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DEMOCRACY WATCHLast Minute Legal Maneuvering by the Trump Administration Creates New Uncertainty Around Midterm Election
The Trump administration’s aggressive legal strategy in the runup to Election Day seems more likely to encourage public uncertainty over the midterm elections than succeed in court, experts say. It also fuels their concerns that the White House could try to challenge election results President Donald Trump does not like.
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DEMOCRACY WATCHDHS Targeting Naturalized Americans in Voter Investigations, Civil Rights Groups Say
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and placing them at risk of disenfranchisement, DHS has sought an emergency order to restart election-related field operations in 9 states.
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DISINFORMATIONDisinformation and Influence Operations: Which Countermeasures Actually Work?
Information systems researcher Vera Schmitt leads new Horizon Europe project FIMI-RESIST bringing together ten partners from nine countries.
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FISA SURVEILLANCEWhy Is the Government Hiding Court Rebuke on Warrantless FISA Surveillance?
The Trump administration is pushing Congress to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”), a warrantless surveillance power that will shut down in March unless lawmakers act before then.
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CYBERSECURITYResearchers Aim to Secure Wireless Networks as AI Evolves
Artificial intelligence could help next-generation wireless networks adapt to changing conditions and detect security threats. But expanding AI’s role in critical network functions also creates new vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.
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INFRASTRUCTURESpain’s High‑Speed Train Network Is Plagued by Old Signaling Systems. They May Have Caused the Deadly Crash
Spain’s rail network operator, Adif, and the State must urgently prioritize the maintenance of existing infrastructure before opening new lines.
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ENERGY SECURITYTrump’s Claims About Drilling, Venezuelan Oil Imports Contradict Data
At a campaign event in Corpus Christi, Texas, President Donald Trump said that U.S. companies would “drill, baby, drill” to extract more oil and gas. “Man, are we drilling now,” he said. The reality, however, is that throughout most of his administration, rig counts in Texas have been down, with considerable job losses — attributed to increased costs stemming from operators shutting down rigs, citing Trump tariff policies and the conflict with Iran.
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FLOODSClimate Change Amplifies Flooding More Than Extreme Precipitation
Changes in flood hazards associated with climate change cannot be assessed solely based on changes in precipitation. When assessing future risks and developing adaptation strategies, it is therefore important to consider the entire process from the weather event to river discharge.
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OUR PICKSThe Real Threat of Election Interference | Binance’s $6.3 Billion Hack Is Just the Start of a Risky New Era | General Ousted by Hegseth May Face Criminal Prosecution, and more
· Massive Groups of Volunteers Are Ready to Face Down ICE at the Polls
· The Real Threat of Election Interference
· General Ousted by Hegseth Referred for Possible Criminal Prosecution, Officials Say
· Binance’s $6.3 Billion Hack Is Just the Start of a Risky New Era
· CDC Scientists Sought Urgent Alert on Measles in Pregnancy. It Wasn’t Approved
· How an Obscure Website Became a Force in America’s Election Information Machine
· The $6.3 Billion Binance Hack Was Pulled Off in Just 20 Minutes
· How to Spot a Zombie Election Monitor
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WORLD ROUNDUPIsrael’s Latest Last Chance to Save Itself | Brazil: When Judges Become Prosecutors | The Countries Making a Fortune from the US-China Rivalry, and more
· U.S. to Send Dozens Back to Afghanistan, Despite Risk of Persecution
· When Judges Become Prosecutors
· Another Toll of the Violent Unrest in France: The Political Center
· The Vibe Is Dissatisfaction. The Result Is Endless Political Deadlock.
· Trump’s Engagement with Kim Falls Flat as North Korea’s Nuclear Arsenal Grows
· Israel’s Latest Last Chance to Save Itself
· The Countries Making a Fortune from the US-China Rivalry
· The Gulf Isn’t Ready for a Renewed Iran War
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Also Noted
· Screening at Speed: The Shoe Scanner
· DHS secretary plans post-election security review
· Trump says US voter fraud is ‘rampant’ - evidence suggests it is extremely rare
· Documents support claim ICE has detained a mentally ill U.S. citizen since January
· ‘Heartbreaking’ findings in House report on Jew-hatred within American Psychological Association, psychologists say
· From Online Tutorials to Explosive Violence: The Growing Threat of Digital Bomb-Making Instruction
· ICE Is Running One of the Largest Anti-Left Surveillance Operations in US History
· Long Island middle school student posts photo showing antisemitic messages drawn on him
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IMMIGRATIONThe White House Council of Economic Advisers’ Imaginary Cost of Illegal Immigrants
The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)—the president’s in-house think tank—released a report this month that purported to find that the average illegal immigrant imposes a lifetime cost on taxpayers. These estimates are not credible.
