 July 2017) “The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) today launches its annual nuclear forces data, which highlights the current trends and developments in world nuclear arsenals. The data shows that while the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world continues to decline, all of the nuclear weapon-possessing states are in the… Continue Reading
DIA releases new report – Russia Military Power 2017
Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News: “The Defense Intelligence Agency yesterday launched a new series of unclassified publications on foreign military threats to the United States with a report on the Russian military. “The resurgence of Russia on the world stage — seizing the Crimean Peninsula, destabilizing eastern Ukraine, intervening on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,… Continue Reading
GPO Issues Digital Release of Historical Congressional Record for the 1950s
“The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) partners with the Library of Congress to release the digital version of the bound Congressional Record from 1951-1960 on GPO’s govinfo (www.govinfo.gov). This release covers debates and proceedings of the 82nd thru the 86th Congresses. This era of Congress covers historical topics such as: The final two years of… Continue Reading
Personal electronic devices will be subject to additional screening on flights to US
Axios: “Additional screening will soon be required before personal electronic devices (PEDs) larger than cell phones can be carried on to U.S.-bound flights, senior Department of Homeland Security officials announced Wednesday. The TSA and the State Department will also be involved in implementation. The need for more security comes from the fact that terrorists continue to… Continue Reading
Implementation of Agreement between US and China on Science and Technology
U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2016-03522 Doc No. C06306089 Date: 05/11/2017 UNCLASSIFIED – Implementation of Agreement between the United States and China on Science and Technology Public Law 107-314. [via FAS] “Federal agencies continued to advance a range of U.S. objectives during the reporting period between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015. During… Continue Reading
Questions increase over determining extent of Russia election hacking
NPR – If Voting Machines Were Hacked, Would Anyone Know? – “As new reports emerge about Russian-backed attempts to hack state and local election systems [Link], U.S. officials are increasingly worried about how vulnerable American elections really are. While the officials say they see no evidence that any votes were tampered with, no one knows… Continue Reading
