Ideas
Ep. 50: Cyberwarfare yesterday
This episode, we survey the history of cyberwarfare — from the ascent of Chinese hackers this century to the arrest of a Soviet-linked hacker 30 years ago, and a lot in between.
Science & Tech
Facial Recognition is Changing CBP Operations
The tech is freeing up Customs and Border Protection employees—once they learned to trust it.
Ideas
The Arguments for Weakening Encryption Aren't Any Better Under Trump
Law-enforcement backdoors would still make everyone less safe, even as U.S. officials set their sights on broader access to data.
Policy
Protecting US Elections Needs Much More Federal Money: Report
State and local officials need help shoring up voting systems against foreign interference, says the Brennan Center for Justice.
Ideas
The US Is Unprepared to Mobilize for Great Power Conflict
In an era of lightning wars and easy-to-reach civilian populations, U.S. planners are giving mobilization far less attention than it requires.
Ideas
Organizational Resilience Can Help Prevent the Next Ransomware Attack
City and state governments should start with an informed, clear-eyed look at their vulnerabilities.
Ideas
ICE and the Ever-Widening Surveillance Dragnet
ICE agents have used facial-recognition technology on state driver’s-license photos, turning a public database into a de facto criminal database.
Business
Army Corps of Engineers and GSA Faulted for Costly Contract Changes
Agencies aren’t tracking company timeframes in monitoring $36 billion in construction spending, watchdog finds.
Ideas
A Water-Stressed World Turns to Desalination
More cities rely on desalination, which remains expensive and creates its own environmental problems.
Science & Tech
Border Patrol Wants Robots that Can Go Underground and Report Back
Homeland Security is looking for innovative robots that can navigate underground tunnels and communicate with headquarters.
Threats
How the Climate Crisis Threatens the US Energy System
The U.S. military is the largest customer of the U.S. electricity grid, and other insights from a two-day workshop convened by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ideas
Vetting Foreigners’ Facebook Feeds Won’t Make Americans Safer
The federal government wants visa applicants to cough up their social-media handles.
Ideas
The CBP Theft Is Exactly What Privacy Experts Said Would Happen
The more information the government collects, the more attractive that information is to bad actors.
Science & Tech
CBP Says Thousands of Traveler Photos Stolen in ‘Malicious Cyber-Attack’
The breach happened at one of the agency’s subcontractors and didn’t involve any data collected under its facial recognition program, officials said.
Science & Tech
Nuclear Energy Regulators Need to Bring on More Cyber Experts, Watchdog Says
Cyberattacks on nuclear power stations on the rise, and an aging workforce may soon leave the government struggling to defend plants against the latest threats.
Science & Tech
Lawmakers Question FBI’s Facial Recognition Program
The bureau for years ignored concerns about the accuracy and transparency of its facial recognition efforts, and the House Oversight Committee isn’t happy about it.
Ideas
The People of Baltimore Are Beginning Their Fifth Week Under Electronic Siege
It's more important than ever to be vigilant, responsible digital citizens.
Ideas
Border Disorder: Trump Can’t Figure Out How to Keep His Biggest Promise
The president insisted that preventing illegal immigration would be simple and easy. Through a series of increasingly desperate attempts, he’s discovering that isn’t true.
Science & Tech