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DENMOCRACY WATCHHow Cleta Mitchell Turned Trump’s “Big Lie” Into a Movement
No one besides Trump himself has done more than Cleta Mitchell to turn the mundane processes of how ballots are cast and counted in American elections into mortal combat.
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DEMOCRACY WATCHTrump’s DOJ Sends 1,000 Election Monitors to 50 States; Locations Not Yet Disclosed
DOJ has sued dozens of states to force election officials to turn over voter lists that contain sensitive personal data.
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CHEMICAL WEAPONSChemical Security Is National Security
The United States has long supported international efforts to end chemical weapons programs, in part by supporting the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This support is in danger — and this could jeopardize programs to halt the use of chemical weapons around the world.
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AIHow Should AI Be Regulated? Follow the Harm
As artificial intelligence technologies grow ever more powerful, so do the risks they pose and with them the urgency of regulating AI. A harm-centered approach would begin with those interests and use them to shape legal obligations that span relevant systems, organizations and people.
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OUR PICKSMassive Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers | Bill Bradley: My Fear for the Midterms | DOJ Targets Trump Foes Before Midterms, and more
· CNN, MS NOW and Politico Escalate Legal Battle for White House Access
· Bill Bradley: My Fear for the Midterms
· Trump Officials Charged 180 Noncitizens with Voter Fraud. We Looked at Each Case
· DOJ Investigation into ex-FBI Officials Was Viewed as Witch Hunt, Agent Says
· Comey, Hutchinson and more Trump Foes Ae in Justice Dept.’s Pre-Election Sights
· Massive Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers—Including Undercover ICE Agents
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WORLD ROUNDUPWhy India Is Erupting | Is Israel a Good Ally? | New Age Cyber Threats Are Here, and more
· After Landing in Miami, Flávio Bolsonaro Heads into Uncertain Political Future
· Has Russia’s Influence in Africa Peaked?
· Why India Is Erupting
· Is Israel a Good Ally?
· New Age Cyber Threats Are Here—the US Must Be Prepared
· Looking Over Benjamin Netanyahu’s Shoulder
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CYBERSECURITYA Critical Flaw Affecting 70% of All Websites Has the Cybersecurity World Panicked
Details have been published of a critical flaw in the programming language PHP, which is the backbone of more than 70% of all websites. Left unfixed, the flaw would allow hackers to easily take over and compromise millions of websites and the information held on their servers.
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DEMOCRACY WATCH2026 Ballot Measures Are Written at a Graduate-School Reading Level, Report Finds
An analysis of 164 ballot titles across 40 states found readability varies from fifth grade to far beyond a Ph.D.
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QUICK TAKES // BY BEN FRANKELOn Pots Calling the Kettles Black
Parents of young children, or elementary school teachers, often run into the difficulty when trying to explain complex, abstract terms or concepts to the children. Fortunately, the Trump administration offers many examples parents and teachers may use to demonstrate the meaning of “hypocrisy.”
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THE RUSSIA CONNECTIONThe Unhidden Hand
With Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, the administration moved swiftly to gut the system of protections which was built to prevent Russia, and other foreign actors, from repeating the 2016 Russian interference on behalf of Trump — and punish the officials who had investigated Moscow’s intervention. Whatever the president’s motives, each of these steps served Moscow and the ends of the original Russian interference operation. Moscow spent almost nothing to obtain these outcomes, and the key payoff for its 2016 initial investment was the winner’s veto—the standing power of a leader who gained from foreign assistance to blind and disarm the country against further interference.
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More headlines
The long view
CHINA WATCHHow to Reshape U.S. Defense Production to Counter China
A new Council on Foreign Relations report finds that long production timelines and supply chain bottlenecks—worsened by munitions stocks depleted in the Iran conflict—mean the United States must enact policy reforms and scale precise mass capabilities to counter China in the next few years. One of the authors provides critical takeaways from the report on the alternatives the U.S. government should pursue.
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THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPECURRENTS, TRENDS, DIRECTIONS
WILDFIRESAmerica Is Losing Its War Against Wildfire
Over the past decade, so-called megafires — characterized not only by their size, often bigger than 100,000 acres, but by their severity, speed, and impact — have become more common. Wildland firefighting is increasingly facing an intractable reality: We’re stuck in a vicious cycle. A doom loop.
NUCLEAR POWERWhy Nuclear Energy Is Making a Global Comeback
Nuclear energy is gaining momentum as countries seek reliable, low-emission power sources to meet increasing electricity demand and climate goals amid uncertainty in fossil fuel markets. Its revival renews long-standing debates over safety and nuclear proliferation.
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CRITICAL MINERALSEast Texas Sits on a Goldmine of Lithium, but Questions Loom Over How the State Will Regulate Mining and Production
As the U.S. pushes to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, Texas companies prepare to capitalize on the state’s emerging lithium industry.
GUNSThe Justice Department Lets 90-Year-Old Regulations on Silencers Fade Away
The Trump administration let a judge block longstanding registration requirements on silencers and short-barreled guns like sawed-off shotguns. But the new legal landscape is murky.
CONSPIRACY THEORYThe Long Afterlife of QAnon Conspiracy Theories Haunting American Politics
Started on the online forum website 4chan in 2017, QAnon spread false, far-right theories on social media about a shadowy cabal of satanic pedophiles among the political elite, which Donald Trump was purportedly fighting alongside a mysterious ally named “Q.” While Q stopped posting in 2022, the movement did not disappear. Its conspiracy theories seeped from the margins into mainstream American politics, and the movement’s vocabulary quickly began to appear in official government circles at the start of Trump’s second term. Official uses of Q language have invigorated conspiracy theorists to advance new theories, undermining public health, governance, and civil society.
EXTREME EVENTSGenerating Scenarios for Extreme Events, without Extreme Data
A new algorithm learns to anticipate the unprecedented scenarios that critical infrastructure and global supply chains are least prepared for.
ISLAM & THE WESTSharia, Freedom, and the American Way of Life: A Response to Daniel Brubaker
Sharia alarmists see the illiberal elements in Islamic law as a reason to outlaw all of it — in fact, they call for outlawing not just Islamic law, but more categorically “today’s Islam,” as incompatible with American liberty. But this reasoning could be turned against nearly any group. Reformist arguments have not yet won the day in Islam, but they are being seriously discussed among Muslims around the world. If they eventually do prevail, it will be in part because more Muslims come to see freedom as a noble and genuine ideal worth embracing. And that, in turn, will be possible only if freedom is understood to mean not only freedom from Islam, but freedom of Islam as well.
DEMOCRACY WATCHCan the Midterms Be 'Stolen' On Jan. 3? It's Complicated.
President Trump’s demands in 2020 that Vice President Pence do “the right thing” have prompted speculation that he or his allies will attempt a similar gambit in 2026. Jan. 3 is the day the old Congress ends and the new one begins: Only the swearing-in process still stands between the winners and their seats. This vulnerability lately has filled some commentators and activists with fear. Panic about a ‘rogue clerk’ is likely unwarranted—but it’s worth paying attention.
NUCLEAR WEAPONSNuclear Weapons: The Global Outlook in An Unstable New Era
The stalled US–Iran negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and President Donald Trump’s announcement of a US-Saudi nuclear agreement have put nuclear weapons back in the spotlight. But the threat of nuclear breakout has been growing for several decades.
DEMOCRACY WATCHElection Experts See Few Legal Options for Trump to Meddle with Polling Places
President Donald Trump has so far declined to rule out sending the National Guard or federal law enforcement officers to polling locations throughout the country, and a few months ago casually and briefly mentioned canceling the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. Any such actions would lie outside the bounds of presidential power and the law, according to experts.
IMMIGRATIONImmigration in Sweden: How the Country Went from One of Europe’s Most Welcoming, to One of Its Most Restrictive
For decades, Sweden was known as one of Europe’s most welcoming countries for refugees. It took pride in pursuing one of Europe’s most generous asylum policies, and often presented itself as a humanitarian role model. But today it has one of the continent’s most restrictive migration policies.
GRID SECURITYProtecting the Grid from Wildfires
As devastating wildfires continue to burn across the western U.S. and Canada this summer, they’re taking a serious toll on the electrical grid. Every year, wildfires, some sparked by birds or even high winds, cause significant damage to grid infrastructure.
